Along with teaching in the gym and study halls at the hotel, Ball State’s trip to Hawaii offers Donan Cruz educational opportunities outside of volleyball.
The opening week of the season doubles as a homecoming week of sorts for the 2001 Baldwin graduate and last season’s AVCA National Coach of the Year.
So along with preparing sixth-ranked Ball State for a two-match series with No. 1 Hawaii, Cruz — as well as sophomore libero Xander Pink and freshman opposite Keau Thompson, both Punahou graduates — have relished the chance to give the Cardinals a taste of island life since their arrival on Monday.
“I think it’s an important part (of the trip) for us,” Cruz said before the team’s practice on Wednesday. “Especially with me, Keau and Xander, it gives us an opportunity to share a little bit about Hawaii with the guys.”
The Cardinals and Rainbow Warriors open their seasons tonight in a rematch of a five-set duel in last year’s national semifinals and the series marks a full-circle moment for Cruz in his return to his home state.
Some of his early volleyball memories include watching the UH teams headlined by Yuval Katz, Jason Ring and Eyal Zimet. He continued to track the Warriors in college when Costas Theocharidis and Tony Ching were among the team’s standouts.
“Everybody knows how fun it is to follow volleyball here in the state,” Cruz said. “So I was just like everybody else following Hawaii men’s volleyball.”
Cruz made his first coaching appearance in the Sheriff Center when he brought Grand View to Hawaii for a series in 2017. While UH swept the series, the Vikings nearly forced a fifth set in the second match of the weekend. Cruz won four coach of the year awards on the NAIA level at GVU, where he led the Vikings to two national championships (2018 and 2021).
He returns after leading Ball State to a 23-4 season, the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association regular-season and tournament championships and a berth in the national semifinals in his first year as a Division I coach.
His first year with the Cardinals included two early-season wins over UH in Worthen Arena in Muncie, Ind., and ended with a five-set loss to the Warriors in the final four at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
“When I got the job at Ball State (UH coach Charlie Wade) was one of the first guys to reach out and connect with me about the idea of the trying to get some kind of series going,” Cruz said. “We hope this is something we’ll keep building off of …between us coming down here and them coming up.”
The homecoming trip was reversed last year when Wade, originally from Warsaw, Ind., took the Warriors to the midwest for the series in Muncie.
“I’ve known (Cruz) for a while,” Wade said, “and there’s a level of irony that the Hawaii guy is coaching in Indiana and the Indiana guy is coaching in Hawaii.”
Coming off of last season’s trilogy between the teams, “There’s a lot to familiarity,” Wade said. “There were a lot guys who played against each other on both sides of the net and two really good teams. I think it definitely adds to the excitement (of opening night).”
The Cardinals are led by AVCA first-team All-America outside attacker Kaleb Jenness and middle blocker Felix Egharevba, an All-America honorable mention pick last season.
“We have nine new guys and they have done a great job of setting the tone for the team,” Cruz said of the duo, who were freshmen when Ball State last visited Hawaii for the 2019 Outrigger Hotels and Resorts Invitational.
The Cardinals did lose All-America setter Quinn Isaacson, who was voted Off the Block’s Setter of the Year last season, finishing ahead of UH’s Jakob Thelle.
Cruz said 6-foot-1 senior David Flores and 6-6 sophomore Jakub Wiercinski are in a tight competition for the starting spot.
“They are both guys we feel can lead our team and both bring a different dynamic to the group,” Cruz said.
Along with facing the on-court test against the reigning champions, Cruz is looking forward to having the Cardinals experience the Sheriff Center atmosphere for their opening week, which includes the unveiling of the 2022 championship banner before Friday’s match.
“Hawaii’s unique. It’s probably the best environment to play in in all of college volleyball,” Cruz said. “When you think about the business side of what we’re doing, we need to put our guys in front of this (crowd).
“Our goal is to try to win our conference and get to George Mason (site of the national championship tournament), and being able to be in this environment in the first (series) of the year, I don’t think anything past this will be a surprise.”
Rainbow Warriors volleyball
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
No. 6 Ball State vs. No. 1 Hawaii
>> When: Today and Friday, 7 p.m.
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
