Jakob Thelle has a home for the next step of his volleyball journey.

Hawaii’s 2023 AVCA Player of the Year signed a three-year contract with Italian club AS Volley Lube to begin his professional career, it was announced on Thursday.

Thelle, a two-time All-America setter from Tonsberg, Norway, who spent the last five years in the islands, will play with Lube in Treia, Italy, in Serie A in the Italian Volleyball League. Lube won the Italian championship as recently as 2022.

Thelle said in a release from the team, “I feel more than ready to start this … adventure in Italy, a country that I adore, wearing the shirt of my favorite club, Cucine Lube Civitanova! I can't wait to wear the team colors and meet the Marche supporters.”

He will be teammates with former Long Beach State standout Alex Nikolov, the 2022 AVCA Player of the Year. Nikolov reacted with a raised hands celebration emoji on Instagram.

“We noticed Jakob Thelle while following our Nikolov in the NCAA,” said Beppe Cormio, Lube’s sports director, in the team release. “A year later, knowing that he was completing his studies, we went to get him to offer him a great opportunity alongside (setter Luciano) De Cecco. 

“He has good hands and imagination in distribution. He knows how to attack and hits very well. Alex Nikolov himself, when I asked him for an opinion, told me to take (him) right away. He will come before the others in Civitanova being Norwegian and not having particular commitments with his national team. Time will tell if we got it right, but I'm very optimistic."

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.