Box Score
HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team swept Springfield, 25-21, 26-24, 25-12 Thursday night on the opening day of the Outrigger Hotels Invitational at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Warriors (2-1) hit .437 as a team, including a blistering .520 in the second and third sets. Senior outside hitter
Steven Hunt had a match-high 16 kills and hit .371 while freshman outside hitter
JP Marks added 12 kills on .429 hitting. Middle blocker
Nick West had seven kills with no errors in 11 attempts and a match-high six blocks.
The Pride (0-1) was led by outside hitter Angle Perez, who had 10 kills and seven digs. Springfield hit .226 as a team.
In Set 1, the Warriors and Pride were locked up in a tight battle until the midway point when Hawai'i scored five of six for a 17-14 lead. Springfield closed to within two at 23-21 but kills by
Johann Timmer and
Jarrod Lofy gave UH the set.
The teams went back and forth in Set 2, until a kill by Lofy and an ace by Marks gave UH a 16-14 lead. Moments later, the Warriors strung together three straight points for a 21-17 lead but the Pride rallied to tie the score at 24 after stuffing Hunt on UH's third set point. But the UH closed out the match with a Hunt kill and a hitting error by Perez.
The third set was all Hawai'i as the Warriors jumped out to an 8-3 lead with a five-point scoring run. Later in the set, UH reeled off five more points for a 16-7 advantage and cruised to a 25-12 rout.
In the earlier match, third-ranked UCLA defeated Lewis, 27-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-18. The Bruins (3-1) hit .400 as a team and were led by Jeremy Casebeer's 16 kills. Jay Petty had a team-high 13 kills for the Flyers (1-2).
The tournament continues Friday with UCLA and Springfield at 4:00 p.m. followed by UH and Lewis at 7:00 p.m.
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