The view from the Hawaii men’s volleyball team bench was an unusual one for Spyros Chakas during last week’s two-match sweep of Tusculum.
The two-time AVCA second-team All-American had only missed two matches the past two seasons when it was decided he would rest against the Pioneers with a short week — and a long season — ahead.
The competitiveness he shows every time he’s on the court made it difficult to watch from the side, but seeing how it’s helped players in the past made him understand the situation he found himself in.
“I’m definitely a competitive guy, but at the same time I’m getting older,” Chakas said Tuesday. “Whenever I have a chance to get some rest, especially in the early part of the season, I’ll take it. Last weekend was a great chance for me and Chaz (Galloway) to get some rest, get off our legs, get recovery and to make sure we’re locked in going forward for these games.”
Three days after winning its seventh straight match, No. 3 Hawaii (8-1) is back at it starting tonight with its first Top 5 opponent of the season.
No. 5 Stanford (7-1), which lost its first match of the season to Cal State Northridge on Saturday, practiced inside of SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on Tuesday preparing for UH’s toughest test so far this season.
Chakas, who leads the team in kills at 3.96 per set, is ready to see what Hawaii’s best lineup can do against a national title contender in the Cardinal.
“We’ve been waiting for this game for a long time. It’s a part of the season where our mentality starts to shift,” Chakas said. “We had the first couple games to figure out things, get along with each other, figure out what systems work within the team, and now we’ve gotten this far down and we’re opening a new page where we have some good opponents coming.”
Hawaii coach Charlie Wade has gotten accustomed to putting together a schedule in which the Big West Conference season doesn’t start for more than two months after the season opener.
UH has games where it can work different combinations and give players not in the normal rotation a chance to go out and play full sets.
That balances out with scheduling the top nonconference teams in the nation.
Hawaii has already played No. 13 Loyola Chicago twice and No. 11 Ball State. UH will play No. 2 Grand Canyon and No. 14 Lewis in the Outrigger Resorts Invitational to start the month of March, and then has the conference schedule with every team ranked in the Top 20, including No. 1 Long Beach State.
It’s another reason it’s common to see UH resting some of its players early in the season.
“The schedule does allow for it a little more now,” Wade said. “Having some depth you can roll out and win matches, which helps also. Spyros and Chaz both could have played this past weekend but wouldn’t have been quite as sharp going into (a short week), so we took that opportunity that will make them a little stronger going into the (Stanford) series.”
Chakas, who needs two aces to move into the top 10 on UH’s career list, is part of a team that leads the nation averaging 2.84 service aces per set.
That number shot up on Sunday when sophomore middle blocker Kurt Nusterer registered six aces during a 17-point service run that saw UH go from down 3-2 to up 20-3 in the closing set.
Chakas, who needs 25 aces to tie Jakob Thelle’s school record of 122, admitted that even he has never gone on a scoring run from the service line quite like that.
“It was probably the first time I’ve seen it (happen),” Chakas said. “I’ve never seen a middle stay in to pass. Just seeing his energy and all of the team’s energy and the Stan Sheriff energy from the crowd was just great. Him getting a standing ovation is great.”
Rainbow Warrior Volleyball
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
No. 3 Hawaii (8-1) vs. No. 5 Stanford (7-1)
>> When: Today and Friday
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
>> Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM / 97.5 FM
