HONOLULU – The top-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team needed only three sets to put away No. 5 UC Irvine, Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 26-24, 25-20, 25-19.
One night after the Rainbow Warriors (24-2, 7-1 BWC) defeated the Anteaters in four sets, UH pulled out the brooms in front of a raucous crowd of over 8,000 to extend their win streak in the series to 13 matches. Hawai'i also won its seventh straight Big West match and are now tied atop the standings with Long Beach State.
Setter
Jakob Thelle directed another dominant offensive performance as the Warriors hit .424 for the match. UH also totaled eight service aces and eight blocks. More importantly, they held the Eaters to only two aces on the night.
Dimitrios Mouchlias led the way with 12 kills, hitting .435 with three aces, seven digs, and two blocks.
Chaz Galloway and
Spyros Chakas each chipped in with nine kills. Galloway also had two aces and four blocks and Chakas tallied six digs.
Middle blocker
Cole Hogland had eight kills with zero errors in 11 attempts and finished the series with 14 kills in 19 errorless attempts. Fellow middle
Guilherme Voss also totaled 10 kills in 15 attempts in the series. The duo hit .676 in the series and combined to average 3.43 kills per set.
Thelle finished with 36 assists and three blocks. He added two more aces in the series for 118 in his career, three shy of the all-time program record.
Francesco Sani led the Anteaters (16-8, 6-2) with a match-high 15 kills, hitting .367. Cole Gillis added 12 kills on a .429 clip.
The nation's service ace leader Hilir Henno served two aces and helped UCI build a 5-1 lead to start the match. The Eaters led by as many as five before the Warriors rallied to UH take its first lead at 14-13. UCI regained the advantage and led 23-21. An ace by Mouchlias tied it at 23 but a kill by Gillis gave the Eaters set point. The Warriors scored the final three points with a kill by Mouchlias, a block by Thelle-Hogland, and a Chakas kill.
UH used a 4-0 run to take a 9-6 lead in Set 2. An ace by Hogland made it 11-7. The Anteaters closed to within one at 18-17 but back-to-back points by the Warriors gave them a three-point cushion. After a pair of side-outs, UH closed out the match with three straight points, including an ace by Galloway.
UH jumped out to a 7-4 lead to start Set 3 then scored three unanswered for a 15-9 advantage at the media timeout. The Anteaters never threatened the rest of the way.
UH will close out the regular season with a two-match series against UC San Diego, Friday, April 14 and Saturday, April 15 at SimpliFi Arena.
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