Box Score
HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team lost a heart-breaking five-set match to No. 10 Penn State, 25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 24-26, 16-14, Friday night on the second day of the Outrigger Hotels Invitational at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Warriors dropped to 0-2 on the season for the first time since 2007 and the Nittany Lions (1-1) extended their win streak over UH to five straight, all during the Outrigger Invitational.
UH opposite
Jonas Umlauft hit long on Penn State's second match point to end a thrilling contest, which featured both teams hitting close to .400. Umlauft tallied 28 kills on .477 hitting while PSU counterpart Joe Sunder slammed 33 kills at a .583 clip.
After committing 31 attack errors in a three-set loss to Ball State on Thursday, the Warriors managed to limit their mistakes against the Nittany Lions and hit .396. UH committed only 21 errors and its big three of Umlauft,
Joshua Walker (17 kills), and
Steven Hunt (11 kills) combined for 56 kills only 18 errors.
Penn State hit .394 as a team despite the majority of the sets going to Sunder (48 attempts). Sunder's 33rd kill gave the Nittany Lions match point at 14-13 in the fifth. Umlauft erased that with his 28th blast but on the very next play, committed only his seventh hitting error to close out the match.
After dropping the opening set, the Warriors got things rolling early in the second using a three-point surge to take an 11-7 lead en route to a 15-11 advantage at the media timeout. UH traded side-outs the rest of the way and closed out the set 25-21.
The Nittany Lions broke away late in the third set. After Walker's kill pulled UH to within 23-22, Sunder closed out the set with a pair of kills. He wasn't so luck in the fourth after hitting wide on set point gave UH a 26-24 win and sending the match to a fifth set.
In the day's opening match, UCLA defeated Ball State, 25-22, 25-20, 23-25, 30-28. Weston Dunlop had 13 kills with no errors in 16 swings for the Bruins (4-1), who held off a furious Ball State rally. Larry Wrather had 17 kills for the Cardinals (2-1).
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