Kurt Nusterer admitted there are times he looks at some of his teammates on the volleyball court and is in awe.

“There’s no shortage of talent and fire. We have the pieces we need to be successful,” Nusterer said. “Most of these freshmen who came in are very refined. They have stuff to work on, for sure, but they are good. I did not come in like that. I came in as the walk-on guy, I redshirted, and then I had my moments as starter and have contributed to the team.”

The 6-foot-9 redshirt junior middle blocker needed two full years with the program before taking over a starter in 28 of 30 matches played last season.

He led Hawaii and was 10th nationally in blocks per set at 1.05 while hitting .460.

A lot has changed in the Hawaii program as Nusterer enters his fourth year, but what isn’t different is the excitement the Indiana native has for the season at hand.

“It’s different and it’s interesting because we have to do something different than what the guys who came before me did,” Nusterer said. “When I came in, we had 24 guys and four freshmen and so if you weren’t really on board with the culture that had been established, you were an outcast. This year, it’s really hard to get 14 new people to buy into what we’ve already created, so the culture has had to change in a good way.”

This will be the first year Nusterer won’t have All-American Guilherme Voss to play either behind or alongside.

Ofeck Hazan, a 6-foot-6 freshman who plays on the Israeli national team, is tasked with the other middle blocker spot with sophomore Alex Parks, senior Zachary Thompson and freshman Presley Longfellow there for depth.

Only libero ‘Eleu Choy has been in the program longer, making Nusterer one of the few familiar faces of the bunch.

He has spent his time in Hawaii learning about the culture and history of the Hawaiian people. His years on the island have taught him to “mellow out” in his words.

Nonetheless, after a strong kill or a good block, generally there won’t be anyone showing a more fiery response on the court than the multi-talented Nusterer, who also lays claim to being the best chess player on the team.

“I’ve had great mentors in people like Jakob (Thelle) and Filip (Humler) who were in touch with that, and from that point of view, I have grown a lot,” Nusterer said. “From freshman to senior year, you grow up a little but … on top of that, I think my game has gotten a lot better.”

Nusterer, who works in wealth management, has gotten multiple perspectives on understanding relationships and how they matter in a place like Hawaii.

Even during volleyball season, Nusterer will commit to working at least a few hours a week with his job at Bank of Hawaii.

Volleyball remains his top priority. He understands it’s up to him, Choy and setter Tread Rosenthal to lift the four new starters and the rest of the newcomers to the standard of competition for national championships.

Last year was a reminder of what taking away one major piece can do to a team. Hawaii went from being the No. 1 team in the country to on the outside looking in at the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 following Spyros Chakas’ devastating injury.

“We lost three very winnable games with or without Spyros, and that’s what I think cost us big time in the long run,” Nusterer said. “I don’t want to blame everything on Spyros’ injury. I think it was so much more like not taking other games as seriously or as engaged as we should have and I think that’s the reminder that we are trying to take with us into every match this season.

“Obviously, I think if we had Spyros we would have been playing in the national championship, but the reason we weren’t isn’t necessarily just because of Spyros’ injury.”

When Nusterer joined with the Rainbow Warriors, it was an older, veteran team in which practices were geared more toward keeping players’ bodies healthy and reducing physical stress.

This year, practice is about going full blast and letting the young kids get out there and play.

“As I’m getting older, I’m like, well done. I would have really enjoyed a day or two off,” Nusterer said. “But it’s been really fun. There’s a lot of competition at every single position now, and that just makes things so much better and helps holds guys a lot more accountable.”