2023 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors volleyball team

2023 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors volleyball
2023 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors volleyball
Big West Regular Season Co-Champions; Big West Tournament Champions
NCAA Tournament, Runner-Up
Conference	Big West Conference
Record	29–3 (9–1 Big West)
Head coach	Charlie Wade (14th season);
Assistant coaches	Milan Zarkovic (10th season); Kupono Fey (1st season);
Home stadium	Stan Sheriff Center
	Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

The 2023 Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors volleyball team represented the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH) in the 2023 NCAA Division I & II men's volleyball season. The Rainbow Warriors, led by 14th-year head coach Charlie Wade, played home games at Stan Sheriff Center on the UH campus in the Honolulu neighborhood of Mānoa. The Rainbow Warriors, members of the Big West Conference, were picked by Big West coaches to win the conference in its preseason poll with Long Beach State.^[1] The Rainbow Warriors enter the season as the two-time defending national champions after defeating Long Beach State in the 2022 national championship game.^[2] The national championship was Hawai'i's second men's volleyball national championship after they had to vacate the 2002 national championship.

2023 Big West Conference men's volleyball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 2 Hawai'i ‍†‍‡‍^y	9	–	1	.900	29	–	3	.906
No. 4 Long Beach State ‍†‍‍^y	9	–	1	.900	21	–	5	.808
No. 5 UC Irvine ‍‍‍	6	–	4	.600	18	–	11	.621
UC Santa Barbara ‍‍‍	3	–	7	.300	8	–	17	.320
UC San Diego ‍‍‍	2	–	8	.200	8	–	17	.320
CSUN ‍‍‍	1	–	9	.100	12	–	16	.429

† – Conference champion ‡ – 2023 Big West Tournament champion y- Invited to the NCAA volleyball tournament As of November 9, 2024 Rankings from AVCA

Season highlights

Will be filled in as the season progresses.

Preseason

Coaches poll

The preseason poll was released on December 21, 2022. Hawaiʻi was picked to finish first in the Big West Conference standings.^[3]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Hawai'i	25 (5)
2	Long Beach State	19
3	UC Irvine	17 (1)
4	UC Santa Barbara	13
5	CSUN	10
6	UC San Diego	6

Roster

2022 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors Roster^[4]

Defensive Specialist/Libero

4 Brett Sheward - Junior
5 'Eleu Choy - Freshman
15 Kai Taylor - Freshman

Middle Blockers

7 Cole Hogland - Junior
8 Kurt Nusterer - Freshman
14 Alaka'i Todd - Junior
19 Alex Parks - Freshman
21 Guilherme Voss - Junior

Outside Hitters

1 Chaz Galloway - Junior
2 Derek Bradford - Freshman
6 Makua Marumoto - Sophomore
9 Devon Johnson - Junior
15 Kai Taylor - Freshman
16 Filip Humler - Senior
18 Cole Ottmar - Freshman
20 Keoni Thiim - Junior
23 Spyros Chakas - Junior
25 Kana'i Akana - Senior

Opposite Hitters

7 Cole Hogland - Junior
11 Dimitrios Mouchlias - Junior
14 Alaka'i Todd - Junior
16 Filip Humler - Senior
23 Spyros Chakas - Junior

Setters

3 Josh Friedman - Sophomore
4 Brett Sheward - Junior
10 Jakob Thelle - Senior
12 Austin Buchanan - Sophomore

Schedule

TV/Internet Streaming information:

All home games will be televised on Spectrum Sports. All conference road games will be streamed on ESPN+ or the respective schools streaming service.

Date Time	Opponent	Rank ^{(Tournament Seed)}	Arena City (Tournament)	Television	Score	Attendance	Record (Big West Record)
1/12 7 p.m.	#6 Ball State	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI (Outrigger Challenge)	SPEC	W 3–1 (25–16, 25–23, 22–25, 25–17)^[5]	5,581	1-0
1/13 7 p.m.	#6 Ball State	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI (Outrigger Challenge)	SPEC	W 3–1 (23-25, 25–23, 25-18, 25–18)^[6]	6,646	2-0
1/18 7 p.m.	St. Francis	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3–0 (25-16, 25–18, 25-23)	4,514	3-0
1/20 7 p.m.	St. Francis	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3–0 (25-21, 25–20, 25-20)	5,427	4-0
1/25 2 p.m.	@ Queens	#1	Curry Arena at the Levine Center Charlotte, NC	YouTube	W 3–0 (25-20, 25–21, 25-17)	455	5-0
1/26 2 p.m.	@ Belmont Abbey	#1	Wheeler Center Belmont, NC	Conference Carolinas DN	W 3–0 (25-18, 25–18, 25-21)	1,154	6-0
1/28 2:30 p.m.	@ Barton	#1	Wilson Gymnasium Wilson, NC	Conference Carolinas DN	W 3–0 (25-11, 25–19, 25-14)	795	7-0
2/10 5 p.m.	@ #8 Stanford	#1	Burnham Pavilion & Ford Center Stanford, CA	P12+ STAN	W 3–0 (25-22, 25-19, 26-24)	1,703	8-0
2/11 4 p.m.	@ #8 Stanford	#1	Burnham Pavilion & Ford Center Stanford, CA	P12+ STAN	W 3–0 (27-25, 25-19, 25-19)	1,336	9-0
2/16 7 p.m.	Concordia Irvine	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3–1 (25-14, 22-25, 25-15, 25-23)	4,920	10-0
2/17 7 p.m.	Concordia Irvine	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-19)	5,381	11-0
2/22 7 p.m.	LIU	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-18)	4,371	12-0
2/24 7 p.m.	LIU	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-16)	5,245	13-0
3/01 7 p.m.	#7 Pepperdine	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21)	5,059	14-0
3/03 7 p.m.	#7 Pepperdine	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-21)	7,452	15-0
3/09 7 p.m.	Purdue Fort Wayne	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI (Outrigger Volleyball Invitational)	SPEC	W 3-0 (27-25, 25-13, 25-20)	4,696	16-0
3/10 7 p.m.	#3 Penn State	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI (Outrigger Volleyball Invitational)	SPEC	L 1-3 (25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 23-25)	6,557	16-1
3/11 7 p.m.	#2 UCLA	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI (Outrigger Volleyball Invitational)	SPEC	W 3-1 (29-27, 21-25, 25-22, 28-26)	10,300	17-1
3/17 7 p.m.	#4 Long Beach State*	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	L 0-3 (20-25, 27-29, 22-25)	7,527	17-2 (0-1)
3/18 7 p.m.	#4 Long Beach State*	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-23)	9,579	18-2 (1-1)
3/24 4 p.m.	@ #14 CSUN*	#2	Premier America Credit Union Arena Northridge, CA	ESPN+	W 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-18)	513	19-2 (2-1)
3/25 4 p.m.	@ #14 CSUN*	#2	Premier America Credit Union Arena Northridge, CA	ESPN+	W 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-15)	522	20-2 (3-1)
3/31 4 p.m.	@ UC Santa Barbara*	#1	Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	W 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 29-27)	542	21-2 (4-1)
4/01 4 p.m.	@ UC Santa Barbara*	#1	Robertson Gymnasium Santa Barbara, CA	ESPN+	W 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 29-27)	634	22-2 (5-1)
4/07 7 p.m.	#5 UC Irvine*	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3-1 (25-16, 17-25, 25-23, 25-22)	7,399	23-2 (6-1)
4/08 7 p.m.	#5 UC Irvine*	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-19)	8,409	24-2 (7-1)
4/14 7 p.m.	UC San Diego*	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3-1 (28-26, 25-17, 19-25, 25-14)	7,022	25-2 (8-1)
4/15 7 p.m.	UC San Diego*	#1	Stan Sheriff Center Honolulu, HI	SPEC	W 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-21)	10,300	26-2 (9-1)
4/21 2 p.m.	UC Santa Barbara ⁽⁴⁾	#1 ⁽¹⁾	Bren Events Center Irvine, CA (Big West Semifinal)	ESPN+	W 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-18)	1	27-2
4/22 4 p.m.	@ #5 UC Irvine ⁽³⁾	#1 ⁽¹⁾	Bren Events Center Irvine, CA (Big West Championship)	ESPNU	W 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 25-13, 25-22)	4,064	28-2
5/4 1:30 p.m.	#3 Penn State	#1 ⁽²⁾	EagleBank Arena Fairfax, VA (NCAA Semifinal)	NCAA.com	W 3–2 (25–20, 25-23, 16-25, 23-25, 15-10)	3,782	29-2
5/6 11 a.m.	#2 UCLA ⁽¹⁾	#1 ⁽²⁾	EagleBank Arena Fairfax, VA (NCAA Championship)	ESPN2	L 1-3 (26-28, 33-31, 21-25, 21-25)	6,942	29-3

*-Indicates conference match.

Times listed are Hawaii Time Zone.

Announcers for televised games

Ball State: Kanoa Leahey, Chris McLachlin, & Ryan Tsuji
Ball State: Kanoa Leahey, Chris McLachlin, & Ryan Tsuji
St. Francis: Kanoa Leahey, Chris McLachlin, & Ryan Tsuji
St. Francis:
Queens:
Belmont Abbey:
Barton:
Stanford:
Stanford:
Concordia Irvine:
Concordia Irvine:
LIU:
LIU:
Pepperdine:
Pepperdine:
Purdue Fort Wayne:
Penn State:
UCLA:
Long Beach State:
Long Beach State:
CSUN:
CSUN:
UC Santa Barbara:
UC Santa Barbara:
UC Irvine:
UC Irvine:
UC San Diego:
UC San Diego:

Rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AVCA Coaches	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	2
Off the Block Media	Not released		1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	3	2	2	2	2		2

^The Media did not release a Pre-season or Week 1 poll.

References

^ "Hawai'i picked to win 2023 Big West title in preseason poll". Off the Block. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
^ "Hawaii sweeps Long Beach State to repeat as NCAA men's volleyball champion". Spectrum News. Retrieved May 8, 2022.
^ "Preseason Poll and First Preseason Team Released as The Big West Looks for Fifth Straight National Champion in Men's Volleyball". Big West Conference. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
^ "2022 Men's Volleyball Roster - The Official Site of Hawaii Athletics". Hawaiiathletics.com.
^ "No. 1 Hawaii overcomes 'erratic' serving to fend off No. 6 Ball State". Star Advertiser. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
^ "No. 1 Hawaii men's volleyball improves to 2-0 with win over No. 6 Ball State". KHON. Retrieved January 14, 2023.

[1] "Hawai'i picked to win 2023 Big West title in preseason poll". Off the Block. Retrieved December 22, 2022.

[2] "Hawaii sweeps Long Beach State to repeat as NCAA men's volleyball champion". Spectrum News. Retrieved May 8, 2022.

[3] "Preseason Poll and First Preseason Team Released as The Big West Looks for Fifth Straight National Champion in Men's Volleyball". Big West Conference. Retrieved January 16, 2023.

[4] "2022 Men's Volleyball Roster - The Official Site of Hawaii Athletics". Hawaiiathletics.com.

[5] "No. 1 Hawaii overcomes 'erratic' serving to fend off No. 6 Ball State". Star Advertiser. Retrieved January 13, 2023.

[6] "No. 1 Hawaii men's volleyball improves to 2-0 with win over No. 6 Ball State". KHON. Retrieved January 14, 2023.

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