HONOLULU – The No. 3 University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team were battle-tested in a four-set win over No. 15 Lincoln Memorial Sunday in the finale of a three-match series at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-14, 22-25, 25-13, 25-23.
The Rainbow Warriors (13-2) improved to a perfect 10-0 at home this season and extended their regular season home win streak to 17. But it wasn't easy after the Railsplitters (8-3) took the second set to even the match and pushed UH to the limit in the fourth set.
Outside hitter
Spyros Chakas led Hawai'i with a career-high 17 kills on .441 hitting and picked up the slack after opposite
Dimitrios Mouchlias was a late scratch in the starting line-up. Chakas also finished with three aces, four digs, and four blocks. Mouchlias entered the match to start Set 3 and finished with six kills.
In just his second match after returning from injury, outside hitter
Chaz Galloway added 11 kills (.391) and eight digs. Middle blocker
Guilherme Voss had eight kills and five blocks while setter
Jakob Thelle dished out 40 assists and led UH to a .358 attack percentage.
LMU was led by Cole Campisano, who finished with 16 kills on .538 hitting. The Railsplitters out-blocked UH, 8.5 to 7.5.
In Set 1, the Warriors reeled off 10 straight points off of Galloway's serve – five from LMU attack errors – for a 15-6 lead. UH hit .381 in the frame with two aces and two blocks.
UH led 19-15 in Set 2 before the Railsplitters closed to within one at 21-20. After a kill by Galloway, LMU blocked Thelle and forced an
Alaka'i Todd attack error to tie it at 22. Three straight Railsplitter kills later and the match was tied at 1-1.
Thelle's first serving turn of Set 3 made it 7-1. Then Chakas went back to serve and UH found themselves ahead 13-3. The Warriors hit .381 in the set and limited LMU to -.115 hitting while finishing with four blocks and two aces.
A turning point in Set 4 occurred after a Chakas serve was ruled out for a 15-13 LMU lead at the media timeout. But head coach
Charlie Wade challenged the call, which was overturned in UH's favor, and the Warriors scored two more for a 16-14 lead. The Splitters tied it at 18 and then took a 21-19 lead after blocking Chakas. But UH responded with kills by
Cole Hogland and Chakas kill to tie it at 21. After a LMU kill, Chakas and Mouchlias kills went back-to-back giving Hawai'i the advantage. The Railsplitter tied it at 23 but a kill by Mouchlias gave UH match point and Galloway put away an overpass to end it.
The Warriors will take the next week off before opening Big West Conference play with a two-match series at UC San Diego, March 2 & 4 in La Jolla, Calif.
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