HONOLULU – The fourth-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team completed a two-match series sweep of Emmanuel after a dominant 25-7, 25-8, 25-18 victory Friday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The Rainbow Warriors (3-1) came out with much more sense of urgency than Wednesday's match, displaying an improved offense and lethal serve game. As a team, UH hit .491 for the match and recorded 14 aces, including a program-record tying nine by freshman sensation
Louis Sakanoko.
The Paris, France native tied Costas Theocharidis' record which he set in 2002. In just his second match in a Rainbow Warrior uniform, Sakanoko made his first career start at opposite and finished with eight kills, hitting .385, with two digs and one block.
In the last three matches, Hawai'i has served a combined 37 aces and are averaging 3.07 aces per set on the season. In comparison, UH's opponents have 14 total aces in four matches.
For the second straight match, Honolulu native
Keoni Thiim cracked the starting lineup and recorded four kills, two aces, and three digs. Outside hitter
Spyros Chakas led the way with 10 kills, hitting .692, with four digs and three blocks.
Aiden Feeney and Eli Zdonek led the Lions (0-2) with three kills. Emmanuel only recorded 12 team kills for the match and committed 21 attack errors for a -.158 percentage. The bright spot for the Lions was the third set in which they doubled their point total from the first two sets combined and recorded eight kills and three aces.
UH hit .636 as a team in the first two sets with only two attack errors in 33 combined attempts. At the intermission, the Warriors had 11 aces, including eight by Sakanoko. His record-tying ninth ace occurred anticlimactically via a rotation violation by the Lions early in Set 3.
The Warriors take the next week off before embarking on a three-match road trip with matches at Purdue Fort Wayne, Jan. 25-26, and Ball State, Jan. 28.
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