ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Wahine play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the previous week for the Bows
1 – Tres Bien, Adrien! Laisse Les Bons Moments Rouler – as the French say, let the good times roll. So far, so good for Adrien Roure. Solidifying himself as UH’s OH-1, Roure leads the team in total kills (75) and is second in kills per set (3.57), aces (12) and points per set (4.26). Averaging 1.10 digs per set (23 digs) as well, Roure has become one of the primary passers in serve receive (along with `Eleu Choy and Clay Weiter) and has held his own, yielding just two reception errors in 88 total service receptions. As Head Coach Charlie Wade mentioned to us in Friday’s Castle Resorts and Hotels post-match show, Roure just might be the most polished and well-rounded true freshman Outside Hitter in program history. He’s been good right out of the gate and particularly on the bic attack. Double-digit kills in five of his first six collegiate matches, which included a career-high 17 in his NCAA debut against then No. 20 McKendree on opening night, Roure has strung together three straight matches of double-digit kills. While the constant production is there, the Freshman Frenchman has also been efficient. He’s hit .300 or higher in five of the first six matches and will tote a .362 hitting percentage into the BYU series in two weeks’ time. Tres bien Adrien!
2 – All About That Ace. Through four matches played, UH had 25 service aces while committing 66 service errors. The Bows were looking for more productivity and efficiency from the service line as they were coming off season highs in both aces (8) and errors (22) in the second match against Harvard. Night one of the Princeton matches was the first time this season where UH took over a match from the service line. An early 6-0 Clay Wieter service run gave UH a little bit of cushion and with Finn Kearney making a serving appearance off the bench, back-to-back aces from the Freshman set the tone. Seven aces alone in set two propelled UH to a 2-0 match lead. Kristian Titriyski dealt a career-high five aces as well. While they were forced to a four set on night one, Hawai`i served a season-high 16 aces, which ties for third most in program history in the rally scoring era. They still managed a 1:1 ace to error ratio in the match. In the second match, it was the Frenchmen duo of Adrien Roure and Louis Sakanoko who helped UH take both matches in the series. Roure served a career-high four aces while Sakanoko set the tone in the first set with two service aces. Those nine UH aces were the only aces of the match as UH held Princeton without an ace. Well done by UH’s serve receive of `Eleu Choy, Adrien Roure and Clay Wieter.
3 – Calm, Clay And Collected. A second-team All-MIVA selection in 2024, Clay Wieter led Lindenwood in kills (327) and was second in digs (176). 46 aces and hitting .319, the six-rotation pin hitter helped the Lions make a surprising run through the MIVA Tournament and into the final. Hitting the transfer portal to play his final year of collegiate ball, the dream was to play in Hawai`i. And with the Bows needing to replace both of their Outside Hitters due to graduation (Spyros Chakas and Chaz Galloway), Head Coach Charlie Wade went right after the best Outside Hitter in the portal. That Midwest native, the blue-collar guy isn’t flashy at all on the court. The senior brings maturity and experience to a group that sometimes has three or four freshmen on the court at once. Through six matches, the senior is hitting .358 (three matches he’s hit .400 or better) and has been in on 10 blocks. Adding stability to the serve-receive as well, No. 24 brings a sense of calmness to the group and does a lot of things that may not necessarily show up on the stat sheet.
4 – Second Match Adjustments. The first match of the Princeton series saw the Tigers hit .358, while two of their three pin hitters went off. Nyherowo Omene led all Princeton hitters with 14 kills and hit .321 while fellow pin hitter Mason Rice went 12-1-19 to hit .579. The Rainbow Warriors block was very quiet in the four-set win, to the tune of season-low two blocks. With a day in between to make adjustments for the second match, UH’s defense played much better. Their block showed up early…and often. Three blocks in set one eventually became a total of 9.5 for the match. The Rainbow Warriors slowed down both Omene (8-6-22, .091) and Rice (11-9-28, .071) and held Princeton as a team to a .135 percentage. With Middle Blocker Ofeck Hazan unavailable for the match (thumb injury), Justin Todd also made his own adjustments. After just one block on night one, Todd recorded six in the second match, which included his second match ending block.
5 – Bonjour Louis. A 2024 Big West Conference Honorable Mention and All-Freshman selection, Louis Sakanoko has been in the rotation of guys coming in off the bench through the first three weeks of the season here in 2025. But being a serving substitute is arguably the toughest aspect in Men’s Collegiate Volleyball. Unsure of if or when your number is called, you must be ready to go at a moment’s notice and be instantly productive. While not playing in the first match against Princeton, Sakanoko was on the floor maybe three hours before the second match working on his serve. The crowd roared when No. 23 came off the bench midway in set one. The serving sub paid off with instant offense for UH as they went on a 5-0 run to break open the set and in the process, Sakanoko recorded two aces.
6 – Six And O. For the sixth time since 2018, Hawai`i has started a season at 6-0. From multiple 3-0 victories to the come-from-behind win against Harvard, those in the arena have seen everything. Three quality opponents (two ranked at the time and a third in the ‘others receiving votes’ category) to begin the season, an inexperienced group was challenged from the get-go against experienced starting lineups that were upperclassmen heavy. Every home match (which has included two Wednesday matches) has seen no fewer than 3500 fans and with the final match of the homestand on a Friday night of a holiday weekend, a shoutout to the fan base as a season-high crowd of 6,297 buoyed the home team to their sixth win of the season. With a possible top-10 opponent (Stanford) coming to Honolulu for matches on February 5th and 7th, expect the crowds to continue climbing.
7 – New Rainbow Wahine Assemble. A bonus here for Rainbow Wahine Volleyball fans as earlier in the week, Hawai`i announced the additions of five newcomers for the 2025 season. All are enrolled for the spring semester and will participate in the offseason training program.
Info box courtesy of UH Athletics
- Gunderson played the last two years at Eastern Washington and will have one season of eligibility left. She led the Big Sky Conference and was fifth in the NCAA last season with 1.54 blocks per set. She was a 1st-Team All-Big Sky Conference selection in 2024.
- Hollis was fifth in the Big West a season ago with 8.86 assists per set. She was named to the Big West All-Freshman team.
- Hansen appeared in the first ten matches of 2024 for UC Santa Barbara and averaged 1.63 kills per set.
- Lopez appeared in 51 matches over two seasons for Cal State Fullerton, recording 118 digs and 39 service aces. She’s a second-generation Rainbow Wahine as her mom (Kristal Attwood) played for UH from 1990 to 1993.
- Reid is an early enrollee to UH that recorded 103 kills in her senior season for Kahuku. Named No. 10 in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Fab 15, Reid led Kahuku to an HHSAA Division I State Tournament appearance.
Keep in mind that these were announced for the Spring Semester. Two more in the class (Makenna Biondi and Kahea Moriwaki) will graduate high school this semester and enroll at UH for the fall semester.