2013 Media Guide

Setter
Starter Returning: None
Starter Lost: Sam Biscaro
Letterwinner Returning: None
Letterwinner Lost: None
Newcomers: Joby Ramos, Max Wechsung
 
For the second consecutive year, the Warriors will rely on a new setter to run the offense. With the departure of Sam Biscaro, newcomers Max Wechsung of Long Beach City College and Pacific transfer Joby Ramos will battle it out for the starting spot.
 
Last season, the Warriors struggled offensively with a .223 hitting percentage, its lowest output since official statistics were kept in 1983. Not coincidentally, the team finished with its fewest win total (7) in school history.
 
Wechsung (Long Beach, Calif.) comes to UH having led LBCC to consecutive conference championships, including the state championship in 2012. He was named the conference's Most Valuable Player and first-team all-state last season and led the league in service aces per set (0.41). At 6-foot-6, Wechsung is also an offensive threat as demonstrated by his nine kills in the state championship match against Orange Coast.
 
Ramos, a 2010 Roosevelt High School graduate in Honolulu, played two seasons at UOP, where he was used primarily as a back-row specialist. At Roosevelt, Ramos, a 6-foot junior, was a three-time Honolulu Star-Bulletin Fab 15 selection and two-time OIA Red East Player of the Year.
 
Also in the mix as an emergency backup is Taylor Averill, a 6-foot-7 sophomore from San Jose, Calif., who moved to opposite last season once Biscaro secured the starting job. Averill was a Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 pick out of Branham High School and later attended UC Irvine for one semester before transferring to UH.
 
Outside Hitter/Opposite
Starters Returning: JP Marks, Johann Timmer (Opp.)
Starter Lost: Steven Hunt
Letterwinners Returning: Scott Hartley, Brook Sedore
Letterwinners Lost: Harrison Carroll, Stanley Hinkle
Newcomers: Drew Durni, Ryan Leung (Opp.), Iain McKellar (Opp.), Jace Olsen, Sinisa Zarkovic
 
The outside hitter position will be a highly contested battle between young and old. The Warriors return starter JP Marks and two more letterwinners, Scott Hartley and Brook Sedore, and welcome newcomers Jace Olsen and Sinisa Zarkovic. Any one of the five vying for the two outside hitter positions are capable of starting.
 
Marks, a 6-foot-6 sophomore from Schwerin, Germany, started 26 matches last season and averaged 2.30 kills per set. However, his .173 hitting percentage was lowest among the team's main group of pin hitters. Still, he was solid in ball control (1.17 dps) and his 23 service aces ranked among the league leaders.
 
Hartley (Encinitas, Calif.) started the final two matches of last season and posted a career-high of eight kills in the season-finale against UC Santa Barbara. Prior to the season-ending series, the 6-foot-5 junior saw spot duty in his two years as a Warrior.
 
Sedore, a 6-foot-5 sophomore from Grand Prairie, Alberta, Canada, was a key sub whose biggest weapon was at the service line, where he had seven aces.
 
Olsen, a 6-foot-7 junior from Los Angeles, Calif., comes to UH after a two-year stint at Penn State, where he started 41 matches and was part of two EIVA championship teams. He averaged 1.81 kills per set, including a career-best 2.03 average during his freshman season, when he started 27 of 30 matches. The 2010 graduate of Mira Costa High School was a Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 pick and is an accomplished beach player.
 
Zarkovic, a 6-foot-4 freshman from Belgrade, Serbia, has arguably the most international experience of any incoming player in school history with 86 matches for the Serbian Youth and Junior national teams.
 
Freshman Drew Durni was a two-time all-Western New York selection out of Frontier High School in Lakeview, N.Y.
 
At the opposite position, Johann Timmer, a 6-foot-6 sophomore from Auckland, New Zealand, started the first six matches of the season before suffering an ankle injury that hampered him the rest of the season.
 
Pepperdine-transfer Ryan Leung, a 6-foot-5 junior who graduated from Hawai'i Baptist Academy, is also in the mix at opposite. Newcomer Iain McKellar, a 6-foot-7 freshman from Macclesfield, England, is a redshirt candidate.
 
Middle Blocker
Starter Returning: Nick West
Starter Lost: Jarrod Lofy
Letterwinners Returning: Taylor Averill, Davis Holt
Letterwinner Lost: Shane Welch
Newcomers: Aniefre Etim-Thomas, Zach Radner
 
Offensive productivity and athleticism were the key attributes the UH coaching staff was looking for at middle blocker.
 
They got that with the addition of Long Beach City College transfer Aniefre Etim-Thomas, a 6-foot-4 junior from Long Beach, Calif., and teammate of Max Wechsung. Etim-Thomas has the speed and jumping ability not seen by a UH middle blocker in years. Along with Wechsung, Etim-Thomas helped LBCC to a state championship in 2012 and during the state playoffs, he averaged 4.25 kills and 2.25 blocks per set while hitting .583.
 
Returnees Nick West, Davis Holt and Taylor Averill will also battle for a starting position. West, a 6-foot-8 junior from Orange, Calif., and UC Irvine transfer, started 27 matches for the Warriors last season and averaged 1.81 kills and a team-best 0.92 blocks per set. He hit .370 on the season which ranked among the league leaders.
 
Holt, a 6-foot-9 sophomore from Honolulu, appeared in two matches last season after redshirting in 2011. Averill will transition to another position this season after moving from setter to opposite last season and starting 13 matches, averaging 1.65 kills per set while hitting .197.
 
Zach Radner, a 6-foot-8 freshman from Seal Beach, Calif., comes to UH from Los Alamitos High School, where he was an all-league pick as a senior.
Another position of which the Warriors must replace a starter is at libero where two-year incumbent Nick Castello graduated.
 
Libero/Defensive Specialist
Starter Returning: None
Starter Lost: Nick Castello
Letterwinners Returning: Matthew Cheape, Harrison Phelps
Letterwinner Lost: Troy Crutchfield
Newcomers: Kolby Kanetake, Garrett Komisarek, Kainoa Mitchell
 
Among the list of players looking to fill that role are returnees Matthew Cheape and Harrison Phelps and newcomers Kolby Kanetake, Garrett Komisarek and Kainoa Mitchell.
 
Cheape, a 5-foot-10 Mililani, O'ahu, native, is the team's lone senior and has seen limited action in his three seasons as a Warrior. Phelps, a 6-foot-1 junior from Laguna Beach, Calif., appeared in 10 matches last season.
 
Kanetake, a 5-foot-8 freshman, is perhaps the gem of this year's recruiting class. The Moanalua High School graduate was named to the All-America watch list prior to his senior year and was a two-time Honolulu Star-Advertiser Fab 15 selection.
 
Komisarek, a 5-foot-10 junior from San Jose, Calif., was an all-state pick out of Irvine Valley College, where he played two seasons. Mitchell, a 6-foot junior from Honolulu, played two seasons at Orange Coast College. The 2010 graduate of Roosevelt High School was a teammate of Ramos for the Rough Riders and a three-time all-league pick.

2013 Schedule
The Warriors open the 2013 season on the road for the first time since 2007 with a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation series at Brigham Young (Jan. 4-5) before hosting the 19th Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Invitational, Jan. 10-12 at the Stan Sheriff Center. One of the country's premiere early-season tournaments UCLA, Penn State, and Ohio State.

During the season, the Warriors will host MPSF series with Pepperdine (Jan. 25 & 27), Stanford (Feb. 1-2), Cal State Northridge (Mar. 1 & 3), USC (Mar. 8 & 10), Pacific (Mar. 22-23) and UC Santa Barbara (March 29-30).

In additoin to BYU, UH will travel for road series with Long Beach State (Jan. 18-19), UCLA (Feb. 15-16), defending NCAA champion UC Irvine (Feb. 18-19), MPSF newcomer Cal Baptist (Mar. 15-16), and UC San Diego (Apr. 12-13).

The MPSF Tournament will begin with the quarterfinals April 20 and the semifinals and championships are slated for April 25 & 27. The NCAA Championships are May 2 & 4 in Los Angeles, Calif.