HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season to the hands of UC San Diego in the semifinals of the Big West Championship Friday night at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 22-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-23, 18-16.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (15-1) were looking to advance to the championship match for the third consecutive time but ran into an inspired Tritons squad who will now meet second-seeded UC Santa Barbara for the title on Saturday. Meanwhile, UH will now await word whether it will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday at 7:00 a.m. HT on NCAA.com.
 
UH was led by middle blocker Patrick Gasman, who finished with 17 kills, hitting .519. The senior had seven of his kills in the opening set but tallied only six kills in the final three sets. The nation's third-leading blocker was held to two blocks and as a team, Hawai'i finished with only 8.5 compared to 13.5 for the Tritons.
 
Opposite Rado Parapunov had an off night with a career-high 13 errors in 45 swings, hitting .067, despite finishing with 16 kills. Outside hitter Colton Cowell added 14 kills and eight digs while libero Gage Worsley had a match-high 13 digs.
 
Kyle McCauley finished with a match-high 18 kills with four aces and 10 digs for the Tritons (5-12), who advance to the title match for the first time in program history. Ryan Ka added 14 kills, including six in the final set. 
 
In the deciding set, the teams battled back and forth and the Tritons blocked Parapunov for their first match point. The Warriors answered and scored two straight to get to match point at 15-14 but Ka posted back-to-back kills. UH erased another match point with a Parapunov kill before the Tritons closed out the match with a kill by Ka and an Andrew Boyle block on Cowell. 
 
The teams combined for 21 aces – 11 by UCSD and 10 by Hawai'i. The 11 aces were the most given up by the Warriors all season long. 
 
The loss snapped a 16-match win streak for the Warriors and was the first against UCSD in five meetings this season. 
 
In the first semifinal, the Gauchos overcame a slow start to defeat third-seeded Long Beach State, 16-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-15. Honolulu native Ryan Wilcox led UCSB with 16 kills while Spencer Olivier had a match-high 18 kills for LBSU.