HONOLULU – The No. 5 University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team continued its dominance over UC Santa Barbara with a straight-set win Friday in a Big West match-up at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-23, 25-21, 26-24.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (19-4, 2-3 BWC) extended their win streak over the Gauchos to 17, including 10 straight at home. Hawai'i has not lost to UCSB since the 2016 season.
 
UH hit .398 for the match and was led by senior Chaz Galloway, who tallied a team-high 10 kills along with four digs and two blocks. Guilherme Voss and Louis Sakanoko each had nine kills while Kurt Nusterer led the team with four blocks along with five kills. Alaka'i Todd had six kills and a team-high seven digs.
 
The Gauchos (7-15, 0-6), who remained winless in league play, was led by Geste Bianchi's match-high 17 kills.
 
UCSB out-aced UH, 7-to-3, but the Warriors had more blocks (6.5-to-2).

Vintage Tread 😎 pic.twitter.com/6MB9bfmlos

— Hawaii Men's Volleyball (@HawaiiMensVB) March 30, 2024

 
In Set 1, the teams battled back and forth until UH took a 17-14 lead after a kill by Todd, which capped a 4-0 run. An ace by Kevin Kauling made it 22-19 and the Warriors eventually built a 24-20 advantage before the Gauchos erased three set points. On UH's fourth opportunity, Galloway put away his fourth kill.
 
UH jumped out to an early 7-4 lead in Set 2. The advantage was four before the Gauchos tied it at 16 after an ace by Patrick Kane. Hawai'i answered back by scoring four of the next five points for a 20-17 lead and closed out the set with back-to-back kills by Galloway and Nusterer to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The Warriors doubled up the Gauchos early in Set 3. Back-to-back aces by Tread Rosenthal gave Hawai'i a 19-14 lead but UCSB would not go away. Owen Loncar served consecutive aces to pull the Gauchos within 20-18. The teams traded side-outs and the Warriors had two match points but UCSB erased both, including an ace by Dominic Lang to tie it at 24. But Lang served the next ball out and Sakanoko put the finishes touches on the match with his ninth kill.
 
The teams play again on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at SimpliFi Arena. Following the match, UH will honor six seniors during the senior ceremony – Austin Buchanan, Spyros Chakas, Chaz Galloway, Kevin Kauling, Alaka'i Todd, and Guilherme Voss.