Warriors’ outgoing stars embraced Hawaii and continued a culture of winning

FAIRFAX, VA. >> Before joining the throng of Hawaii fans in EagleBank Arena, former Rainbow Warrior volleyball standout Costas Theocharidis spoke of “passing the torch” from one era to those that follow.

Although Saturday evening ended with UCLA celebrating a national championship, the image invoked by Theocharidis — an All-American and National Player of the Year two decades ago — illustrated the theme that would permeate postmatch comments following UH’s fourth consecutive appearance in the final match of the NCAA men’s volleyball calendar.

The Warriors’ focus on the daily process predated the arrivals of the program’s newest alums and fostered an overarching run of remarkable consistency that has produced three Big West Tournament titles and two national championships among those four berths in the NCAA final.

“They’ve continued to build the culture that started several years ago,” UH coach Charlie Wade said of the Warriors’ core. “These guys learned from the people before them and they just keep improving the culture. And I think they’ve done a great job to mentor the young guys in our program and have put us in a great place going forward.”

The Warriors will likely finish in the top two of the final AVCA coaches poll for the fifth straight year when the ranking is released today after occupying the top line for 16 of 17 weeks through the Big West Tournament.

“I truly believe we left the program in a better state than how we got it,” setter Jakob Thelle said Saturday night. “That goes to the coaching staff, that goes to all the trust from the players and just the love we have for each other to make ourselves 1% better every day.”

The Warriors departed Virginia in three groups Sunday morning and reconvened one more time at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center for a welcome back to campus.

They returned with a program record with 29 wins and their three losses came against fellow Final Four participants Penn State, Long Beach State and UCLA.

They survived a five-set rematch with Penn State in the semifinals on Thursday to set up the next chapter in UH’s series of rivalry matchups in the NCAA final after sweeping past Brigham Young in 2021 and Long Beach State in 2022.

In the end, UCLA’s power at the net and from the service line and a back-row performance that gave setter Andrew Rowan his pick of hitters led to the Bruins ending a 17-year wait for the program’s 20th championship in the 28-26, 31-33, 25-21, 25-21 win on the campus of George Mason University.

“There’s just split-second decisions, between a lot of really great volleyball players,” UCLA coach John Speraw said of the thin margins of success in the match.

“I think the two best teams were on the court tonight and I think you saw some great volleyball.”

When UCLA’s final kill was upheld after a UH challenge, Thelle closed his career as a two-time Big West Player of the Year and first-team AVCA All-American and became the fourth Warrior to be named the AVCA Player of the Year.

He distributed 50 assists in his final match and set the program record with his 122nd career ace in UH’s comeback from a 19-13 deficit in the second set.

“I would not have expected myself to achieve this much with the team coming to Hawaii five years ago, but I’ve had the five greatest years of my life,” Thelle said. “And it’s not just because of what we did on the court but everything that happened off the court. That will stay forever.”

Opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias was an All-America honorable mention pick last year then elevated to first-team status as one of the nation’s premier attackers on his way to a professional career. His season highs of 25 kills on 44 swings against helped power UH into the final, and he again led the Warriors with 18 kills against UCLA.

“I’m so thankful, honestly, I came to Hawaii,” Mouchlias said. “I had some choices and it turned out it was the best one.

“The most important thing we did is we established a culture. A winning culture and a culture of we give everything every day, if it’s in the practice gym or in the game. I hope this continues.”

The Warriors are slated to return a first-team All-American in middle blocker Guilherme Voss, second-team outside hitter Spyros Chakas and honorable mention picks in outside hitter Chaz Galloway and libero Brett Sheward.

“Just like the year after we won, our past achievements are great and they’re a reflection of the work that we’ve put in at the time” Voss said. “But each season is a new one and I’m sure we’re going to get back together and work our butts off in the next offseason having a new goal in mind and a new group and we will keep striving.”

Voss’ fellow middle blocker, Cole Hogland, likely made the biggest jump of those in the 2018-19 freshman class, going from lightly recruited prospect at ‘Iolani to a starter for a national champion. An explosive leaper, Hogland posted six kills and seven blocks, one solo, in his final UH match.

“When I got here the program was on the upward trend with guys like (Stijn van Tilburg) and the people before him. With (Kupono Fey) they started doing something big in 2017,” Hogland said.

“To see where the program has come from when I started, I think overall it was a huge success. Especially because we’ve done a lot for the community and we do it for the community. Just to see the support that comes out is a wonderful feeling. You don’t get this anywhere else.”

UH athletic director David Matlin estimated Saturday’s crowd of 6,942 in EagleBank Arena was “80% Hawaii” and the turnout “exceeded expectations.”

“What (the Warriors have) built here is going to be sustainable going forward,” said Matlin, who will leave the post at the end of June. “It’s a culture and the fans are phenomenal.

“Hawaii is the mecca of volleyball and I think we’ve shown that. It doesn’t matter where you put the tournament, Hawaii is going to represent.”

That said, Matlin said he anticipates UH putting “an aggressive bid together” to bring an NCAA Tournament to Hawaii. The next three tournaments are set to be hosted by Long Beach State, Ohio State and UCLA with 2027 the next opening.

“Hawaii’s a great place to have it and I think we’ll put our best foot forward and hopefully get it in the next cycle,” Matlin said.

He said there will also be meetings on the site of next year’s Big West Tournament, which has yet to be determined. The tournament was held in Manoa in 2019, ’21 and ’22 and UC Irvine hosted this year’s event.

Along with the growth of the program, UH has been at the forefront of national exposure for NCAA men’s volleyball with their four finals appearances.

The Warriors played in both of the sport’s nationally televised matches this season — the Big West championship at UC Irvine on ESPNU and Saturday’s NCAA final, which was on ESPN2.

The Warriors’ duel with the Bruins, particularly in the riveting first two sets, provided high drama for those watching from afar.

“That was the perfect storm we just got right there,” said NCAA Tournament chair and Stanford coach John Kosty.

“The two best teams in the country playing in front of 7,000 people and then being on a major network throughout the country going all the way back to Hawaii to Los Angeles. I think this gave us a really big step forward to get men’s volleyball to where we all think it should be.”

In any case, Hawaii continues to burn brightly within the sport.

“I feel like it’s passing the torch off to them and they do such an amazing job,” Theocharidis said of the connection of past and present prior to Saturday’s match. “It’s an amazing feeling and eventually they’re going to pass the torch to the new generation.

“How can you not be proud of what this program has achieved?”