The Hawaii men’s volleyball team heads to the Garden Isle today, closing out its fall season with clinics and a scrimmage at Kauai High. The Rainbow Warriors also are taking along the knowledge that they’ll have at least three new faces a year from now after signing a trio for the 2021 season.
On Thursday, the program announced that Mira Costa (Calif.) High setter Jack Walmer had sent in his paperwork, joining Hawaii Baptist outside hitter Makua Marumoto and setter Austin Buchanan from Monte Vista High in Danville, Calif., both of whom had signed on Wednesday. Hawaii expects to add a foreign player and up to two others before the school year ends.
The 6-foot-8 Buchanan and 6-3 Walmer will give the Warriors five setters next season and “I kind of go to the June Jones school of quarterbacks,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said of former Warriors football coach Jones. “You can never have too many. It’s competition.
“We’ll have five setters and they’re all good. It’s a really important position, so to have a lot of quality depth at that position is really important.”
On the current roster, junior Jackson Van Eekeren, sophomore Jacob Thelle and redshirt freshmen Brett Sheward are vying to replace graduated All-America setter Joe Worsley.
“I’m very excited about the quality of volleyball players in this class,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “We’re only graduating four and I know of at least a half-dozen who are coming in. It keeps it ultra competitive.”
Today the Warriors are holding free clinics for boys and girls in grades 6-8 at 6 p.m. and grades 9-12 at 7:30 p.m. Hawaii’s intrasquad scrimmage is Saturday at 6 p.m. (For information email uhmvolleyball@gmail.com or call 808-212-5602).
The signees:
>> Makua Marumoto helped Saint Francis to last spring’s Division II state championship, the final year of the school’s existence and will finish out at HBA. He averaged 4.0 kills per set en route to being named all-tournament and was an All-ILH first-team pick and All-State honorable mention.
>> Austin Buchanan, considered one of the top setters in this senior class, was an all-league pick last season at Monte Vista after moving to California because Idaho doesn’t offer boys volleyball. His mother, Debbie, is the longtime women’s volleyball coach at the University of Idaho. Buchanan chose Hawaii over Pepperdine, UCLA and USC.
>> Jack Walmer was a first-team All-America pick by VolleyballMag.com last season, league co-MVP and area Player of the Year. He helped Mira Costa to the finals of the CIF southern and regional championships, as well as the Mustangs’ fourth straight AAU beach volleyball title last month.
