HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team needed four sets to put away a scrappy UC San Diego squad Friday in the first of two Big West Conference matches at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 25-15.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (8-0, 3-0 BWC) extended their win streak over the Tritons to 16 straight to remain unbeaten on the season. The win was also the third against UCSD this season. The teams play again on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
 
The 12^th-ranked Tritons loaded the middle, tempting Hawai'i to hit from the outside and UH's pin hitters finished with 44 of the team's 51 kills. Opposite Rado Parapunov tallied with a team-high 17 kills while outside hitter Colton Cowell had a season-high 14 kills and outside hitter Chaz Galloway added a career-high 13 kills. 
 
As a team, the Warriors hit .314 and posted seven aces and 12.5 team blocks. Middle blocker Guilherme Voss led the way with six blocks while Galloway, Jakob Thelle and Max Rosenfeld each added four. 
 
The Tritons (1-6, 1-2 BWC) was led by Kyle McCauley's 17 kills. 
 
No team led by more than two points in Set 1 until the Warriors tacked on consecutive points after back-to-back kills by Parapunov for a 23-20 lead. UH took the opening set after Voss-Thelle double block.
 
Set 2 featured 13 ties and five lead changes. Hawai'i strung together four straight points capped by a Patrick Gasman ace for 14-12 lead but just as quickly UCSD evened the score. The Tritons went up by two after consecutive kills by McCauley and they managed to side-out the rest of the way, handing UH just its third set loss of the season.
 
The third set was much like the first two. Back and forth the teams traded points and leads until the Warriors scored consecutive points, including an ace by Thelle for a 21-18 lead. UH closed out the set with a kill by Cowell and solo block by Voss.
 
Hawai'i jumped all over the Tritons in Set 4, scoring seven of the first eight points and then seven unanswered to make it 16-5.