HONOLULU – The No. 5 University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team outlasted No. 20 UC Santa Barbara in a five-set Senior Night marathon, Saturday in a near capacity SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-21, 26-24, 23-25, 21-25, 15-12.
Following the match, six seniors were honored in the traditional senior night ceremony –
Austin Buchanan, Kyle Kauling,
Alaka'i Todd,
Guilherme Voss,
Chaz Galloway, and
Spyros Chakas.
The Rainbow Warriors (20-4, 3-3 BWC) overcame a stubborn Gaucho squad who rallied from a 0-2 deficit in the match. But in the end, UH was able to extend its series win streak to 18, including 11 straight at home. The win also gave Hawai'i its 13
th 20-win season, six of which under head coach
Charlie Wade.
The three-hour, six-minute slugfest featured a wild ending that included a yellow card and red card in the fifth set against Hawai'i. Backup outside hitter
Keoni Thiim, who came off the bench in the fourth set, posted a team-high four kills in the deciding set, including UH's last two points of the match.
Hawai'i recorded a season-high 18.5 blocks in the match led by
Kurt Nusterer, who tallied a career-high 10 blocks.
Louis Sakanoko and
Guilherme Voss each had six stuffs. Sakanoko led the team with 15 kills along with seven digs while Voss added 12 kills in 16 errorless attempts.
Todd notched his first career double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs while setter
Tread Rosenthal and libero
'Eleu Choy each had 10 digs. Rosenthal served two aces, dished out 48 assists and led the team to a team hitting percentage of .254.
Geste Bianchi led the Gauchos (7-16, 0-7) with a match-high 32 kills. Ben Coordt added 16 kills and nine digs.
Having already won the first set, UH rallied late in Set 2 by scoring the final four points to steal the game and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
In Set 3, UCSB used a 4-0 run to take a 22-17 lead. Hawai'i used its block to pull within one at 23-22 but Sakanoko's serve sailed long on set point. In Set 4, the Gauchos took a 17-12 lead after a 10-1 run. UH closed within two but UCSB used a 5-1 run to make it 23-17 and another UH service error on set point sent the match to a fifth set.
Hawai'i took a 7-4 lead in Set 5 after a Thiim kill, whose celebration subsequently led to a yellow card. UH eventually led 8-4 at the switch before the Gauchos scored four of the next five points to pull within one at 10-9. The teams traded side-outs until Thiim's third kill gave the Warriors match point. During the point, Wade argued a non-call which resulted in a red card and a UCSB point. But on the very next play, Thiim's kill closed out the match.
Hawai'i will next travel to No. 3 UC Irvine for a two-match series, Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6 in Irvine, Calif. The teams have already met once on the final day of the OUTRIGGER Invitational in Honolulu with UH winning in five sets.
#HawaiiMVB
