As a local fan favorite for the University of Hawai‘i men's volleyball team, Keoni Thiim was living out a dream.
Just not his dream.
Thiim, a 2019 Kalani High School graduate, played three seasons for the Rainbow Warriors, winning a national championship as a redshirt freshman in 2022. His role on the team as a serving specialist was the same for three consecutive years, until an ACL injury to star player Spyros Chakas prompted Thiim to start 14 matches at outside hitter to end the 2024 season.
The Rainbow Warriors went 23-7 in 2024 and missed the NCAA Tournament after losing Chakas. With one year of eligibility remaining, Thiim decided to enter the transfer portal and ultimately decided to finish his collegiate career at BYU.
“I had a dream. I fell in love with volleyball, had a dream, and at the end of the day after my third year, knowing that (2025) was my last year, I knew where I was. I wasn't really going to be able to achieve it for myself," Thiim told Aloha State Daily in a recent interview. "So, for my last year, I decided to take a risk and chase that dream and somewhere where I feel like I could achieve it, so that’s why I ended up parting ways.
“It definitely had to do with just playing and feeling confident and doing what I do, because I work so hard to be the best version of myself as a volleyball player and I want to show it. I don't want to be a ‘what if’ at the end of my career, I want to go find out for myself If I am really, (as good as) the potential I think have. So that's pretty much it.”
Following his portal announcement, Thiim had a tell-all appearance on Out of System, a volleyball podcast hosted by former UH players Joe and Gage Worsley, as well as Punahou alumnus and volleyball Olympian Micah Ma‘a. The episode made the rounds on social media before it was deleted.
“It was basically the reasons why I was leaving," Thiim recalled when asked about the contents of the podcast episode. "Obviously, it was so fresh and so new, and everyone's emotions are pretty high, so I think people just took parts of it out of context, in terms of why I was leaving, so they deleted it. We ended up just taking it down, kind of making sure we didn't get any more random answers and assumptions and stuff like that.”
BYU is a school that checked all the boxes for Thiim. His grandfather, former Hawai‘i men's head coach Mike Wilton, served as an assistant for both BYU volleyball teams and lives nearby. Thiim is also close to his uncles, Aaron and Mike Wilton Jr., both of whom he can relate to. Aaron played collegiately for UH, while Mike Jr. played for BYU.
Thiim has started all eight of BYU's matches in 2025, leading the 6-2 Cougars with 125 kills. On top of being the team's go-to player offensively, he has continued to entertain from the service line with 18 aces.
"It's exactly what I asked for," Thiim said. "I can never really complain or make excuses about anything. They trust me and I'm trusting them and we're just figuring out a way to click on the court as a team. The coaches trust me, I trust my coaches. I trust my teammates. I know that at the end of the season, we'll be playing our best volleyball, so I'm really happy.”
This week, No. 5 BYU hosts No. 4 Hawai‘i for a pair of matches on Friday and Saturday, the first time the two teams have met since the Rainbow Warriors swept the Cougars in the 2021 national championship match. First serve for both matches is set for 4 p.m. HST, and both contests will be televised on BYUtv.
Playing his former team is a moment Thiim says he's been thinking about ever since he was alerted of the matchup not long after getting settled on BYU's campus.
"I've been thinking about that one. At the end of the day, things didn't end super clean, I'd say," Thiim said. "But at the end of the day, I do love so many of the guys on that team. It's definitely going to be like a reunion. My mentality going into that game, kind of still deciding. I could take the revenge route and play my heart out and really just be fueled about how things went there. But there's also a part of me that wants to keep it cordial and play my best volleyball with my teammates and trust what I got, trust what my teammates got and kind of just play a good, mature, super good game. We'll see how things pan out for the next couple of days, but I'm still up in the air.”
When members of the University of Hawai‘i men's volleyball program were asked about going up against Thiim, players said the goal is to keep the focus on the storied rivalry between UH and BYU rather than a player like Thiim.
“As much as I love that kid, and as much as he was a great person, great leader in this community, this game is about Hawai‘i vs. BYU, not about Hawai‘i vs. Keoni," middle blocker Kurt Nusterer said. "I'm worried that if we make it about that. … There's five other players on that team that can do a lot of damage. We really got to be focused on everyone and not get distracted by that. It'll be nice to see him.”
While the cameras and recorders were rolling in Tuesday’s media availability at the Stan Sheriff Center, Hawai‘i head coach Charlie Wade was asked twice about going up against Thiim.
“Hawai‘i and BYU have a long rivalry together in a lot of different sports. I think everybody embraces that opportunity to go up there and compete. It's a fun environment. Last time we played them was for the (2021) national championship, which went our way. We're pretty happy about that. So, yeah, looking forward to the matchup," Wade said in his first answer.
When asked again about going up against a player of Thiim's caliber, Wade offered: “Obviously, Keoni’s got a big serve and we’ve certainly seen a lot of a lot of that here. They got some pretty volatile arms that can kind of wreck the game. They get going, they get hot from the service line, they can take over. Everybody plays better at home. They’re certainly no different. They're a top five team for a reason for sure.”
Despite the history between the two programs, Thiim has played enough meaningful matches to know that the most valuable volleyball is played in May at the NCAA Tournament.
"Playing our best volleyball at the end of April and beginning of May, that's going to be the biggest priority," Thiim said. "I think being OK with ups and downs right now, figuring things out is going to be more valuable than breaking our backs trying to win every game with high RPI and focusing on that. I think focusing on the improvement of our team, game to game and day by day in practice, is what's going to be the most important to get our best results when it matters."
Thiim has inquired and learned about a potential professional volleyball career overseas, but he's currently leaning towards playing domestically with AVP Beach Volleyball once his college career is done.
Thiim, who has more than 150,000 followers on TikTok and over 40,000 followers on Instagram, understands he has a fanbase that's invested in his volleyball career, with BYU as the latest stop in his journey.
"They're all going to tell you can't do it, but you gotta believe in yourself first. If you don't believe in yourself first, you're not going to make it," Thiim said. "You got to be confident in yourself. Believe in yourself. People are going to doubt you. You can let them doubt you, or you can take your own path and be who you want to be."
