LA JOLLA, Calif. – The second-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team handed head coach
Charlie Wade his 200
th career victory in another straight-set win over No. 11 UC San Diego Thursday at RIMAC Center. Set scores were 25-20, 25-19, 25-23.
The Rainbow Warriors (4-0), which defeated the Tritons a night earlier, completed a sweep of their season-opening four-match road trip that also included two wins over UC Irvine. Wade is now 200-109 in his 12
th season at Hawai'i.
Earlier in the night, No. 1 BYU lost in straight sets to Grand Canyon meaning UH will likely jump into the top spot in next week's AVCA Coaches Poll. The Warriors already hold the No. 1 ranking in the Off the Block Media Poll.
UH's big block was once again too much for the Tritons to handle. Hawai'i finished with 11 total blocks for the second straight match and were led by middle blocker
Patrick Gasman and opposite
Rado Parapunov, who each tallied six. Gasman's two blocks early in Set 2 moved him into sole possession of fourth all-time in program history.
The Warriors also kept the Tritons out of system often with their tough serving, recording eight aces compared to zero for UCSD. Freshman
Spyros Chakas tallied a team-high three aces, including two in the opening set, while middle blocker
Max Rosenfeld set a new career-high with two.
Outside hitter
Colton Cowell and Parapunov were the team's kill leaders with 13 and 11, respectively. Chakas also added six kills.
The Tritons (0-2), who were led by Ryan Ka's 12 kills, wouldn't go down easily in each of the three sets. Chakas' back-to-back aces in Set 1 made it 13-10 and setter
Jakob Thelle's overpass kill gave UH a 23-18 lead. The Warriors finished with four aces and three blocks that proved to be the difference in Set 1.
UH tried to pull away in the middle of Set 2 as Parapunov's solo roof made it 12-8. The lead was 18-11 before the Tritons rallied to within four. Hawai'i traded side-outs until a pair of Triton errors closed out the set.
UCSD led for the better part of Set 3 until a ball handling error followed by an attack error from Ka gave UH a 21-19 lead. The Tritons battled back to tie it at 23 after a Cowell hitting error. But Parapunov's 11
th kill gave the Warriors match point and Cowell's push kill to the open court ended the match.
Hawai'i will next hit the court March 11-13 for a three-match series with No. 3 UC Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, Calif.
#HawaiiMVB
