IRVINE, Calif. – The fourth-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team went the distance and pulled out a five-set win over No. 14 UC Irvine, Saturday in the regular season finale at the Bren Events Center. Set scores were 21-25, 25-18, 25-27, 25-20, 15-11.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (22-5, 7-3 BWC) needed to rally from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Anteaters for the 11^th consecutive time and will enter next week's Big West Tournament as the No. 2 seed with a first round bye.
 
UH was led by opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias, who tallied a career-high 31 kills to lead all attackers. The Soufli, Greece native hit .510 in 49 attack attempts with two aces, five blocks, and four digs. Fellow Greek Spyros Chakas added 16 kills and four blocks while setter Jakob Thelle dished out 54 assists along with two aces, eight digs, and three blocks.
 
As a team, the Warriors hit .326 with 15.5 blocks and six aces.

It wouldn't be a #WarriorBall22 match without a "Thelle on ✌️" play! pic.twitter.com/rZp0xcv3MR

— Hawaii Men's Volleyball (@HawaiiMensVB) April 17, 2022

 
Francesco Sani had 24 kills to lead the Anteaters (10-15, 3-7).  UCI hit .221 as a team with 16 blocks and five aces.
 
After the teams split the first two sets, Set 3 came down to the wire and the Anteaters won in controversial fashion. The game went back-and-forth until UCI seemingly hit wide on UH's set point at 25-24 however the head referee over-ruled all other officials and called a touch. Replays showed no touch and from there the Anteaters scored the final two points for a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
In Set 4, UH surged ahead 9-4 after an ace by Mouchlias and Chakas kill. UCI pulled within two at 13-11 before the Warriors used a 4-1 run to make it it 17-12. UCI closed to within 22-20 after back-to-back aces by Hilir Henno but kills by Mouchlias on consecutive plays and a Chakas ace sent the match to a deciding fifth set.
 
UH jumped out to three-point lead in Set 5 before the Anteaters closed to within one at 8-7. With the score tied at 9-9, the Warriors scored five straight, with the help of four Anteater attack errors, to get to match point. Galloway's kill put an end to the match.
 
Hawai'i will earn a bye into the semifinals of the Big West Tournament where they will meet the winner of UC Santa Barbara and CSUN on Friday.