2016 Warrior Roster Updates

Players Leaving the Program || Photo Credit (Hawaii Athletics)

2016 Warrior Roster || Warrior Schedule Notes || Recruit Profiles

The Warrior volleyball season is coming rather quickly and as the 2016 schedule has been finalized, the one last thing to discuss is the roster. Hawaii is coming off a NCAA Semifinal Play-Off appearance with a record of 24-7 overall and runners up in the MPSF. That team consisted of 20 players including AVCA All-Americans Taylor Averill (First Team), Brook Sedore (Second Team), Jennings Franciskovic (HM), Kolby Kanatake (HM), and Sinisa Zarkovic (HM).

This season the Warriors return three of the seven starters and six other reserves. The previous team graduated seven seniors which means four players have not returned to the team. Those include Drew Durni, Kekoa Pukahi, Zach Radner, and Vaughn Wellenreiter.

Drew Durni (Lake View, NY) was an outside hitter who would have been a redshirt junior. Durni was a hard working player in the program but was just behind too many hitters who were taller and more athletic. He was a 6'3" player who never thought he would travel across the country to play volleyball but when he got the opportunity to play at UH, he took it. Drew did not play much of his career but made an appearance in each of the 2015 matches against Hope International where he had one kill and two serve attempts. Durni remains at Hawaii as a student.

Kekoa Pukahi (Carlsbad, CA) was a setter who would have been a redshirt freshman. Pukahi is a talented setter who is athletically gifted but was stuck behind Franciskovic and Alex Jones. He redshirted last season as he took the time to get used to the speed of the college game. Rumors had it that he was going to change positions from setter to middle blocker. Pukahi is currently going on his LDS mission.

Zach Radner (Seal Beach, CA) was a middle blocker who would have been a redshirt junior. According to a previous article, "Wade has projected Zach Radner, who played sparingly this year, will be one of the MPSF's best middles next year" (Star Advertiser). Radner who came into the program as a well-built 6'8" player was not projected to play much. That was true as he redshirted his first season and did not play a match the next season. He then improved his game to become the first middle blocker off the bench playing in eight matches making two starts. Radner left the team to focus strictly on academics.

Vaughn Wellenreiter (Newbury Park, CA) was a middle blocker who would have been a redshirt senior. Wellenreiter joined the team a few weeks into the years after three seasons at CSUN. He followed fellow CSUN transfer Alex Jones to Hawaii. After playing in two matches this past season, he was projected to compete for the middle blocker position. Wellenreiter has transferred back to CSUN.

With the departure of these four players and the seven who graduated, the team is looking to reload with the addition of twelve new ones. The twelve new players are James Anastassiades, Colton Cowell, Steven Duhoux, Nainoa Frank, Garrison Gabriel, Patrick Gasman, Judson Ham, Brandon Rattray, Jasper Rhodes, Brett Rosenmeier, Dalton Solbrig, Stijn van Tilburg, and Joe Worsley. Other freshman Ben Vaught decided to not play for the Warriors and has return home.

Next Up: Warriors will travel to SoCal where they will face USC for a preseason match on November 5th.