ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Warrior play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the previous week for the Bows
1 – OH Number 1s Stopped. When the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship bracket was revealed last week Saturday night, Hawai`i knew the assignment. Slow down Jalen Phillips of CSUN or UCI’s Hilir Henno in the semifinal and if chalk held for the final, then slow down Skyler Varga of Long Beach State. With the Anteaters holding on for a 5-set victory over the Matadors, UH had the task of facing (when healthy) arguably the best pin trio in the country that makes up UC Irvine’s offense. Between Nolan Flexen, Will D’Arcy and the reigning National Player of the Year in Hilir Henno, each are over 6’8” and quite dynamic. UH recorded 14.5 blocks (12th time this season with double-digit blocks) and held the Anteaters to a .234 hitting percentage. Coming into the week averaging four plus kills per set and five plus points per set, Henno was held in check. Only nine kills and a .111 hitting percentage, UH held UCI’s top offensive option in check. Flexen did score a team-high 15 kills but it wasn’t enough. As chalk held and the final featured UH against Long Beach State for a fourth time in now seven Big West Conference Championships, the top option for The Beach also never quite got calibrated. Seven kills and hitting .545 against UC San Diego the previous night, Varga has only eight kills and hit a mere .120. While Nato Dickinson went for a career-high 21 kills, that too was not enough as for a second consecutive night, Hawai`i slowed down the top offensive option of their opponent.
2 – Magnifique Adrien. Sometimes a visit from your loved ones helps you take your game to a new level. Facing a 12-hour time difference and with over 12,000 air miles between Lyon, France and Honolulu, Hawai`i, Adrien Roure is far, far from home. With about a dozen family members in house for the weekend, Roure stacked together two spectacular performances en route to being named the Most Outstanding Player of the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship. A career-high 18 kills against UC Irvine on Friday, Roure hit .441 with two aces, four digs and three blocks. He had the hot hand in the closeout fourth set as he notched eight kills on 11 errorless swings. One night later in the final, Roure didn’t record a hitting error. 11 kills on 19 errorless swings, he hit .579 and added nine digs, one block and had one of UH’s five service aces (all UH’s aces came in the 4th set). When the lights are the brightest, you need your best Outside Hitter to be at his best when his best is needed. And every single time, Roure answered the call. Allez Allez!
3 – Timing, Not Volume. The stingiest serve-receive team in the country, Long Beach State just doesn’t give up a lot of service aces. Allowing less than one per set on average this season, that trend continued through the first three sets of the championship match as Hawai`i had not recorded an ace. A team that prides itself on the number of service turns while also keeping their serves in play, the Bows saved their best serving set for the last set of the Championship. All five aces by UH came in the fourth set, four of them by Louis Sakanoko. He began his service turn at 9-13 and when he left, Long Beach led 14-13. A couple of aces, one after a timeout, Sakanoko was dialed in. At 22-20, the Paris native went back-to-back on service aces to give UH its first match point. He ended the match with four aces on 24 total serves and as a team, UH served in bounds at 88% (LBSU was at 78%). His fellow Frenchman Roure added a service winner as well and when UH got to the 20s first, their service turns late were better than those of The Beach.
4 – Big West Tourney Champs…Again. Leave no doubt. As Head Coach Charlie Wade has mentioned, he knew that his team would be hosting the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship. On the schedule, there would be a championship match on April 26th inside SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center and an automatic bid from the Big West Conference into the 2025 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship. UH had to be in it. And they needed to win it. For the second consecutive year, fourth time in five years and fifth time overall, Honolulu served as the host. With their 7-3 conference record, UH locked up a top two seed and thus, giving them a bye into Semifinal Friday. Learning that UCLA was upset in the MPSF semifinal maybe an hour before their serve, the Bows knew they had to win against UCI to keep their postseason hopes alive. Having the extra day of rest while UC Irvine was coming off their 5-set win that took over two and a half hours to complete, the Bows defeated the Anteaters for a third time this season. The majority felt that an at-large bid had been secured following the win over UCI as the Bows made the Big West final for a fifth time. But when you have an opportunity to play your way into the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship field, why would one want to leave their postseason fate in the hands of a selection committee? When Tread Rosenthal put down the final point of the match, UH earned their fourth overall Hawaiian Islands presents the Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship and first since 2023. `Eleu Choy advanced Hawai`i on the bracket after Friday’s win and it was Kurt Nusterer slapping the ‘H’ logo under champion following the victory over Long Beach State. On a day where upsets were abound in conference tournament, that trend continued here in Honolulu as the 2-seed defeated the top seed. Not only have three of their four tournament titles come here in Honolulu, UH has won the tournament three times when they have been seeded second.
5 – The Keiki…They Grow So Fast. As Hawai`i entered the 2025 season, they knew they had to replace a few starters as Chaz Galloway, Guilherme Voss, Spyros Chakas and Alaka`i Todd all exhausted their collegiate eligibility. A few internationals comprised a class of nine freshmen and with 11 total newcomers, how quickly could they gel and put it together? Right out of the gate, Adrien Roure made himself know as he took home both conference and freshman of the week honors. Nine straight wins that included the program’s first ever two-match series sweep over BYU, a split with Stanford handed the young Bows their first loss of the season. With as many as four freshmen (either true or redshirt) in the lineup, Hawai`i continued to roll out one of the youngest starting seven units in the country. Two wins over UC Irvine to open up conference play, Kristian Titriyski continued to find his groove as the go-to attacker from the right side while Justin Todd and Ofeck Hazan shared time as the second middle blocker. A road trip that included a stunning 3-0 loss at CSUN and an injury to Titriyski, what lateral change could Hawai`i make here? Throw in the starting opposite on the U.S. Junior National Team Finn Kearney. All he’s done is score double-digit kills in his last six matches, including two against No. 1 Long Beach State in addition to his clutch serving runs from off the bench. Kainoa Wade has seen time on the right side as well as a serving sub while Hazan has had his moments, both offensively and defensively. A 3-0 loss at UC Santa Barbara to end the regular season that included no Louis Sakanoko. Even with the injuries and a very youthful lineup, the Bows utilized the home court advantage to finish the season 18-3. Everything came together during the conference tournament as sophomore setter Tread Rosenthal directed an offense that hit over .300 on both nights. First-year middle blocker Justin Todd combined for 13 kills on 18 swings with one hitting error and 10 blocks. Two more double-digit kill matches for both Kearney and Roure, while Roure was named Most Outstanding Player of the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship. While the future is bright, enjoy the present because #WarriorBall25 is still dancing
6 – oHIo Bound. One can’t spell Ohio without the letters ‘H-I.’ Now for a third consecutive time that the Ohio State University has hosted the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship, Hawai`i has been in the field. 2017, UH beat Penn State before falling to eventual national champion Ohio State in the semifinal. During the 2021 covid season, the Bows swept UC Santa Barbara and then BYU to win their first of two National Championships. While there is no bye in this bracket of nine, UH will face the play-in winner between Penn State (EIVA auto-bid) and Daemen (NEC auto-bid) as that will determine who’s seeded seventh. In this, their 10th NCAA Appearance, the Bows are seeded second overall. A bracket that has days off between both the Quarterfinals and Semifinals, and then the Semifinals and Finals, the Hawai`i half of the bracket also includes 3-seed UCLA (MPSF, at-large) and 6-seed Belmont Abbey (Conference Carolina auto-bid), in addition to the play-in match to determine who will be the No. 7 seed. Hope to see a lot of Hawai`i fans in the Buckeye State as UH will try to paint Columbus Green and White.
7 – Well Done To The 7th Man. UH will end the season as the nation’s leader in average home attendance yet again. 21 home dates for #WarriorBall25 featured two consecutive sellouts for the first time since 1996. In the arena history (since 1994) that had not happened since Men’s Basketball did it eight consecutive games during the 1997-98 season. Two ticketed issued sellouts (14th and 15th in program history) helped the program see their attendance number hit nearly 150,000 (officially, 148,506). Five matches over three days saw over 20,000 (officially 20,434) come through the doors to watch the best conference have its postseason tournament take place. Another Hawaiian Islands presents the Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship in the books and it was one for the ages. What started with two five set quarterfinal matches ended with the home team hoisting the trophy for a fourth time. Bravo to you – the fan that flew in or got in your car and headed to Mānoa to take part. And all season long, you, the Hawai`i fan, have been creative with the signs and not only brought the noise but kept the energy going. Most importantly, you have continued to make playing in The Stan very special for these student-athletes. You’ve been the wind in their sails to continue pushing them. The mecca of Collegiate Men’s Volleyball is SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center and what makes it the best is you, the fans. Well done!
