TIFF’S TAKEAWAYS FOR #WARRIORBALL26 - WEEK 8
By Tiff Wells
1. Pivot! – The planning begins months in advance, then tweaked here and there as needed once the event gets closer. The nation’s premier non-conference tournament, the second longest running event in the Men’s Volleyball. Three doubleheaders over three consecutive days (Thursday through Saturday) was the plan for the 30th Outrigger Volleyball Invitational. It looked and seemed like it would go on without a hitch. And then, just like the Friends episode of trying to get the couch upstairs, one must pivot! Two hours prior to the first serve of the opening match of The Outrigger, it was announced that all University of Hawai`i campuses across state would be closed on Friday the 13th due to the severe weather expected to impact the island. It also meant those matches (UCLA vs Mount Olive, Hawai`i against Lewis) scheduled for that Friday would not be played, at least that was the initial plan. Despite the conditions outside, 3329 attended the Thursday matches. With storm preparations in place, everyone took the unexpected day off on Friday to assess the outlook of the rest of this tournament. With a lull in the weather forecast, the Saturday matches went on as scheduled as UH saw a season-high crowd of 8,927. It had been announced nine days prior that the match was a ticketed issued sellout, the 16th in Men’s Volleyball history. With travel plans already set for both Mount Olive and UCLA and the Bruins needing to get back ahead of finals week, UH and Lewis agreed to postpone their Friday match to then be played Sunday. A big mahalo to Rich Sheriff (Arena Manager), Russ Gima (Assistant Arena Manager), Rico Nakashima, their staff and all other grounds personnel for doing everything they could to ensure the arena and the surrounding areas were safe for all.
2. He’s Baaaaaaaaaack – It’s been an interesting one and a half seasons as a Rainbow Warrior for Kristian Titriyski. An ankle injury held him out of the final eight matches in 2025. The sophomore began 2026 by appearing in five of the first six matches before more injuries placed him back on the sidelines. Between back issues and a quad strain, it had been a minute since Hawai`i fans saw the Bulgarian on the taraflex. With Titriyski medically cleared ahead of Outrigger week, the UH coaching staff was hoping the starters could do well enough early in the opening match against Mount Olive to allow other players some court time. There was an extended ovation prior to the start of Set 2 as fans noticed No.10 on the floor and then a few seconds of cheering once his name was announced to the crowd. In the final two sets of the match, KT recorded a match-high 10 kills. He hit .417 while notching two aces, three digs and was in on three blocks. With UCLA holding Kainoa Wade in check, Titriyski entered late in Set 2 and then started Set 3. His eight kills in the 3rd set nearly forced a fourth set. Two nights later with Lewis slowing down Wade, the leash was shorter as the Bulgarian came on late in the first set. Once the match was done, he had 14 kills and hit .417, while in on three blocks. With two very capable opposites that are healthy, it’ll be an interesting follow here in the back half of the season as to who gets the start and does the other stay on the bench as the backup or become a serving sub. Either way, the best ability is availability and it’s great to be nearly at full strength hitting conference play.
3. He Brews – One of the phrases most commonly used by Head Coach Charlie Wade is “it’s not depth if you don’t use it.” The quality of this depth is on display as the “B-side” pushes the “A-side” in practice and often come away with Set wins. We’ve seen a rotation of middles, either due to injury or who’s had the hot hand. Having served in his country’s military, Ofeck Hazan is on the older side despite being a collegiate sophomore. The experience of playing for his Senior National Team has greatly helped both himself and the team. The middle blocker position isn’t the most glamorous as you’re expected to always go up for an attack despite not knowing if the ball will come your way and then be able to read the opposing team’s setter so that you can attempt to block that hitter that has the ball coming their way. You play half the time as a starter but are always expected to play at 100% once on the floor. With the energy of the team not at its usual level in the Lewis match, Hazan started Set 2 and made an immediate impact. Instant offense (four kills on five swings) and the defensive impact (six blocks in three sets) powered Hawai`i to their sixth match of the season with double-digit blocks. An energetic player that plays with positive emotion, his joy for the game was seen on the floor and it was contagious. Find that joy, play with passion were phrases uttered by both the coaching staff and the fanbase over the weekend. Perhaps the play of Hazan from this past Sunday is what fuels the fire here in the back half of the season.
4. Bounce Back – It was billed as one of the nation’s top matchups of the year. Two of the top setters in the nation quarterbacking elite and efficient offenses. All-Americans all over the floor. Number three hosting a rival, who just happened to be the undefeated and unanimous top team in the country. There was a heightened sense of importance to this one, especially after February’s scheduled meeting as part of February’s NIL Tournament didn’t happen as that Tournament was cancelled. It was must see volleyball. 16th ticketed issued sellout in Hawai`i history and in front of a season-high (and 2026 NCAA Men’s Volleyball high) 8,927 fans, the Bruins won the match 3-0. It was the first time in nearly three seasons that the Bows were swept at home. UH hit a season-low .207, more than 200 percentage points below their season average. A silver lining here as with the Lewis match postponed to Sunday, UH was given the opportunity to comeback the next night and play. As opposed to having to wait six days to play their next match…in Long Beach. Sometimes after a less than ideal performance, the best remedy is to play the next day. While the start of the match wasn’t exactly what UH wanted (lost Set 1 vs. Lewis 25-21, Hawai`i turned it around and earned their eighth-straight win against the Flyers after taking the match 3-1. UH hasn’t lost back-to-back matches since 2024 and it’s not been since 2016 that UH has lost two straight matches at home. This #WarriorBall26 season, Hawai`i is 3-0 (one 3-0 win, two 3-1 victories) following a loss.
5. Numbers – 8: Tread Rosenthal sits eighth all-time in program history with 2,936 assists and needs 13 to pass Jakob Thelle for seventh. He recently passed Jennings Franciskovic over the weekend. 7: Rosenthal recorded his 105th service ace, breaking a tie for seventh with Spyros Chakas. Three more aces and he would tie Delano Thomas for sixth. 2: The first RPI (or Ratings Percentage Index, which is calculated using three components: winning percentage, opponents’ winning percentage and opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage) came out on Monday and Hawai`i comes in at No. 2, behind UCLA. Another metric used to determine at-large recipients and seed the field overall, the KPI (Key Performance Indicator, a ranking system used to evaluate match results and considers such factors as: opponent’s winning percentage, strength of schedule and point differential to ultimately determine a match’s overall performance) also has UH in second. 3: The Rainbow Warriors continue to ranked third in the last AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Poll. 11: Hawai`i heads to Long Beach State this week where over the last decade plus, the Bows have lost 11 consecutive matches that include: the 2017 MPSF Tournament final, the 2018 Big West Tournament final and the 2019 National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship. UH has not beat Long Beach State in the Walter Pyramid since taking both matches in the 2015 series.
6. Only The Bold – Two of the six Big West teams have not played a conference match. That will change this week as Long Beach State hosts Hawai`i for a pair of matches. While everyone does a home-and-home (like how Basketball does their scheduling), UH this conference season plays two matches at: Long Beach State, UC Irvine and UC San Diego while hosting UC Santa Barbara and CSUN. UCSD and UCSB are both 2-1, while UCI is 1-1 and CSUN is 0-2. All teams are ranked inside the Top 17 in the AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Poll. Even without Moni Nikolov running Long Beach State’s offense, The Beach (14-2) are the top serving team in the country (2.78 aces per set…142 aces in 51 sets played) while Alex Kandev (27 aces in 37 sets) and Skyler Varga (32 aces in 47 sets) rank first and third respectively in the nation. LBSU has won the last two BWC regular season titles. Ranked fifth, UC Irvine (13-3, 1-1) feature one of the top freshmen in the country, Andrej Jokanovic and are one of three teams (USC, Long Beach State) that have forced a fifth set against UCLA this season. Behind one of the top hitters in the country, George Bruening has UC Santa Barbara (10-7, 2-1) at No. 8 this week. The Gauchos beat UH 3-0 last season in Santa Barbara. Featuring three Outside Hitters as their pin hitting options, UC San Diego (11-7, 2-1) is ranked 13th. While they do have a couple of head-scratching losses to Princeton and Vanguard, they have given UH fits in La Jolla in both 2024 and 2022, taking one match in each of those series. No. 17 CSUN (11-6, 0-2) is always dangerous with the dynamic Jalen Phillips as their opposite. All six teams will qualify for The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship at The Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif. on April 23rd-25th.