HONOLULU — A frosty reunion is set to take place in frigid Provo, Utah, this weekend.

Any top-five meeting between all-sports rivals Hawaii and BYU would be worthy of note. But these back-to-back matchups between the No. 4 Rainbow Warriors and No. 5 Cougars in Provo, Utah, on Friday and Saturday, have garnered outsized attention even by that standard.

BYU’s most prolific offensive threat this season is none other than ex-UH player Keoni Thiim, who transferred out of the program following the 2024 season. In doing so, the undersized (generously listed at 6 feet) but explosive leaper voiced displeasure with his role during his three years in Manoa and announced he would seek a place that would allow him to thrive.

The Kalani High graduate appears to have found it with the Cougars of the MPSF, for whom the senior has played every set and leads in kills per set (3.91), total attacks (270), service aces (18) and service errors (41). He is hitting .311.

Hawaii middle Kurt Nusterer marveled at his good friend’s 100 total swings in two five-set wins over Ball State on Jan. 16 and 17, calling them “outrageous numbers” in an interview session with local media on Tuesday.

Nusterer allowed that “it’ll be nice to see him” but otherwise tried to downplay that aspect of the meeting.

“As much as I love that kid and as much as he was a great person, great leader in this community, this game’s about Hawaii versus BYU, not Hawaii versus Keoni Thiim,” Nusterer said. “I’m worried if we make it about that as a team, there’s other players on that team that can do a lot of damage. We really gotta be focused on everyone and not get distracted by that.”

BYU (6-2) is coming off consecutive road losses to No. 2 UC Irvine, in five sets and in straight sets. Thiim had a team-high 18 kills in the first but just four in the second.

Thiim, consistently a fiery competitor in his days in a green and white uniform, has made no secret that he’s had these matches circled.

“Been waiting a lil bit for this one,” Thiim wrote of the game on his Instagram story.

On his way out from the program eight months ago, Thiim, in an episode of the Out of System podcast hosted by former UH players Joe and Gage Worsley, referred to UH coach Charlie Wade not by name but as “the man in charge” in referring to his decision to look elsewhere for his final year of college volleyball.

Thiim said he felt supported by his UH teammates but that he’d been “fighting the battle with one arm tied behind my back” at UH.

“(Deciding to leave) goes down to the man in charge and our difference basically in opinions of the value of myself,” Thiim said. “After I what I experienced, I know for a fact that kind of the dream that I’ve been chasing and the goal I want to achieve, it won’t happen in my last year (at UH).

“I feel like I have the potential to be ‘the guy,’ as you all like to say,” he added.

Wade, for his part on Tuesday, emphasized the team matchup and rivalry for this week’s matches. His commentary on his former player was limited when asked about him on two occasions.

“Obviously Keoni’s got a big serve and we’ve certainly seen a lot of that here,” Wade said. “They’ve got pretty volatile arms that can kind of wreck the game, they get going they get hot from the service line and can take over. Everybody plays better at home and they’re certainly no different. They’re a top-five team for a reason, for sure.”

Thiim, who came to UH from Santa Barbara Community College, played primarily as a serving specialist in UH’s national championship season of 2022 and reprised that role in 2023.

Once Spyros Chakas went down with a season-ending injury in the middle of the 2024 season, Thiim stepped into a starting role and made 14 starts. He posted a career-high 20 kills at Long Beach State on March 16 just after Chakas got hurt.

Aside from the Thiim connection, there is little familiarity between the teams. UH (6-0), behind a loaded freshman class, will play its first road matches of the year in elevation after dispatching McKendree, Harvard and Princeton in succession at home.

UH’s top four players in kills per set (opposite Kristian Titriyski, hitters Adrien Roure and Clay Wieter and. Middle Ofeck Hazan) are first-year players in the program.

Wade said Hazan is back healthy from a hand ailment.

“It’s two top-five teams playing in January. I don’t think anyone who wins one or two of them is going to vault to be the odds-on favorite to win the national championship,” Wade said. “Conversely, if you lose two of them, it doesn’t ruin your season. It’s still pretty early. It’s certainly meaningful nonconference games but certainly not year-defining.”

UH swept BYU in its last visit to Provo in 2019 for the BYU Invitational title. The teams split two raucous meetings in Honolulu in 2020 that immediately preceded all UH Athletics events shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic threat. The teams last met in the 2021 national championship, a UH sweep for its first national title since its 2002 edition was vacated by the NCAA for use of an ineligible player.

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