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HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team overcame a pesky Pacific Tigers team en route to a four-set victory, Friday night, in the first of two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 27-29, 25-23, 26-24, and 25-17.

 

On the same day the state of Hawai'i as well as Japan and parts of the U.S., was struck by a tsunami, the Warriors came out sluggish, losing the first set and hitting .255 for the match, nearly 100 points lower than its season league average. Still, Hawai'i overcame the 13^th-ranked Tigers with the play of All-American opposite Jonas Umlauft, who had a match-high 28 kills. Outside hitters Joshua Walker (13 kills) and Steven Hunt (8) had off nights, combining for 21 kills on only .100 hitting.

 

Middle blocker Jarrod Lofy carried some of the burden with a season-high 10 kills and four blocks while Shane Welch added three kills and a team-high seven stuffs.

 

UOP's Taylor Hughes was nearly unstoppable to start the match but finished with a team-high 21 kills.

 

In Set 1, the Tigers jumped out to a 6-2 lead before the Warriors woke up and scored five straight for a 17-14 lead. UH, which committed four errors in its first six attempts, went unscathed until committing consecutive errors on two set points. The Tigers then blocked Umlauft for a 26-25 lead and Chaz Hindsley's let serve ace gave them the set at 29-27.

 

With its six-set win streak snapped, Hawai'i responded and took a 10-6 lead to start Set 2. But the Tigers fought their way back and after consecutive stuff blocks of Umlauft and Hunt, UOP had a 22-21 lead. But Umlauft responded with a kill and back-to-back aces giving the Warriors set point at 24-22. Jarrod Lofy put down his fourth kill tying the match at 1-1.

 

The Warriors came out flat in Set 3, falling behind 7-0 after committing four errors in their first five attempts. But UH slowly chipped away to within 15-14 and tied it at 18. The Tigers scored three straight forcing UH head coach Charlie Wade to call his final timeout but the Warriors answered back with six straight, including three straight stuff blocks by Shane Welch. The Tigers fought off three set points before the Warriors put away the set with another block by Welch and Umlauft.

 

UH trailed 7-3 to start Set 4 but rallied to lead 15-14 at the media timeout. From there, the Tigers fell apart with three straight hitting errors during a five-point Warrior spurt to lead 21-16.

 

The two teams play again on Saturday. First serve is 7:00 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.