NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – The top-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team wrapped up its first Big West Conference regular season title with a dominant performance against CSUN, Saturday at The Matadome. Set scores were 25-20, 25-20, 25-21.
The Rainbow Warriors (13-0, 8-0 BWC) continued their winning ways with their fourth consecutive Big West series sweep and captured their first outright conference regular season since 1980. UH earned the No. 1 seed in the Big West Tournament, which it is hosting at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, April 22-24.
The win also extended Hawai'i's program-best road win streak to 15 and their overall win streak to 14. UH's 13-0 start is tied with the 1996 team for the third-best in school history. The Warriors also avenged a two-match sweep by CSUN in the teams' last meeting in Northridge, Calif., in 2018.
Opposite
Rado Parapunov finished with a match-high 15 kills, hitting .407. He moved into sole possession of 11
thplace on the school's all-time kills list and is seven away from breaking into the Top 10.
One day after setting a new career-high in blocks, middle blocker
Guilherme Voss tallied a career-high nine kills, hitting at a .667 clip with three blocks. For the series, the freshman from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil hit .789 with 16 kills (2.29 avg.) and 11 blocks.
Seldom used outside hitter Kāna'i Akana provided a spark off the bench starting Sets 2 and 3 and finishing with five kills, hitting .444 with three digs, and one block. He was targeted 16 times on serve-receive and did not commit an error.
Griffin Walters and Cole Chea each had nine kills to lead the Matadors (1-7, 1-7 BW).
UH jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in Set 1. Kills by Voss on consecutive plays made it 9-4 but CSUN slowly fought its way back and closed to within 17-16 after scoring four straight. The teams then traded side-outs until Parapunov pounded three straight kills and the Warriors scored the final four points to take the opening set.
Outside hitter
Colton Cowell served up back-to-back aces during a 5-0 run to give the Warriors a 12-8 lead in Set 2. The Matadors trimmed the deficit to one after consecutive aces by Maciej Ptaszynski. But the Warriors responded with three straight for an 18-13 advantage and went on to take the set.
In Set 3, the teams see-sawed back and forth in the lead until Warriors scored five consecutive points, including three straight CSUN hitting errors, for a 23-18 lead.
Jakob Thelle's kill completed the sweep.
The Warriors will conclude the regular season with a two-match series against UC Irvine, Friday, April 16 and Saturday, April 17 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
#HawaiiMVB
