HONOLULU – The top-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team overcame used its big block and strong serving to put away a feisty UC San Diego squad, Friday in the first of two Big West matches at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 28-26, 25-17, 19-25, 25-14.
The Rainbow Warriors (25-2, 8-1 BW) extended their win streak to eight straight and can clinch at least a share of the Big West regular season title with a win on Saturday. UH and Long Beach State are tied atop the standings at 8-1 with Hawai'i holding the tie-breaker. The Beach close out the regular season with a match at UC Irvine while UH and UCSD will meet again at SimpliFi Arena.
UH finished with a season-high 14 blocks including 10.5 in the final two sets.
Guilherme Voss and
Jakob Thelle each led the way with six blocks. The Warriors also served five of their eight aces in a Set 2 win that put them ahead 2-0 in the match. Thelle,
Spyros Chakas and
Dimitrios Mouchlias each tallied two aces.
Mouchlias led the way with 13 kills while
Chaz Galloway added 11 kills, eight digs, and three blocks. As a team, the Warriors hit .275 for the match.
The Tritons (8-15, 2-6) were led by Ryan Ka's match-high 20 kills. Jim Garrison added nine kills and a team-high six blocks. UCSD hit .256 for the match with 10 team blocks.
The teams traded side-outs for the first half of Set 1. The Tritons scored three straight to take a 16-14 lead but UH rallied to tie it at 18. After UCSD surged ahead 24-22, UH erased two set points to tie it at 24 and then took the lead after
Cole Hogland's ace trickled over the net. UCSD erased two set points before the Warriors closed it out with kills by Mouchlias and Voss.
The Tritons led by three early in Set 2 before Warriors stormed back, taking a 13-9 lead after Thelle's ace. An ace by Chakas made it 16-10 and the lead was nine after an ace by Mouchlias.
In Set 3, UH again fell behind early as the Tritons reeled off four straight points for a 15-10 lead. The deficit was seven at 19-12 before the Warriors reeled off four straight. Hawai'i would not get closer than that as the Tritons out-scored UH 6-3 the rest of the way.
The Warriors' frontline came alive in Set 4 producing 6.5 blocks. Consecutive blocks by Thelle and Hogland followed by a Mouchlias ace gave UH an 8-3 lead in Set 4. A 7-2 run made it 16-7 and the Tritons would finish the set hitting -.091.
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