HONOLULU – The No. 2 University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team got back in the win column with a straight-set win over No. 18 CSUN, Friday in the first of two Big West matches at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-15, 19-25, 27-25, 25-17.
After dropping a pair of matches to Long Beach State last week, the Rainbow Warriors (18-3, 1-2 BWC) continued their winning ways at home with their 14
th consecutive victory at SimpliFi Arena. UH also extended its series win streak over CSUN to nine straight but it wasn't easy as the Matadors (9-11, 0-3) nearly took a 2-1 lead in the match.
Three Warriors tallied double-figure kills led by
Alaka'i Todd's 13.
Guilherme Voss and
Louis Sakanoko each added 10 kills. Voss led the team with seven blocks and became the seventh Rainbow Warriors to record 400 career blocks. Sakanoko served three of the team's six aces and had seven digs.
Chaz Galloway added eight kills and 10 digs while
'Eleu Choy also tallied 10 digs. As a team, UH hit .388 for the match with 14 total blocks.
The Matadors were led by Kyle Hobus, who recorded a match-high 21 kills, hitting .395. Griffin Walters had 11 kills and three aces.
The teams traded punches in the first two sets. UH rolled to a 25-15 win in Set 1 while the Matadors evened with the match with a 25-19 Set 2 victory.
It was a see-saw affair in Set 3. The Warriors held the lead for the first half of the set until the Matadors tied it at 17 after freak ace that clipped the leg of Todd. The Matadors then took the lead at 22-21 after a kill by Walters. UH jumped back on top at 24-23 after a Sakanoko block. Then on UH's third set point, Sakanoko ripped an ace to end it.
Sakanoko's serving turn early in Set 4 resulted in five straight points and a 7-3 lead. UH led 9-4 after a kill by Nusterer and another Sakanoko ace made it 16-9. The lead was double digits until a late Matador rally before Voss closed out the match with his 10
th kill.
The teams play again on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
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