It is said that champions are made in the offseason.

For Hawaii, the offseason begins this week.

The Rainbow Warriors will be back in the practice gym and the weight room until the official end of the collegiate men’s volleyball season. Win or lose Saturday night, that was going to be Hawaii’s plan … now it will be done in Manoa rather than Provo, Utah, this week or at University Park, Pa., through May 7.

The seventh-seeded Warriors (16-12) had its roller-coaster ride of a season end Saturday night by host and second-seeded UCLA in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament quarterfinal at Pauley Pavilion. Hawaii gave up a season-high 10 aces in falling to 0-8 all-time in MPSF opening round road matches.

“We’re starting the next season right now,” said junior hitter Kupono Fey, who had a team-high 12 kills as well as five of the Warriors’ 19 service errors. “We’ll move forward, push forward and build from here.”

Hawaii loses a third of its offense with the graduation of hitter Siki Zarkovic, who averaged 4.02 kills out of the Warriors’ 12.86 average. Zarkovic, the eighth UH player to reach 1,300 kills (1,305), also had a team-high 20 out of 115 aces and was second only to senior libero Kolby Kanetake in digs with 155.

Kanetake also departs after an injury-hampered career, where he finished third all-time in digs with 775. Hawaii’s third senior, reserve outside hitter Brandon Hiehle, played sparingly in 11 matches in the two years after his transfer from El Camino (Calif.) College.

The Warriors return four starters in rising seniors Kupono Fey, an outside hitter, and opposite-turned-middle Hendrik Mol; and rising sophomores Stijn van Tilburg, an opposite, and middle Nainoa Frank. Frank started 10 of the final 11 matches, replacing another outside-turned-middle Iain McKellar. Also back are both setters who shared the position in incoming senior Jennings Franciskovic (17 starts) and incoming sophomore Joe Worsley (11 starts).

Also expected back are five other letter winners who saw playing time and seven redshirts, including five freshmen. Signing with the Warriors last November were outside hitter Austin Matautia out of Moanalua High, setter Jackson Van Eskeren from Illinois, middle Jack Reese from Pennsylvania and opposite Everett Schuett from California.

While the Warriors returned to Honolulu Sunday, Wade was headed east to Europe on a short recruiting trip.

“We have so many positives to build on, the biggest is just the character of our guys,” Wade said. “They’re nice athletes, good players, but really good people.

“We had to overcome a lot, with (freshman middle Pat) Gasman going out (fractured foot) .. he was our best middle coming into the season … having two converted middles (Mol and McKellar) … just a lot of first-year players who had a lot of growth to do.

“Usually you shut it down after the last loss but the guys and the coaches want to keep it going. So we’ll do it as long as we’re allowed to.”

Mol said he was ready to start work on his upcoming season now. The Norwegian national played this year with dimensioned vision in his left eye after it became infected a year ago.

Saturday’s quarterfinal was the second time Mol had been at UCLA in a year. Last April, his eye problem was treated at the Stein Eye Institute at UCLA; he has been told that his vision will never fully return.

“I really liked the tenacity of our team to battle back Saturday, battle to the last serve,” Mol said of Hawaii forcing a fourth set after losing the first two 25-16. “We’ll go back to work the next few weeks, work hard in the gym and the weight room.”