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After finishing one of the most historic runs in program history, two pivotal members of the University of Hawaii's men's volleyball team enter this year's campaign following a summer-long stint with the United States Junior National Team.

Juniors Kupono Fey and Jennings Franciskovic return for the Warriors' 2015-16 season after claiming silver at the 2015 U21 Pan American Cup in Canada earlier this summer and earning 11^th place at the U21 World Championships last month in Tijuana, Mex.

"Playing internationally, we were introduced to a different style of play that Milan has been trying to incorporate here in Hawai'i during the two seasons that he's been with us," said Franciskovic. "It's given us more experience with different systems, so I think it was a good way for me and Kupono to see visually what Milan expects, and therefore we can try to replicate it here in Hawai'i."

Nineteen athletes were selected to the Junior National Team, with both Rainbow Warriors making the cut for the final 12-man roster. The squad spent nearly two weeks training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y. before making the trek up to host nation Canada for the Pan Am Cup.

The U.S. team would ultimately take home second after falling to undefeated Brazil in the championship match 25-22, 25-23, 25-17, finishing with an overall 4-2 record.

"We both got selected to the official 19-guy roster for the MJNT," said Franciskovic. "We went to Lake Placid where we had training camp and they dropped that 19-guy roster to 12. The 12 of us, me and Pono made that roster, went up to Canada for Pan American Games where we tried to qualify for the World Championships. We earned our goal by taking second in that tournament, eventually losing to Brazil."

After a few weeks off, the pair returned to U.S. MJNT action, this time at the FIVB Men's U21 World Championship in Mexico. After landing in the toughest opening pool, also known as the "Group of Death," the U.S. dropped three-straight matches to Russia, Argentina, and Poland. Russia would eventually go on to take the world championship title with Argentina finishing second.

However, the U.S. turned things around in the classification round, taking down each of its three opponents, Iran, Mexico, and Japan. In the final round of classification, France defeated the U.S., but a final win over Iran earned the team 11^th place for the second consecutive World Championship, as the team took home the same finish in 2013.

"It was a great honor and a great privilege to represent the USA and have the flag on our chest, and also represent Hawai'i and UH as well," said Fey. "It's a huge volleyball community here; everyone followed us and it was a great, great experience."

"It was definitely a humbling experience just to wear USA on our jersey," said Franciskovic. "A lot of guys don't get that opportunity and we were blessed to compete and represent our country."

Last season with the pair in tow, the Rainbow Warriors' 2015 campaign reached several new milestones including reaching No. 1 for five-straight weeks atop the AVCA poll, its longest run since 1996, finishing the season with a 24-7 record, for the most season wins since 2003 (24-6), and earning second in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation final standings with an 18-4 mark for their highest regular season MPSF finish since 2006.
The Warriors' historic run was ultimately brought to an end after suffering two-straight postseason losses, concluding their season after falling to Penn State in the NCAA Play-In Match on May 5.

"Every team was good in the tournament and it kind of replicates the MPSF with how we have to battle every weekend and come out every night and perform so that just helped train us more and give us more experience to play in this league," said Fey.

In a squad commanded by experienced letterwinners, last season saw both then-sophomores step into starting roles in the lineup, quickly ascending into leadership roles on the squad.

Fey's efforts at the outside position culminated in a career high 19 kills against conference foe BYU, also posting an all-time high .556 hitting percentage in the same season against Long Beach State.

Setter Franciskovic was awarded his first All-MPSF Second-Team selection, as well as an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention, contributing to the most AVCA All-Americans in program history.

After losing a bevy of starters to graduation, the Rainbow Warriors are expected to turn to returning starters Fey, Franciskovic, and senior libero Kolby Kanetake to guide the team's talented group of newcomers.

"I'm just excited to see how we're going to do," said Fey. "We're really young, but really talented. We have a great number of guys that are coming in and so good. I'm just excited to see how they perform, how we perform as a team."

"We had the top recruiting class in the nation this last year, so there's definitely a lot of young, talented guys," said Franciskovic. "I'm excited to see how they're going to progress over this offseason. We're going to be going to California in November again, so that's going to give them a shot to start competing at the college level, and then with the Outrigger—that's going to be the big test. They all have the energy and want to get better, which is great. They have that fire that we want in a player."

The Rainbow Warriors open their season Jan. 7 as they host the 22^nd Outrigger Resorts Invitational at the Stan Sheriff Center.