Machado Added to Warrior Roster

Photo Credit: ScoringLive

In the last few weeks of the Hawaii Warrior volleyball season, the team added a new player in Kahiau Machado (Kaneohe, HI). He graduated from Kamehameha-Kapalama this past year and has recently joined the team. In the recent matches, he has been the player sitting in the upper stands tracking the speed of the serves. At 6'2" he will play as a libero but will redshirt this season.

 Photo Credit: Hawaii Athletics

Machado comes to the University of Hawaii where he will continue to be a Warrior. He led his high school team in kills his senior season as an outside hitter and made it to the quarterfinals of the HHSAA State Tournament. In his final match of the season he had 23 kills and hit .409 while collecting 21 digs in a five set match against third seeded Moanalua which features Warrior signee Austin Matautia. Accolades for the year include ILH All-Stars First Team and a Star Advertiser Fab 15 honoree at No. 8 in the rankings.

In the club scene Kahiau played for Ka Ulukoa Volleyball Club where he played an age group up. His team traveled to Reno, Nevada where they competed in the 2013 Boys Junior National Championships placing first in the 17 Open division. He was teammates with USC transfer Larry "Tui" Tuileta and many others who went to play college volleyball.

SENIOR NIGHT

The Rainbow Warriors will take on the Cal Baptist Lancers in the last night of the conference season. This is the last game to be played in the Stan Sheriff Center for the season. For those heading down to the game, don't forget to wear white as it is a whiteout game. The three seniors Sinisa "Siki" Zarkovic (Belgrade, Serbia), Kolby Kanatake (Honolulu, HI), and Brandon Hiehle (Redondo Beach, CA) will be honored following the end of tonights match.

Last nights game against Cal Baptist looked to be a sweep as Hawaii was up 2-0 and had a few match points on the Lancers in set three but the Warriors couldn't finish early. Cal Baptist fought off those match points and stole the third set and controlled the fourth. It was toe-to-toe in the fifth set but a big serving run towards the end by Kupono Fey helped Hawaii clinch the match.

What's At Stake: Going into tonights match, Hawaii has already clinched the seventh seed of the MPSF Tournament while Cal Baptist is fighting for their lives. Depending on how other MPSF matches go on tonight, Cal Baptist could possibly be playing their last game of the season in Hawaii. In order for them to earn the eight spot in the tournament, the Lancers will need to defeat Hawaii and have UC Irvine lose to Long Beach State.

But for Hawaii, a few hours before the game will determine where they will head for the quarterfinals of the tournament. They will head to Provo, Utah to face BYU if the Cougars defeat USC tonight which is most likely. In case that doe not happen, Stanford will have to win at UC Santa Barbara along with BYU losing which will mean that Stanford holds the tie breaker over BYU making them the regular season conference champions and the first seed.

Seniors:
Brandon Hiehle is an outside hitter who transferred to Hawaii in 2015 after two seasons at El Camino College where he was named all-conference and one of the top players in the league. Since his arrival he has played in seven matches prior to tonight. In 2015 he came in as a serving sub in three matches. This season he has came off the bench to take off a set against then ranked No. 1 Long Beach State to pick up six kills. He also had a four kill game at UC Santa Barbara.

Siki Zarkovic was an unknown coming to Hawaii as fans aren't able to see how foreign recruits are until they arrive on campus. But he was an immediate impact as he started all four seasons and picked honors like 2013 MPSF All-Freshman team, 2013 All-MPSF Honorable Mention, 2015 All-MPSF Second Team, and 2015 AVCA Honorable Mention All-American. Going into tonight he has 1,285 kills which keeps him at eighth in career kills at UH. His career high in kills was fittingly last night against Cal Baptist with 29 on senior weekend which is a conference high.

Kolby Kanatake came from Moanalua HS as a recruited walk-on and evolved into one of the top liberos in the nation. He started the first match of the 2013 season but then played sparingly that year but started all matches he was not injured for the remainder of his career. His outstanding digging and passing earned him 2015 All-MPSF Second Team, 2015 AVCA Honorable Mention All-American, and a Volleyball Magazine 2015 Third Team member. The 770 digs he has picked up keeps him at third in the UH record books along with him being sixth in digs per set. Last season he had a career high 21 digs which earned him MPSF / Molten Player of the Week which made him the first UH libero to pick up that award. He will now pursue his coaching career where he will be an assistant at the University of California-Berkley.

Coverage:
Television: OC Sports
Live Stream: None
Live Stats: Hawaii Athletics
Radio: ESPN 1420 (called by Tiff Wells and Jeff Hall)

Warriors Welcome Home A Trojan

Photo Credit: Star Advertiser (Paul Honda)

| Star Advertiser | USC Profile |

The Warriors picked up an in season transfer from a former UH commit Larry "Tui" Tuileta (Honolulu, HI) yesterday. The 6'2" sophomore outside hitter will come back to Hawaii after spending his freshman year at USC. Tuileta was also a quarterback for the Trojans as well.

What really makes this transfer unique is that Tui has actually committed to the University of Hawaii in June 2013 of his junior year in high school to play football and volleyball on scholarship. However, in the few days before the NLIT signing day, there were rumors going around on how the football coach at USC offered him a walk-on position with the volleyball coach agreeing as well. Many fans were upset with this decision and the way he demonstrated it but now he is back to where he originally committed.

Photo Credit: USC Athletics

There are no official post saying why he left but it was a decision him and his family made together. Recently there were coaching changes on both the football and volleyball at USC which could be a factor along with a possibility of being close to family.

Tui spent one season as a reserve quarterback on the football team where he redshirted in 2014. He later did not return to the football team for the 2015 season as he trained in the fall with the volleyball team.

In his freshman season on the volleyball court, he was named to the MPSF All-Freshman team. Tui made an appearance in 26 matches with 12 starts collecting 173 kills while hitting .272, 118 digs, 20 blocks, and 7 aces. He had a career high 18 kills and 15 digs against BYU. When the Trojans played their two match conference series against UH in Hawaii, Tui had five kills and four digs.

Tuileta has many more accolades which may be too much to but we welcome Tui back home now as a Warrior!

Cyber Monday Warrior Sales

| UH Cyber Monday Sales |

On the upcoming Cyber Monday (Nov.30), the University of Hawaii will have special sales regarding the ticket sales for Warrior Volleyball matches. As a fan you can create your own mini-pack by selecting any six home matches for a total of $50. You can save $10 from the original mini-pack prices and from this sale you save 40% with the mini-pack rather than buying individual matches. The sale is only available on November 30th from 12:01 am - 11:59 pm.

Season tickets have already started sales from the beginning of November. Hawaii has opened up the upper bowl last season as the attendance has increased from the past. The season tickets can be purchased either online, through phone, or through the box office. (Season Ticket Release)

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.

2016 Warrior Schedule News & Updates

Updates & Finalization are posted at the bottom of the post

Of course the Wahine volleyball season has not yet started but news of the upcoming 2016 Warrior Volleyball schedules have been coming out. Including a few conference dates and non-conference tournament notes.

First off is the 22nd Outrigger Resorts Invitational that the Warriors continue to host from January 7-9. This year it will feature NCAA Runners-Up Lewis, King, and Harvard. The matches versus King and Harvard will be the first series meeting in the program. Lewis last played Hawaii in the 18th Outrigger Invitational where the Flyers defeated the Warriors in a five set match.

For the MPSF conference matches, two schools have released their tentative 2016 schedules, USC and Long Beach State. As one of two schools, Hawaii has to play two match series against that conference foe either home or away. Then the next season it the location switches to the other venue. This year the Warriors will play at the Galen Center of USC and Long Beach State will come to the Stan Sheriff Center. Last season Hawaii and USC split the series while Hawaii swept Long Beach State.

*Note: USC is a member of the Pac-12 so it is a possibility matches will be streamed or televised with Pac-12 Networks

Fall training for the Warriors will start in October. There are two fall tournaments, one hosted by USC in the end of October and the other hosted by UCLA in the end of November. There are no confirmation whether UH will participate but they have gone to the USC tournament for multiple years.

Check back to this post for further Warrior Scheduling updates coming up.

EDIT: 8/12 - After the schedule releases by other schools, here are the teams Hawaii will not be play: IPFW, Penn State, Ohio State, Concordia-Irvine, Mount Olive, Saint Francis, Princeton, McKendree

EDIT: 9/21 - 9/25 - 10/9 Updated List of matches vs. Hawaii

• January 7 - King
• January 8 - Harvard
• January 9 - Lewis
• January 15 - Pepperdine *
• January 16 - Pepperdine *
• January 21 - Grand Canyon
• January 22 - Grand Canyon
• January 29 - UC San Diego *
• January 31 - UC San Diego *
• February 5 - UCLA *
• February 6 - UCLA
• February 12 - @ Stanford *
• February 13 - @ Stanford *
• February 16 - @ USC *
• February 17 - @ USC *
• February 24 - Long Beach State *
• February 26 - Long Beach State *
• March 4 - BYU *
• March 5 - BYU *
• March 11 - @ CSUN *
• March 12 - @ CSUN *
• March 25 - UC Irvine *
• March 26 - UC Irvine *
• April 1 - @ UC Santa Barbara *
• April 2 - @ UC Santa Barbara *
• April 8 - Cal Baptist *
• April 9 - Cal Baptist *

Missing MPSF schools: Pepperdine

Schedule Finalized (10/6)

Hawaii Release || 2016 Schedule

The 2016 schedule has officially been released. All MPSF matches are set along with the Outrigger Invitational and non-conference matches against Grand Canyon.

OCSports usually does not release the full television schedule but you will most likely see all home matches televised. There are sometimes a few matches that aren't based on the other sports playing at the same time. Most away matches will also most likely be streamed live. The only away match to be televised is the February 16th match against USC which will be on Pac-12 Networks.

Upcoming preseason match will be in SoCal against USC on November 5th. USC and UCLA are also hosting preseason tournaments around the same time.

Orange Coast Setter Transfers To Hawaii Warriors

Photo Credit: Orange Coast College

The 2016 Warrior Recruiting Class just got larger as Steven Duhoux (Newport Beach, CA) has transferred to the University of Hawaii. He previously played one season at Orange Coast College and one season at Irvine Valley College. Duhoux is a 6'3" setter who also played for Newport Beach HS and The HBC.

At Orange Coast College, he was one of nine players to move onto higher level schools and one of five to move onto Division I schools. As a Pirate he earned All-Pacific Coast Conference Second Team as he led the team in assists. They ended 16-6 overall and fell in the Semifinals of California Community College Athletic Association State Championships.

In his freshman season at Irvine Valley, he earned All-PCC Third team where he also led them in assists. That season they went 13-8 overall and lost to Orange Coast in the Semifinals of the CCCAA State Championships.

Steven joins the Warriors who look to have major depth at the setter position. AVCA All-America Honorable Mention Jenning Franciskovic returns for his junior season while Kekoa Pukahi comes off his redshirt season and Joe Worsley enters in his first year.

The pipeline of transfers from Orange Coast continues as it has produced a few Warriors like Harrison Carroll (2011-12), Harrison Phelps (2011-13), and Kainoa Mitchell (2013).

Moanalua Libero Commits to Warriors

Photo Credit: ScoringLive

Garrison Gabriel has committed to the University of Hawaii Men's Volleyball team this week. Gabriel is a 5'11" libero from Moanalua HS and plays for Hawaii Elite Southside Volleyball Club.

Garrison is the son of former University of Hawaii quarterback Garrett Gabriel (1987-1990) who currently holds several records for the school.

Before playing for the Na Menehune in his senior season, he transferred from Maryknoll HS where he spent three years on the varsity team as a libero or setter. One reason for his transfer was to play for a team that can reach his goal of making it to the state tournament which is where Moanalua is currently heading as the are dominating the OIA.

Gabriel has previously practiced with Ka Ulukoa (15s) and played with Ku'ikahi (16s and 17s) before switching to Hawaii Elite. He currently plays on the same team as other Hawaii commits Colton Cowell ('15) and Austin Matautia ('16). Matautia is also on the same high school team as well. Other connections to UH are their club director and previous school head coach Sean Carney (former Warrior setter '05-'09) and assistant coach Gabby Matautia (current Warrior staff member).

He is the ninth member of the 2015-16 class to commit to the University of Hawaii.

Warriors Get Top Maui Hitter

Colton Cowell | Photo Credit (Maui News)

Another top local kid has verbally committed to the University of Hawaii this week. Coming from Maui is Colton Cowell who is a 6'1" outside hitter from the 2015 class. He attends King Kekaulike HS and plays for Hawaii Elite Southside.

Cowell who is an excellent beach player has moved to Maui from California where he previously attended Mira Coast HS year in his freshman year where he currently still has family.

Colton teamed up this year with 2016 UH commit Austin Matautia (and current club teammate) in the Hawaii Sand Volleyball Festival and earned first place. Other accomplishments by him were 2014 Prep Sand Volleyball Champions, fourth place in the 2014 State Boy's Volleyball Tournament, and 2014 MIL Player of the Year.

He joins seven other players in the Class of 2015 that Charlie Wade may bring in a total of ten new players next season. Besides Hawaii, he was recruited by Cal Baptist, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Cruz.