By: Tiff Wells
1 – Energizer `Eleu. Farrington High alum `Eleu Choy stepped in as the libero for the All-American Brett Sheward and delivered on both nights. Seven digs in the first set on night one, Choy finished the win with a career-high 15 digs and five assists. On night two, Choy finished with seven digs and two assists. With two of the three primary passers returning from a year ago (Chaz Galloway and Spyros Chakas), Choy went 48-of-49 on serve receive and held his own with some very hard driven spin serves by Loyola Chicago. All out efforts, both on defense and in covering hitters was very noticeable by the home crowd as UH wound up splitting the series with No. 10 Loyola Chicago.
2 – M.P.S.F. UH’s previous conference affiliation did stand for Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, but many coaches did adjust it to say Must Put Serving First. At every level of the sport when asked what’s the key to victory, a head coach will say “we must win the serve and pass game.” UH’s goal is serving in at 90% and they did just that in the first match, serving in at .932 with six aces to just five errors. Two nights later however, the serving just wasn’t as efficient. 27 service errors (including 19 in the three sets lost) came at inopportune times as the Rainbow Warriors couldn’t string points together as often as they did during the first match. Coaches can live with service errors going long or wide as you’re at least forcing the opponent to make the split decision to play perhaps an out ball. UH nearly came away with the win despite those service errors as the Bows hit .469 and outhit the Ramblers by 159 percentage points. For a team that does pride itself on serving efficiency, 27 service errors is just way too many.
3 – Todd steps up. One of the biggest question marks coming into #WarriorBall24 was who would fill in as opposite with Dimitrios Mouchlias turning pro. Having been in the program for five years, it’s been routinely heard around the gym during fall camp that Alaka`i Todd has been the best player in the gym. With his second career start coming on opening night, the Punahou School alum finished with seven kills, two aces, eight digs and a block. Yes the hitting percentage was a little low for an opposite (.130), but UH’s receive game wasn’t as clean as we’re used to seeing and Setter Tread Rosenthal was more often than not playing the second ball from 10-to-15 feet off the net. For night two, Alaka`i was a lot more terminal with 12 kills on 22 errorless swings to hit .545. At 6’9,” you would like to see a little bit more in the blocking department as Todd recorded two blocks in eight sets played.
4 – Not your average 17 year old. He’s been the starting setter for the U.S. Junior National Team and gave his verbal commitment to be a Rainbow Warrior. When Tread Rosenthal decided to graduate high school after his Junior year and reclassify to begin his freshman year of college for 2023-24, the Hawai`i fanbase became really excited…to a tune of 4,440 coming to watch UH play in its season opener and witness first-hand the debut of Rosenthal. 32 assists, two kills, five digs and two blocks is a pretty good statline for any setter in a three set match. Head Coach Charlie Wade was more impressed and made sure to point out the fact that Rosenthal got all 21 of his spin serves in play. Rosenthal hadn’t been a spin server until he got to Hawai`i. At 6’8,” Rosenthal has led UH to a .374 hitting percentage after two matches. With the ankle injury to backup setter Kevin Kauling, UH’s offense (which was run at a noticeably higher tempo and with some very tight sets to the pins) will continue to be run by a 17 year old who technically should be a senior in high school and even with the high volleyball IQ and level of play Rosenthal has experienced as a youth, the offense could have some growing pains throughout the season with a freshman at the helm.
5 – Learn to finish. In set three on night one, Loyola led 15-7. An 8-0 run by Tread Rosenthal got UH back into the set as the Bows took the lead at 18-17 and never looked back en route to the 25-20 set win and a 3-0 match victory. Two nights later, the Ramblers turned the tide on the Rainbow Warriors as they came back from a 12-7 deficit in the fifth set to win 15-13. While UH did have five service errors in the decisive set, the Bows struggled again on serve receive and just couldn’t side out while facing a freshman serving specialist. Sometimes the last couple of points in a set are the hardest ones to get and while the match was in the first week of the season, losing a 12-7 fifth set lead at home will sting for a bit and be in the minds of everyone.
6 – A rare loss at home. Prior to Friday, UH had a record of 96-8 inside SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center since the beginning of the 2017 season. Proving to be one of the tougher venues for an away team, Hawai`i has been nearly dominant at home. While the Bows do host the 2024 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, presented by the Hawaiian Islands in April, Hawai`i does have conference roadtrips to Long Beach State, UC Irvine and UC San Diego. Hawai`i has only one non-conference road-trip (Purdue Fort Wayne for two matches and one at Ball State). Win the conference tournament and you get the automatic qualifying bid from the Big West into the NCAA Championship. That’s the plan and that’s the goal. But what happens if that plan is unsuccessful…is the resume and overall body of work good enough for at-large consideration?