By: Tiff Wells – ESPN Honolulu’s Hawaii Men’s Volleyball Play-by-Play

1 – Trying To Find Themselves. Since the news that Spyros Chakas would miss the remainder of the season, Hawai`i has lost three of four matches. They have also hit under .250 in three of those four matches as they continue to try and find that right combination in the thick of conference play. The way UH played in the two tough losses at Long Beach State, it gave you a lot of optimism for the rest of the season that UH would be okay, even without the services of Chakas. A disappointing split in the home series against CSUN has UH with a 1-3 Big West record with six matches left to play. With four of their last six are on the road, it will take a lot for the Bows to move up to the two seed and avoid having to play on Quarterfinal Thursday in next month’s 2024 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, presented by the Hawaiian Islands.

2 – Voss Moves Up Ranks. With his 14 blocks over the two-match series against CSUN, Middle Blocker Guilherme Voss passed Taylor Averill and Matt “Dragon” Rawson for fifth-place all-time in Hawai`i Volleyball history in career total blocks. Just the seventh UH player with 400 or more career blocks, Voss sits at 410 with six regular-season matches left, plus the postseason. He needs 29 to pass Dio Dante for fourth place. As Voss’ numbers have gone, so too have UH’s blocks per set numbers. Although they were outblocked 11.5 to 10.5 in match two vs CSUN, UH recorded 24.5 blocks for the series with the Matadors. As a team, it marked the seventh time this season that UH notched double-digit total team blocks.

3 – Blinded By The Sun. After holding off CSUN on night 1 in four sets, UH just didn’t have the answers in the run it back match on Saturday. The normally sound UH serve-receive struggled with the constant Matador pressure as UH setter Tread Rosenthal couldn’t run the middle. Only nine of the 100 sets went to the middle. The Bows also couldn’t string together points from the service line. Yes, the Bows had six service aces but CSUN was constantly in system and sided out at 76% off of first ball contact for the match. Defensively, the Bows came in number two in the nation this week holding opponents to a .194 hitting percentage. Saturday’s match was the highest an opponent hit against UH as the Matadors hit .387. In the match, the Bows hit just .240, their third lowest hitting percentage of the season.

4 – The Freshman Frenchman. For his performances at Long Beach, Louis Sakanoko was named Big West Freshman of the Week for a second time. Of the 11 weekly awards for Freshman of the Week, UH has won eight of them. 10 kills, three aces, seven digs and three blocks on night one, Sakanoko tied his career-high with 19 kills (seven in Set 3 alone) on night two. Between Sakanoko, Keoni Thiim and Chaz Galloway, any combination of the two (or interchanging them with the third) will need to carry UH’s pin production with the absence of Chakas.  

5 – Different Kind Of Energy. Without having the calming presence and efficient production on the floor as their leader recovers from surgery, the Bows know someone will have to step up. While UH is trying to split Chakas’ five points per set amongst its other players, it’s more of the floor leadership that the Bows continue to seek with three weeks left in the regular season and ahead of the conference tournament. Whether it’s the true freshman setter, a middle who plays three rotations or one of the pin hitters, someone needs to change the dynamic of the team. The loss of one player cannot result in the loss of the season.

6 – Prove To Themselves. As the two-time defending Big West Conference Tournament Champions, the other five teams are doing whatever they can to dethrone UH of its third consecutive automatic bid into the NCAAs. And now without its star player, opponents feel UH is vulnerable as the Bows will more than likely need to win three matches in three days to secure the auto-bid from the Big West into the NCAAs. It’s gut check time for a team that has multiple All-Americans mixed in with a few first-year starters in the lineup. The win on Friday over the Matadors proved to themselves that they can win without Chakas. It might not be pretty or as clean of a match as UH fans are used to seeing, but a win is a win. It will continue to be a roller coaster ride for the rest of the season, one that we hope will have more peaks than valleys.