LA JOLLA, Calif. – The No. 5 University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team clinched the No. 3 seed in next week's Big West Championship tournament following a four-set win over UC San Diego, Friday in the first of two Big West matches at LionTree Arena. Set scores were 25-20, 25-16, 12-25, 25-20.
The Rainbow Warriors (22-5, 5-4 BWC) are assured of playing in the evening bracket of next week's tournament and will face the No. 6 seed in Thursday's quarterfinal. CSUN and UC Santa Barbara are currently tied for fifth place and will meet on Saturday in Northridge, Calif., to determine the Nos. 5 and 6 seeds.
Hawai'i looked to win in a sweep after siding-out at 80 percent through the first two sets however the Tritons dominated the third, limiting the Warriors to -.154 hitting in a 25-12 rout. The 13-point defeat was UH's most-lopsided set loss since 2013.
Hawai'i regrouped in the fourth and hit .536 in the frame to take the match.
Alaka'i Todd posted seven of his team-high 15 kills in the set while
Louis Sakanoko, who was briefly subbed out in the third, had six kills in seven errorless attempts. The duo combined for 13 kills, hitting .640 in the set.
The Tritons (11-14, 3-6), which clinched the No. 4 seed with the loss, was led by Anthony Cherfan's match-high 16 kills, hitting at a .406 clip. Peter Seicho and Sebastian Lara each added eight kills.
UH hit .286 for the match with 10 aces and 7.5 blocks. Todd hit .344 and tallied five digs and two blocks. Sakanoko finished with 10 kills, hitting .350 and three aces while
Keoni Thiim added 11 kills, two aces, and seven digs.
Guilherme Voss had a team-high four blocks while
Kurt Nusterer added two aces.
UH used its tough serving to take the opening set as Sakanoko served three of the team's five aces. In contrast, UCSD committed nine service errors despite hitting at a .524 clip. Hawai'i served four more aces in Set 2, hitting .450 and limited the Tritons to .045.
It was all UCSD in the third. The Tritons took a 13-6 lead after their fourth block of the set and the advantage was double digits following Sakanoko's attack error.
Hawai'i jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in Set 4. Sakanoko's bounce kill made it 12-7 and UH would not look back. Ace by Todd gave the Warriors their largest lead at 17-10.
The teams will play again on Saturday to close out the regular season.
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