How to build a culture of men’s volleyball? It’s a question being asked around the country as the sport seeks recognition and expansion beyond the programs that were established some 50 years ago.
It’s a question that those in Hawaii can’t imagine asking because volleyball in the islands “just is.” The latest slogan of “Grow the Game” had its local roots even before Roosevelt High graduate Pete Velasco captained the first U.S. Olympic team in 1964 when the sport made its debut at the Tokyo Games.
The Rainbow Warriors made huge noise nationally when selling out the Stan Sheriff Center eight times in their first three seasons in the arena (1995-97), including five times in 1996. It was an eye-opener for the Big West — the only NCAA Division I conference that sponsors men’s volleyball — when last April’s conference tournament made money, a three-day run that included a deafening sold-out crowd of 10,300 on the final night watching host Hawaii outlast Long Beach State in five sets for its first title and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
That April 20 match capped a 16-0 season in the SSC for NCAA runner-up Hawaii, which puts its 17-match home winning streak dating to 2018 up against sixth-year program Charleston on Friday. The Warriors, 28-3 last year, open as the preseason No. 1 for the first time in program history and are the unanimous choice to win the Big West in the coaches preseason poll.
Conversely, the Golden Eagles were picked seventh out of eight in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association coaches’ preseason ranking. Charleston went 9-20 overall, 1-13 in the EIVA, in Mike Iandolo’s first season at the West Virginia school.
The 4,589-mile journey is more than worth the trek, said Iandolo, who wants to share the “Hawaii volleyball experience” with his team. He learned to surf in Waikiki during his freshman season when Long Beach State played two fall exhibitions against the Warriors.
“It’s exciting for me,” said Iandolo, who played his final three seasons at Lewis, graduating in 2010 ranked No. 2 in assists and aces on the Flyers’ all-time list. “I wanted our one big trip a year to be somewhere fun to play.
“We have a lot of international guys who probably will never get another chance to go back to Hawaii. I want them to experience it.”
It will be a new experience for Charleston as a team. Iandolo brought in 10 new players, including 6-foot-9 freshman opposite Jake Vorburger who chose the Golden Eagles over the Warriors and likely will be in the starting lineup Friday.
“Funny how it works out,” Iandolo said. “His first match is against Hawaii. Welcome to big boy volleyball.”
“He’s a really nice kid, very impressive physically,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said of Vorburger. “I’m excited to see him play and how he’s progressed. It’s a little different path here for a first-year guy to get on the floor.”
Had Vorburger chosen Hawaii, his main competition would have been senior All-American Rado Parapunov. Iandolo recalls being an assistant at Grand Canyon in 2018 and the Antelopes played the Warriors in the Grow the Game Challenge in Nashville, Tenn.
“He is a big-time player and we couldn’t stop him,” Iandolo said of Parapunov, who had 10 kills and was in on five blocks. “He’s only going to be older and better.
“It’s going to be a question of how aggressive we are from the service line and can we match them physically.”
While Wade will see one who got away (Vorburger), so will Iandolo, who tried to recruit Hawaii’s Jakob Thelle. The sophomore setter is expected to start for the Warriors Friday.
Iandolo said his “brutal” first season at Charleston allowed him to see what he had and what he had to change when creating his gym culture. They will be young with eight of the 10 newcomers freshmen.
“I was a little worried to see how long it would take but after the first couple of weeks they were all buddies,” Iandolo said. “Already the vibe in fall was better and the gym is way more competitive.”
That volleyball culture has to start somewhere. For Charleston this week, it will be cultivated and embraced.
At Stan Sheriff Center
Charleston (0-0) at No. 1 Hawaii (0-0)
>> When: Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m.
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
>> Series history: First meeting
