HONOLULU — The Hawaii men’s volleyball team couldn’t make it three national titles in a row, but the Rainbow Warriors still managed a Honolulu Hale three-peat.
A few dozen fans and city staff members ringed the foyer as Mayor Rick Blangiardi paid tribute to UH at city hall for a third straight year — matching the number of years of his administration. Band members stormed the stairs to lend a festive atmosphere just a few days after the ‘Bows fell to UCLA in four sets in the NCAA championship in Fairfax, Va.
Once again, Blangiardi decreed it Rainbow Warrior Men’s Volleyball Day, and distributed certificates to players and Charlie Wade’s staff. Unlike the last two years, however, UH did not roll up to the Hale in a victory parade.
“You’ve become an annual tradition,” Blangiardi said to the team.
“I think that you know it, but it deserves to be said,” he said, “the amount of pride you’ve created in our community, and what you’ve done and how you’ve represented Hawaii in just the very best in all ways possible … it’s joyous. I want to thank you on behalf of everybody in this state, if I can go beyond my own boundaries. It is about our state. You guys have been incredible.”
As he passed out certificates, Blangiardi singled out Milan Zarkovic, who was named AVCA Assistant Coach of the Year.
Wade then stepped to the microphone and expressed gratitude. He pointed at his players to credit their hard work in helping the program to a fourth straight national final.
He said afterward the team would head straight from Honolulu Hale to its locker room in the Stan Sheriff Center to debrief and disperse into the offseason.
“All the support just serves as motivation to keep working hard,” Wade said.
Nearly the entire team was present. Notable absences were AVCA Player of the Year Jakob Thelle and fellow first-team All-Americans Dimitrios Mouchlias and Guilherme Voss. Thelle and Mouchlias finished their UH careers in Fairfax, but Voss is expected to return.
Team members acknowledged that the loss to the Bruins — a team UH beat in four in the stacked Outrigger Invitational in Honolulu in March — was no easy thing to get over.
“It’s a process that you go through,” hitter Spyros Chakas said. “I want to quote my fellow Greek Giannis (Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks) who said that there’s no failure in sports. It’s all stages of success. One loss cannot define you. It cannot define all the work you put in for three, four years. It’s just a lesson for us. A lesson to remember this feeling and go back there and do our best to win it.”
Brett Sheward is expected to be one of the team’s top returnees after proving himself at both libero and setter over the past three seasons. Thelle was UH’s mainstay at setter the last three years, but Sheward filled in capably when needed. When asked about Sheward’s role next season, Wade credited him for his versatility but did not specify where he would play.
Sheward acknowledged there will be far less continuity than what UH enjoyed going from 2022 to 2023 with its entire starting lineup returning.
“Definitely a big change coming in. A lot of new guys,” Sheward said. “But I’m definitely confident; this coaching staff does a really good job of developing. We have to develop quick, but full confidence in that. A couple guys coming back in the starting lineup, so I’m looking forward to it.”
Wade said he expected the team to attack weight training hard in the offseason after it appeared to wear down in the national final and final, something that was apparent in Penn State and UCLA’s double-digit service ace numbers against the ‘Bows.
“I think we need to be a little more physical,” Wade said. He also acknowledged that greater depth of rotational players would help prevent the starters from wearing down.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.