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HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team halted a five-match home losing streak with a five-set win over No. 14 UC Irvine in the first of two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-17, 23-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-9.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (13-9, 8-9 MPSF) inched closer to a berth in the MPSF Tournament with their eighth league win, one behind sixth place UC Santa Barbara. UH won its third straight in a match that lasted two hours and 31 minutes.
 
Senior outside hitter Sinisa Zarkovic led the way with a career-high 25 kills, hitting .340. Middle blocker Nainoa Frank tallied a career-high 10 kills, hitting .692 while outside hitter Kupono Fey added nine kills and six blocks.
 
UH hit .283 compared to .323 for the Anteaters but posted eight aces to three for UCI. Both teams finished with 9.5 team blocks.
 
The Eaters (8-16, 5-12) were led by Michael Saeta's 19 kills. Thomas Hodges added 17 kills, hitting .696 while David Parker posted 14 kills and nine digs.
 
Zarkovic got off to a strong start in Set 1 and had five kills by the time the teams hit the media timeout with UH leading 15-13. From there it was all Hawai'i as the Warriors closed out the set on a 9-2 run for the 25-17 victory. Zarkovic (8) and Fey (3) combined to finish with 11 of the team's 12 kills while the Warriors hit .400.
 
In a tightly contested Set 2, the Warriors trailed for much of the period before retaking the lead at 22-21 after a 4-1, which included three hitting errors by Saeta. But the Eaters rallied, bunching together the next three points to get to set point. After Zarkovic's 15^th kill, Hodges ended it tying the match at 1-1.
 
After the teams traded points for the first part of Set 3, the Warriors took a 14-11 lead following a 4-1 run.  With UH leading 18-15, the Eaters caught the Warriors with three unanswered before the teams traded three-point spurts to get to 21-all. Worsley's kill followed by a UCI hitting error gave UH set point and after an Eater point, Zarkovic's 20^th kill secured the Warriors victory.
 
UCI led 11-7 to start Set 4. Then in almost identical fashion to Set 3, the teams traded three-point runs and UCI followed with two straight for a 20-18 lead. The Eaters got to set point with a 4-1 run and Zarkovic's career-high tying 24^th kill pulled UH to within 24-21. Hodges closed out the set with his 15^th kill.
 
In Set 5, the Warriors jumped out to a 4-1 lead after a pair of Stijn van Tilburg kills. Hendrick Mol's ace spurred a four-point run and a 11-6 advantage and the Eaters would not threaten the rest of the way.
 
The teams play again on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.