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HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team overcame a slow start to knock off top-ranked UCLA in four sets Friday in the opener of a two-match Mountain Pacific Sports Federation series at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-18.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (9-1, 4-1 MPSF) handed UCLA (10-1, 6-1) its first loss of the season and gave head coach Charlie Wade career win No. 100 in front of the largest crowd of the season (4,350).
 
UH and UCLA will meet again in the rematch tomorrow at 7:00 p.m.
 
The victory was UH's fifth-straight over UCLA dating back to 2014, tying its longest streak in the series. The Warriors also extended their home win streak to 17 matches since last season and is two wins shy of tying the school record.
 
Freshman Stijn van Tilburg led all hitters with a career-high 21 kills, hitting .381. Sixteen of his kills occurred in the final two sets, including 10 in the pivotal third set which UH prevailed 25-23 to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Senior Sinisa Zarkovic added 15 kills, two aces and nine digs. Junior Kupono Fey added five kills, seven digs, and five blocks but more importantly his two solo stuffs gave UH an early advantage in Set 4.
 
As a team, UH hit .273, remarkable considering the Warriors hit -.050 in the opening frame. Hawai'i also out-blocked the Bruins, 13-to-9.5. UCLA, which was led by Honolulu native Micah Ma'a's nine kills, served seven aces.
 
Down 1-0 in the match, the Warriors settled down in Set 2, managing to take a 20-17 lead after a 5-1 run, which included four UCLA errors. Moments later, two more Bruin hitting errors gave UH set point at 24-19 and one point later, Zarkovic's eighth kill ended it to tie the match.
 
In Set 3, Ma'a's lethal serving gave the Bruins a 10-8 lead. The Warriors tied it up and twice the Bruins took two points leads at 17-15 and 19-17. But each time, UH rallied. Down 23-22, Ma'a's hitting error tied it up. On the very next play, Hagen Smith hit out and on set point, Ma'a again hit long giving UH the victory.
 
The Warriors used four early blocks, including Fey's solo stuffs, for a 13-9 lead in Set 4. UH led 15-10 at the media timeout before the Bruins pulled within one after a 6-2 run. However, back-to-back Bruin errors gave UH a 20-17 lead and after a Jennings Franciskovic service error, the Warriors closed out the match by scoring the final five points, capped by a Zarkovic ace.