HONOLULU – The No. 1-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team completed the first undefeated regular season in program history following a straight-set win over UC Irvine, Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-17, 25-18, 25-13.
The Rainbow Warriors (15-0, 10-0 BWC) also finished with a perfect conference season for just the third time in school history and first since 1996. UH will enter next week's Big West Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed and with a 16-match overall win streak. UH will receive a first round bye to the semifinals where they will meet one of the quarterfinal round winners.
Following the match, six seniors –
James Anastassiades,
Colton Cowell,
Patrick Gasman,
Rado Parapunov,
Jackson Van Eekeren, and
Gage Worsley – were honored during a toned-down but still emotional Senior Night ceremony that included messages played on the arena videoboard from each of their families. In addition, family and friends were allowed to drop off lei earlier in the day which were presented to each senior in a tradition that makes UH's senior ceremony unique and unlike anywhere else.
Parapunov finished with a team-high 13 kills, hitting .417 along with five aces that moved him past Delano Thomas for fourth on the school's all-time aces list. Cowell added eight kills and eight digs and Gasman tallied five kills and two aces. Worsley recorded five digs and Van Eekeren made an appearance late in the third set.
The Anteaters (2-13, 2-8) were led by Joel Schneidmiller and Francesco Sani, who each had nine kills.
As a team, the Warriors hit .385 for the match with 10 aces and 8.5 team blocks and held UCI to .148 hitting, a stark contrast to their .417 clip a night earlier.
With Gasman at the service line in Set 1, UH used a 7-0 scoring run that included two aces by the senior for a 10-3 lead. The Mānoa Roofing Company recorded five early blocks to build the lead to double digits at 17-7. Hawai'i led by as many as 13 before the Anteaters erased six set points until a Schneidmiller attack error ended it.
UH maintained a small cushion in Set 2 taking a 9-6 lead with three unanswered points. The teams traded points for much of the set and after a Parapunov service error, the Warriors scored the final five points to take a 2-0 lead in the match. UH hit .467 in the set.
Early in Set 3, Parapunov served five aces during a 7-0 run to give the Warriors a 12-3 lead. It was all but over after that and the senior ceremony began shortly after that.
The Big West Tournament begins on Thursday with a pair of quarterfinal round matches followed by the semifinals on Friday and the championship match on Saturday. Spectrum Sports will air all five matches of the tournament live. UC Santa Barbara is the No. 2 seed and will also receive a bye into the semis.
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