In the middle of an extra fourth set in Monday’s Hawaii men’s volleyball exhibition match against British Columbia, a young fan screamed out, “Put Adrien in.”

It took two sets for Hawaii freshman Adrien Roure to become a fan favorite.

The 6-foot-5 starting outside hitter had eight kills in 13 swings and teamed with freshman starting opposite Kristian Titriyski to showcase an exciting young nucleus of talent for coach Charlie Wade that took down the Thunderbirds 25-18, 25-14, 25-19.

Approximately 4,300 people attended the match at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center that included a fourth set that wasn’t counted for statistics.

Fans spilled out of a crowded lower bowl into the upper sections to get their first glimpse of this new-look Rainbow Warriors team that was picked No. 4 in the first AVCA Top 25 rankings released Monday.

“Excited for this season and just really appreciative of everyone coming out here supporting and hopefully we put on a good show and they come back Friday,” Wade said.

An impressive turnout was greeted by an impressive mix of returnees and veterans.

With reigning Big West Freshman of the Year Tread Rosenthal back for his sophomore season at setter, Hawaii unleashed three new freshman starters, with middle Ofeck Hazan joining Roure and Titriyski, who took turns deflating balls onto the opposite side of the net.

Titriyski, a 6-foot-6 veteran of Bulgaria’s national team, said the largest crowd he had ever played in front of in his career was 2,000.

Monday’s exhibition more than doubled that.

“I didn’t expect the much people, especially one day before New Year’s,” said Titriyski, who put down a match-high 12 kills in 20 swings. “My friend Rado (Parapunov) told me the crowds here are something special and it’s true. I saw it and it’s true.”

Titriyski had the most devastating kills of the night, including a smash off the head of an opposing blocker that rebounded more than 10 rows up into the crowd in the third set.

“This is normally how I swing the ball,” Titriyski said. “I think I can hit a little harder than this.”

Titriyski played in all three sets, with freshman Kainoa Wade unable to play due to a NCAA issue that should be resolved within the week.

Four freshmen combined for 25 of UH’s 34 kills, with Hazan finishing with three in five swings and outside Finn Kearney putting down two kills in five attempts.

The team is young on paper, but it’s not going to be an excuse used by Wade at any point in the season.

“We’re going to avoid that whole, ‘Oh, we’re young,’ because I think that just gives an excuse to do stupid things and to have poor performances,” Wade said. “These guys are world champions and have played at the highest level. The expectation for us is to be the best team in the country and to win every night we go out.”

Hawaii finished the exhibition hitting .377, including a .520 clip in the second set in which Roure and Titriyski combined for nine kills in 14 swings without an error.

Roure had four kills in six swings in the first set and sent British Columbia libero Logan Graves out for the rest of the set after taking a kill directly off the face, resulting in a bloody nose.

Hawaii had five aces in the first set, with Rosenthal and Wieter recording two apiece.

Hawaii rattled off three straight points with a freshman-only front line in the second set and Roure remained errorless in the match with four more kills on seven swings.

Rosenthal finished with 25 assists, two aces, four digs, a block and a kill and Hawaii had 7.5 blocks as a team.

Senior Clay Wieter, a transfer from Lindenwood, got the start at the other outside position and had four kills, three aces and three digs, showing off an all-around game that only adds to the possibilities at Wade’s disposal.

UH begins the regular season Friday hosting McKendree at 7 p.m.