Prior to Hawaii men’s volleyball’s season opener in early January, coach Charlie Wade made the goal for his team crystal clear.
“The expectation is for us to be the best team in the country,” he said. “Win every night we go out.”
When healthy, and at times with four freshmen in the starting lineup, the third-ranked Rainbow Warriors have done exactly that.
Hawaii won 20 of its first 21 matches, finished second to No. 1 Long Beach State in the difficult Big West Conference, and put three players on the all-conference first team released Wednesday.
Yet, despite all of that, the Rainbow Warriors find themselves playing for their season tonight in the semifinals of the Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A third meeting against UC Irvine (21-6), which UH swept twice earlier this season, will determine whether Hawaii (24-5) not only moves on to play for a conference title, but secures at least an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament, which would mark UH’s fifth trip to the NCAAs in the past six seasons.
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UH isn’t taking any chances, even if it makes it to the Big West final.
“We think Friday and Saturday are must wins,” UH sophomore setter Tread Rosenthal said. “Obviously first it would be good to get past Irvine, but we don’t want to leave (anything up to chance).”
Rosenthal started as a freshman for a UH team that lost to the Anteaters in the semifinals last season, ending a run of four consecutive trips to the NCAA final.
UH retooled its roster in the offseason, bringing in a talented recruiting class that includes freshmen all-conference selections Kristian Titriyski at opposite and Adrien Roure on the outside.
Freshman Ofeck Hazan has started 13 matches at middle blocker, Finn Kearney and Kainoa Wade have played in all but one match, and redshirt freshman Justin Todd has started 16 matches at middle blocker.
With Rosenthal and fellow sophomore Louis Sakanoko also in the lineup, the nucleus for UH men’s volleyball is in place for not just this year, but the next two to three years as well.
They are ahead of schedule, but as Wade pointed out prior to the start of the season, despite the youth, there still was a belief this team could make it as far as some of the more experienced squads in years past.
“We still believe we can be the best team in the country at the end of the season,” Wade said after UH’s loss at UC Santa Barbara in its regular-season finale last weekend. “Now, we’ve got to get healthy and get some guys back, but we have shown we are capable of playing at the highest level.”
The expectation is Sakanoko will be available to make his 18th start of the season after missing both matches on the road last weekend.
Titriyski, who leads the team in scoring and aces, is still working his way back from an ankle injury, but is out of a boot and was jumping and hitting in practice on Wednesday.
The Anteaters present a major challenge despite how both regular-season matches went earlier this season.
Hilir Henno, the reigning AVCA National Player of the Year, is second in the country in points, kills and aces per set.
UCI’s current six-game losing streak is the longest in the Big West. UH didn’t find out its opponent until late Thursday night.
“We kind of throw a little wider net and in terms of general preparation, there are six teams here and you don’t have your regular practice time,” Wade said. “We’ve been in this situation before and you recognize you’re going to get to play one of two teams and we will get to see them live. We will be alright.”