On-Air Now
On-Air Now
Listen Live
, , ,

Week 5 | 6 takeaways for Rainbow Warrior Volleyball 2025

Week 5 | 6 Takeaways for Rainbow Warrior Volleyball 2025

ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Wahine play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the previous week for the Bows

1 – #MānoaMagic In Provo. No one on the current roster had ever played at BYU before and this weekend provided not only the first road test of the season against a quality opponent, but also the first road matches of the season. With anywhere between four and five underclassmen in the starting lineup, the keiki needed to stick together as they entered hostile territory with each match having a sellout crowd. Throw in the rivalry that is Hawai`i-BYU and sprinkle that with a former Rainbow Warrior now on the other side of the net, it made No. 4 versus No. 5 the matchup of the weekend. The first set on night one saw UH trail by as many as seven (13-6) only to see the Hawai`i fight back to within two (21-19). Even though they lost the set, it wouldn’t be the only time that night they trailed in the match. Down 1-0 and 2-1 in the match, UH battled to win sets 2 (25-22) and 4 (25-16) to force the winner-take-all fifth. Trailing 5-1 and 8-4, the Bows fought back to take leads of 10-9 and 13-12. BYU would serve for the match six different times and each time, the Rainbow Warriors would side out to keep the match going. On top of going to the fifth set, that fifth set went into deuce before a Tread Rosenthal ace and a Kristian Titriyski kill ended the frame at 22-20 and gave UH the 3-2 comeback win to remain unbeaten at 7-0. As reminded by Kurt Nusterer’s dad (Norbert), UH has fought off nine total match points so far this season. One night later in Set 3 with UH trailing 24-15, Tread Rosenthal went on a 7-0 scoring run to get UH to within two points at 24-22. While the comeback fell short as BYU won the set 25-22, UH carried that momentum into Set 4 and went on a 7-2 closing run to win the match in four. Magic is there, whether in Mānoa or another locale.

2 – Back To Back…A First. Four. Just four wins for UH over 29 matches in Provo, the last coming in 2019 where the Bows recorded their first ever 3-0 victory at BYU. 1995, 2001, 2003 and 2019. Each year saw one UH win at BYU. Never before had the Rainbow Warriors won both matches of a regular season series against the Cougars. After the two hour and 40-minute marathon win on Friday night, the Bows gave themselves a chance to make history in the Saturday hana hou match. Blocking set the tone for both matches as UH set a season-high in blocks with 18.5 on night one and that production carried over into night two as the Bows recorded 10 of their 16.5 blocks in the opening frame, including five in a row at one point. A Cougar hitting error ended the match and gave UH the 3-1 match win. For the first time ever, the Bows won both matches of the series at BYU. The back-to-back wins also gave Head Coach Charlie Wade wins No. 299 and No. 300. He becomes the fifth current Division I-II Head Coach with 300+ wins, joining Mark Pavlik (Penn St), Dan Friend (Lewis), Alan Knipe (Long Beach State) and Michael Rumbaugh (Saint Francis Pa.). Titriyski for the second time this season went back-to-back as the team leader in kills as he notched a career-high 20 on night one and 17 on night two. The back-to-back wins marked the fifth time since 2019 that Hawai`i begins a season at 8-0.

3 – Triple Double Watch. There hasn’t been a triple-double in Men’s Collegiate Volleyball since 2022. As matches go into a fourth and sometimes fifth set, some starters record double-doubles and a few even flirt with a triple-double. Such was the case for multiple UH players this weekend as on night one, Adrien Roure (12 kills, 11 digs, 7 blocks) came very close to the feat. Two career highs (9 kills and 8 blocks) for Tread Rosenthal (43 assists, 6 digs) nearly led him to an unthinkable Quadruple-Double. The second match would feature Titriyski (17 kills,7 digs and 7 blocks) filling the stat sheet. As this 2025 season progresses, don’t be surprised if we see a triple-double from somebody.

4 – 📍Kurtistown, Utah. 30 minutes from Hilo, Hawai`i sits Kurtistown. The distance from Kurtistown to Provo, Utah is 2,924 miles and the way Kurt Nusterer patrolled and owned the net this weekend, one could say he renamed Provo to Kurtistown. Tying his career-high of 10 blocks on night one, he matched that output with 10 more in night two. That would be 20 blocks for Nusterer over the 9 sets played, while UH as a team recorded 35 blocks for the weekend. In a battle of The Mānoa Roofing Company versus The Wall of Brigham, the Rainbow Warriors out-blocked the Cougars 35-28. UH continued to press low and tight on their blocks as BYU continually ran a high-ball offense to either pin. While this could possibly be the final season for the Redshirt Junior Nusterer, home matches in The Stan will continue to have the sign held courtside that says, “Welcome to Kurtistown.”

5 – 5k+ Two Times. With Hawai`i leaving for Provo on a Tuesday night ahead of a Friday, Saturday series, UH knew there would be a lot of Blue and White inside Smith Fieldhouse. With a capacity of 5,000, there was a great chance that one, if not both would be a ticketed issued sellout. While some Rainbow Warrior fans were lucky enough to secure a ticket, it was announced by BYU the day before that both matches would be indeed be sellouts. And why not? 4 versus 5. Longtime rivals. UH’s first trip to Provo since 2019 and with these teams in different conferences, who knows the next time Hawai`i fans that live in Utah will get a chance to see the Rainbow Warriors in person. 5,019 in house on night one and then 5,387 on night two for over 10,000 in the two-match series. While it was volleyball in late January and early February, the atmosphere inside Smith Fieldhouse resembled that of late April and early May volleyball when it’s conference and national tournament time. Buoyed by the Hawai`i faithful that made the trip, UH played off the energy from their fans and didn’t back down when parts of the match got tough and the BYU crowd got into it. While early in the season, UH passed its first road test and came away with two top-5 wins that will surely be near the top of its resume.

6 – Je m’appelle Louis. 14 starts in 2024 en route to All-Big West Honorable Mention and Big West All-Freshman selections for Louis Sakanoko as he became a fan favorite with his leaping ability and a very live right arm. Coming into 2025 however, playing time has been tough to find with the emergence of Adrien Roure and the addition of Clay Wieter. It left some to ask, where’s Louis? Prior to the BYU series, Sakanoko saw six sets of action through the first three weeks of the season. Six total kills and two aces, the sophomore continued to work hard in practice and push the A-side grouping. And with Wieter not at 100% health, Sakanoko quickly reminded fans he is right there on the depth chart. Eight kills and three digs over the final three plus sets on night one, it was a couple of service runs and his 14-of-14 on serve receive that helped UH win the first match. Making his first start of the season on night two, the Frenchmen went for a season-high 13 kills, hitting .296, adding an ace, two blocks and was two digs shy of a double-double. Going 18-for-20 on serve receive, Sakanoko was part of a serve-receive group that gave up just six aces over the nine sets played. What was also very noticeable was the shot selection, both on serving and hitting for Sakanoko. Tips, roll-shots, high-flat off the block in addition to the full-on swing and understanding the moment when serving, Sakanoko chose wisely when pulling driver or keeping it in play. Staying for extra reps and being ready at a moments notice was key in UH going 2-0 in Provo this past weekend.