Hawaii men’s volleyball: Rado Parapunov POW, Warriors down to No. 2, SandBows stay at 4 in AVCA polls

Well…I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to end pretty. Usually when a team splits their matches, I would have thought that it would have stayed the same. Maybe because of set difference, that’s why BYU was now #1.

At this point, Hawaii better prepare themselves because the road isn’t going to be easy, especially we’re going to run across to CSUN and Pepperdine on the road. This team better not get caught up in their rematch win against the Cougs and focus on these three matches on the road because that’s what sort of started that downward spiral 2 years ago, in which Hawaii was on a 4-game losing streak, which had included those three road games by those same opponents, all as losses.

At this point, you gotta hope Cowell will be prepared and ready to go when conference play starts because Rado can’t do everything for the team, and Humler, Voss, and Gasman are going to have to pick it up if that’s the case. Galloway’s fine, but once the competition gets more tougher, that’s where he’s going to need to improve. That was emphasized in the BYU rematch. Although had 10 kills, he had 6 errors to boot. He did show some solid contribution and held his own, which is a good sign. Now, it’s a matter if we can take care of business and tackle the conference gauntlet. Let’s get it going!

Galloway was great. He was a huge contributor in more ways than kills. And you had to be impressed by how he handled himself in the post match TV interview. Mature young man.

I think the reserves did an admirable job. They are coming of the bench “cold” and while they should always be prepared, it doesn’t take a while to get acclimated once you are called. I think they all stepped up. Galloway played well, Max’s present was there at the net, Jakob set well, esp. given some of the way the balls were set. They gave everyone their money’s worth on Friday.
I sat in front of a girl who was so critical of everything that went on during a woman’s game. Finally, some one turned around and said, “do you want to get down on the court and show us how it’s done?”
Win or lose, the games are so much fun. I look forward to them a lot. Sometimes I have to tell myself I am watching a college team and not a professional team. (not to demean college sports but the majority of the team is under 22 years of age,

I’m thrilled about the rankings! Would have also wanted to be lower than UCSB- who, like Hawaii played BYU to five sets, but lost; BUT did it in Provo, which is impressive.

Anyway, without the number one ranking, that bullseye comes off- although not completely… they are still ranked above all the other conference members.

They’re also not undefeated anymore, so any pressures or thinking of that notion is gone.

And most importantly, though they drop down in rank to BYU, they still were able to defeat BYU- the only team thus far to do so!

Just need to focus on their next road trip… which is also a slight worry, give the horrible horrible memory of the 2018 season. Hope they just stay focused!