ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Warrior play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the previous week for the Bows
1 – Winning Isn’t Always Pretty. 12 errors in Set 1 on night 1 and Hawai`i still wins by 4 points (25-21). Night 2 featured 13 errors in the opening set and yet, the Rainbow Warriors found a way to win the frame on its third set point opportunity, 27-25. At times it wasn’t clean volleyball and it wasn’t always the pretty volleyball that UH fans are used to seeing, but it was good enough. Good service turns late helped the Bows to two, 2-0 match leads on both nights (25-21, 25-21…27-25, 25-23). Despite the early hitting errors in the first set of each match, the Hawai`i offense steered back on course to hit .358 for the series (the hitting percentage for the team on the season). With the offense remaining in gear, the overall serving efficiency wasn’t quite where it has been this season. Over the seven sets played, UH managed nine aces (6 on night 1, 3 on night two) and 31 errors (13 on night 1 and 18 on night 2). 14 of the 31 came in the two opening sets and as a whole, Hawai`i served in bounds at 81%. UH’s goal is closer to 90%. Wins are wins and chalk up two more quality W’s against another Top 20 opponent as UH racked up two more Big West Conference victories.
2 – Stacking Sakanoko. Hawai`i is still waiting for that one match where all three pin hitters are going off. One night it’s the opposite and one of the outside hitters. Next night it’s the other outside hitter and the opposite. It then could be both outside hitters with the opposite having the slow night. The coaching staff has been preaching for hitters to stack positive matches together, to be that consistent guy. Against the Tritons, Mr. Consistent was Louis Sakanoko. The Parisan had just five kills and hit .000 against USC. Then he had to wait 13 days before the next match. With Clay Wieter still experiencing back problems, Sakanoko came out in that first matches versus UCSD looking like his usual self. 13 kills on 22 swings with just four hitting errors, he hit .409 while adding an ace, seven digs and was 10-of-11 on serve receive. 24 hours later, he then tied his season-high of 15 kills to hit .414. He also filled the stat sheet with five assists, one ace, five digs, four blocks and was 21-of-25 on serve receive. As Kristian Titriyski offensively led UH on night one and Adrien Roure powered the Bows on night two, it was the consistent Sakanoko who stacked two solid performances together as UH won both matches over the weekend. And for his efforts, the Sophomore from Paris was named on Monday the Big West Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career.
3 – Spicy Saturday. In the second match of a two-match series, the team that loses on night one comes out having made more adjustments and typically will play a little more desperate (and typically that second match has better overall play) as they know they need to win to salvage a series split and feel a little better about themselves after the series is complete. UC San Diego did just that, making two starting lineup changes (at one of the middle blocker spots and at libero). And when you think of rivalries for UH Men’s Volleyball, one thinks of Long Beach State, UCLA and BYU (in no particular order). But…UC San Diego? The series history now sits at 66-7 all-time in UH’s favor but after Saturday’s theatrics, maybe a new rivalry has been established? From talking (and gesturing) through the net and from the bench to constant floor wiping and lengthy discussions with the officials, the Saturday four-set match lasting two hours and 43 minutes could have gone three hours plus if a fifth set was needed. Some may like the constant chatter, others may not. UH Volleyball fans are some of the most knowledgeable of the sport in the country and they just enjoy watching good volleyball. It’s common for applause to occur even when the opposing team wins the point after a long rally. They just appreciate the sport. Booing opposing players and their team just doesn’t happen as the frustration is typically voiced and directed at the officials (as is the case in sports). As we neared the media break in the fourth set, UH fans simply had enough of what was going on and began voicing their displeasure at the theatrics taking place. Whatever your take is on what transpired over Saturday night here on the island, get your popcorn ready for next month’s Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship here in Honolulu. Might we see UH/UCSD, round three? Could there be a neutral site match (or two) for the Tritons where the UH fans that come to watch maybe just cheer a little louder for their opponent? Stay tuned.
4 – Defend The Island. To be in the running for a conference tournament title or at least be in the upper half of the conference standings, the formula is pretty simple: win your home matches and at least split the ones on the road. A front-loaded conference schedule with the first four matches at home, UH has dropped just one set along the way en route to a 4-0 Big West mark. Currently entering week three with a match lead on second-place Long Beach State, UH has taken care of their home matches with two series sweeps over UC Irvine and UC San Diego respectively. With all six seeds for the conference tournament (and those two quarterfinal byes) still very much up for grabs over the final three weeks of the regular season, four of the remaining six matches for UH are now on the road. Successfully defending the island in each of their first four conference home matches has put the Bows in a nice spot entering the month of April.
5 – He Brews! Ofeck Hazan had previously started the first three matches and ten of the first 14 matches of the season. With the emergence of Justin Todd balancing the other starter Kurt Nusterer, the depth of the middle blocker position has been on display this season. Coupled with Zach Thompson and Alex Parks, playing time comes at a premium as Head Coach Charlie Wade has five guys vying for the two starting jobs. Unfortunately for UH, that depth was on display and thrust into action early in the UC San Diego series as right before the media break in Set 1, Justin Todd injured his left ankle as he landed on Louis Sakanoko’s ankle after coming down from a block attempt. Insert Ofeck Hazan. As the freshman began to reacclimate himself on the floor, he scored a kill, notched two blocks and picked up two digs in the win. Even though UH was out-blocked 7.5 to 7 in night one, Hazan was in on numerous block touches that helped the backrow out-dig UCSD 33-26 (UH also out-dug UCSD on night 2, 28-25). While Todd wasn’t ruled out for the rest of the match (we learned he could have come back if needed), Hazan more than held his own and earned the start in night two. Providing offense through the middle, Tread Rosenthal went to Hazan 10 times and the Israeli scored seven kills. Adding five blocks and two more digs, the freshman did his part in holding the Tritons to hitting .223 over the weekend series.
6 – March Mayhem. Over 12,000 (12,071) spectators were in house for the two-match series with the Tritons here on the island. Nearly five hours were needed to play the seven sets. While UH didn’t set attendance records, two other Big West programs did. On March 28th, then unanimous and undefeated Long Beach State broke a men’s volleyball attendance record at the Pyramid as 4,676 came through the doors as UC Irvine won round 1 of the Black and Blue rivalry with a stunning 3-0 sweep. A night later down the road in Irvine, The Bren Events Center set a new men’s volleyball attendance record with 4,758 as Long Beach returned the favor with a sweep victory over its rival. With the Beach losing, there are no more undefeated teams in Division I/II. With April 11th and 12th being the final two regular season home matches for #WarriorBall25 and no other sports at home overlapping the 7:00 p.m. match times on either date, we could be looking at one…maybe two sellout crowds. Tickets are going extremely fast for both matches. As Honolulu is the hosting city for the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship April 24th-26, we could be looking at the top four (maybe five) attendance marks of the 2025 season in a 15-day span.
7 – Keeping Score. If you were a seasoned reader of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin or the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the title Keeping Score is one very familiar. Seeing it as the column title since 1981, it was synonymous with someone very close to me. And for those that have been following along with my takeaways here at ESPN Honolulu over the last couple of seasons of Rainbow Wahine and Rainbow Warrior Volleyball, you also noticed there wasn’t one filed after the 29th Outrigger Volleyball Invitational. The morning after USC defeated Hawai`i for the Invitational championship, I received a phone call that no child ever wants to hear. From paddling to being both a guardian and docent at `Iolani Palace to her Alpha Gamma Delta sorority and a tour guide at Washington Place to covering nearly every single University of Hawai`i team over her four decades-long career, mom did nearly everything. And she did so with a smile every step of the way as her motherly instinct always kicked in. Between the moments of silence at Baseball, Women’s Volleyball and Men’s Volleyball, to the countless phone calls, texts, messages, lei, cards, comments and sharing of stories both in the arena and around town, I can’t even begin to thank you all and tell you how much it means to me and my entire family during this time. Until this weekend when we come to you live from Northridge…Aloha.
AVCA Ranking: 5th. RPI: 2nd. Big West Awards: Offensive (Sakanoko). Setter (Rosenthal).
