HONOLULU – The No. 3 University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team overcame a slow start to throttle Long Island in the straight sets Tuesday in the first of a three-match series at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The Rainbow Warriors (8-2) almost dropped the first set to the first-year program from Brookville, N.Y., trailing nearly the entire way and erasing set point. But UH regrouped and took the set and dismantled the Sharks in Sets 2 and 3 with a big block and strong service game.
Outside hitter
Spyros Chakas led the Warriors with 10 kills, hitting .533. Setter
Jakob Thelle and backup freshman setter
Jack Walmer each had three aces for the nation's serving leader while
Dimitrios Mouchlias and
Filip Humler added two each. Middle blocker
Guilherme Voss led defensive effort with six of the team's 14.5 blocks.
Luke Chandler had seven of his match-high 11 kills in the opening frame for the Sharks (3-8).
LIU jumped out to a 7-2 lead to Set 1. The Warriors slowly trimmed into the deficit, cutting it to one at 14-13 before tying it at 17. But the Sharks answered with three straight including back-to-back blocks. UH responded and took its first lead at 22-21 with a Voss-Kāna'i Akana double block. The Sharks had set point but Hawai'i scored the final three points, with the help of a Mouchlias ace, and an LIU free ball error to pull out the set.
In Set 2, the Warriors found themselves trailing early again. A 5-1 run closed the deficit to one and a 7-1 run gave UH a 14-8 lead. With Walmer at the service line, Hawai'i scored the final eight points of the set, which included three aces by the freshman. In all, UH tallied four aces and five blocks in the frame.
The Warriors jumped out to a 10-6 lead in Set 3 behind three straight kills by
Alaka'i Todd and an ace by Thelle. Another Walmer service turn gave the Warriors four straight points for a 15-8 advantage and the Sharks never threatened the rest of the way.
The teams play again Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
#HawaiiMVB
