NASHVILLE, Ten. – The fourth-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team were tested early but eventually pulled away from No. 13 Grand Canyon in straight sets in the featured match of The Off the Block's Grow the Game Challenge Sunday at Allen Arena. Set scores were 25-20, 25-21, 25-20.
 
The match was the first of two on the day for the Rainbow Warriors (5-0), who will also play Lincoln Memorial in a postponed match that was scheduled for Friday.
 
Outside hitter Stijn van Tilburg led Hawai'i with 14 kills, hitting .407. Opposite Rado Parapunov added 10 kills and five blocks while middle blocker Dalton Solbrig posted eight kills, with no errors, in 12 swings and five stuffs.
 
The Warriors hit .409 for the match with eight blocks while GCU hit .176. Shalev Saada had a team-high 12 kills for the Lopes (5-1).
 
UH gained the early advantage in Set 1 at 11-8 following a double-block by Solbrig and Parapunov. After the Lopes tied it at 15, the Warriors went on a 6-1 run that included three blocks by Solbrig for a 21-16 lead. In total, UH recorded six blocks and held the Lopes to -.031 hitting in the set.
 
Back-to-back hammers by van Tilburg put UH up 12-9. The Warriors made it 20-14 after a 6-1 run before the Lopes pulled to within two at 21-19. But UH sided-out to close out the match and ended it with van Tilburg's eighth kill of the set and 11^th total.
 
The teams traded kill-for-kill to open Set 3 with neither team holding more than a two-point cushion until the Warriors took a 19-16 lead after a GCU hitting error. After a Lopes timeout, setter Joe Worsley tooled the block for another UH point and a 22-17 lead.
 
The UH-Lincoln Memorial match is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. HT.