HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team got a much-needed win Friday, defeating UC San Diego in straight sets in the first of two Big West Conference matches at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-22, 25-17, 25-19.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (14-6, 2-3 BWC) snapped a four-match losing streak and posted their 10^th consecutive win over the Tritons. The rematch is Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
 
UH was led by outside hitter Stijn van Tilburg, who tallied 11 kills with two aces. Opposite Rado Parapunov added 10 kills and three blocks while middle blocker Dalton Solbrig had seven kills, hitting .778, and two blocks.
 
Tanner Syftestad had a match-high 12 kills for UCSD (9-13, 0-5).
 
In Set 1, the Warriors led 15-12 at the media timeout but the Tritons rallied to take an 18-16 lead. UH jumped back on top before UCSD again retook the lead at 21-19 with a pair of blocks on Solomon Matautia. The Warriors answered back and scored six of the final seven points to take the set. The teams combined for 17 hitting errors as UH hit .118 compared to .000 for UCSD.
 
The Tritons jumped out to a three-point cushion to start Set 2 before the Warriors rallied to take a 15-13 lead. UH extended its lead to 21-14 after consecutive aces by van Tilburg and ran away for the 25-17 victory. Hawai'i hit .417 in the frame.
 
Patrick Gasman's ace gave UH a 9-5 lead in Set 3. The Warriors made it 15-7 with five straight points that included a pair of van Tilburg kills and an ace by Brett Rosenmeier. The lead was 20-11 before the Tritons closed to within five. The Warriors closed out the match on Parapunov's 10th kill.