It has been something straight out of Shakespeare’s “Henry V.” The “we few, we happy few, we band of brothers” from the St. Crispin’s Day speech.
The players on the NCAA-tournament-bound Hawaii volleyball team have made a point all season of calling themselves “brothers” and “one ohana.” That was never more evident than when, in Saturday’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament finale, senior middle Hendrik Mol went down with an ankle injury at 19-15 in Set 2 at Long Beach State.
The Rainbow Warriors dropped that set and then looked shell-shocked while losing badly in Set 3, the 25-13 score not a true indication of how poorly things went. As Mol watched from the bench, his right ankle wrapped and iced, Hawaii went on to lose Set 4 25-23, with five service errors after the Warriors had taken a 16-15 lead.
It is the unforced errors that Hawaii talked about fixing during Tuesday’s practice, the first for the fourth- seeded Warriors (26-5) as they prepare for Tuesday’s play-in match with sixth-seeded Penn State (21-10) in Columbus, Ohio. Hawaii also was in the 10,300-seat Stan Sheriff Center instead of Gym I to better acclimate to Ohio State’s St. John Arena (13,276).
Mol was in the arena Tuesday before practice started but did not participate, leaving for treatment on crutches with his right ankle in a walking boot. X-rays on Monday showed no structural damage, with the diagnosis remaining what had been suspected on Saturday: a sprain.
“No question that his presence emotionally was missed out there. This team is really close and there’s an increased amount of empathy that you’re feeling when one of your guys goes down,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “There is a level of irony in that some of the guys tried to be him, ramping it up a little extra on serve.
“Hendrik is the guy who’s learned how to change speed, that he can touch mid-70s (mph) so his changup is very effective. One of the lessons we learned is rather than trying to do more we need to stay true to ourselves.”
Mol said he expects to be ready to play Tuesday. He, however, likely won’t be cleared to practice for a few days, perhaps not until after the Warriors arrive at Ohio State on Sunday.
If Mol isn’t able to play, the starting spot will go to sophomore middle Dalton Sobrig. Solbrig replaced the injured Mol on Saturday, playing in three sets that brought his season total to 31 sets played.
“Dalton’s a good player, has worked hard and has done a good job for us,” Wade said. “But we’re hoping that Hendrik will be back as much for him as for us. He’s such a great story, overcoming so much adversity.
“He has so much credibility with this group, on and off the court. He’s a really good student, a hard worker and certainly a presence. We’d like to see him get a chance to show the world how good a volleyball player he is.”
Mol did not play in the 2015 NCAA tournament play-in match against Penn State at Stanford, Calif. He was on the bench, having been recently released from UCLA’s Jules Stein Eye Institute, recovering from an infection that left him with 20 percent vision in his left eye.
It was good news on another front for Hawaii on Tuesday. Sophomore Stijn van Tilburg received the Bryan Ivie Award as the nation’s top opposite by Off The Block, a national blog dedicated to college men’s volleyball.
The award is named for Ivie, an All-American at USC and U.S. Olympian.
Van Tilburg finished the regular season third nationally with a 4.32 kps average, hitting .382, which put him in the top 15 in the country. The All-MPSF first-teamer also had 13 matches with 15 or more kills.
Van Tilburg received 43 points from a panel of national media members, with Ohio State opposite Miles Johnson second (40 points) and Brigham Young’s Ben Patch third (17). The three-point margin between van Tilburg and Johnson was the closest in the three years of the award.
Note
Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe was named MPSF coach of the year on Tuesday, his second such honor in his 18-year career with the 49ers. On Saturday, Long Beach State won its first MPSF tournament title, giving the school its first MPSF championship in any sport.