HONOLULU – The third-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team showed off his muscle at the service line in a straight set win over Tusculum Sunday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-15, 25-11, 25-7.
The Rainbow Warriors (8-1) served 16 aces in the victory including six by middle blocker
Kurt Nusterer, all during an epic 18-0 scoring run in the third set. The 16 aces were a season-high and the third-most in a single-match in program history.
Louis Sakanoko added four more aces while
Alaka'i Todd and
Keoni Thiim each added two apiece. Thiim led the way for the Warriors with a career-high 14 kills, hitting at a .722 clip along with a career-high four blocks. Todd added eight kills in only two sets of action.
As a team, Hawai'i hit .549 and posted 8.5 blocks while limiting Tusculum to -.037 hitting. In the two-match series, UH hit .569 and recorded 26 aces for an average of 4.33 per set.
The Pioneers (1-8) were led by Deklan Wingo's 10 kills.
The Warriors served six aces in the opening set with Sakanoko and Todd combining for five of them. An 8-1 run capped by consecutive aces by Sakanoko blew the set wide open. UH served four more aces in Set 2, including the first by redshirt freshman
Kai Taylor. Hawai'i closed on a 14-3 run which included three aces and three blocks.
With the Pioneers leading 3-2 in Set 3, Nusterer went back to the service line and when his turn was over, UH held a 20-3 advantage. The Indianapolis, Ind., native served a total of 17 times, six of which resulted in aces. His previous career-high in aces was two against Emmanuel earlier this season.
The Warriors are back in action this week for a pivotal two-match series against former Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rival Stanford, Wednesday, Feb. 7 and Friday, Feb. 9 at SimpliFi Arena.
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