LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team needed only 80 minutes to put away North Greenville in an opening round match of the NCAA Championship Tuesday at Pauley Pavilion. Set scores were 25-15, 25-17, 25-16.
The Rainbow Warriors (25-5) advance to the semifinals where they will face second-seeded Ball State, Thursday at 7:30 p.m. PT. The Cardinals defeated Hawai'i twice this season in January in Muncie, Ind.
UH was led by its Greek combination of
Spyros Chakas and
Dimitrios Mouchlias. Chakas had a team-high 12 kills, hitting .588 with four digs and three blocks while Mouchlias added 10 kills, hitting .500 with five digs and two blocks.
Setter
Jakob Thelle became the program's all-time single-season service ace leader with four aces on the night, breaking the previous mark of 54 that was first set in 1993 by Mark Presho and later by Clay Stanley in 2000. Thelle also recorded 26 assists and three blocks while leading UH to a team hitting percentage of .429.
In the first all-time meeting between the teams, Hawai'i was never threatened in each of the three sets. The Crusaders (21-5), who upset Princeton on Sunday in the tournament opener, was led by Gregory Torres, who tallied 12 kills.
In Set 1, Thelle's seven-point scoring turn featured two aces that helped the Warriors jump out to a 16-6 lead. A 7-1 run in Set 2 gave UH a 13-7 lead and four more unanswered points pushed the lead to double digits at 21-11.
The Crusaders put up a fight in Set 3 trailing only 10-9 but a 5-1 Hawai'i run pushed the lead to 15-10. The Warriors outscored the Crusaders 9-4 to complete the sweep.
In the day's first match, host UCLA defeated Pepperdine in four sets to advance to the semifinals where they will meet top-seeded Long Beach State in Thursday's first match.
#HawaiiMVB
