IRVINE, Calif. – One night after suffering a straight set defeat, the No. 4 University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team bounced back in a big way for a four-set win over No. 5 UC Irvine, Saturday in a Big West match-up at Bren Events Center. Set scores were 22-25, 27-25, 25-18, 25-18.
The Rainbow Warriors (21-5, 4-4 BW) and Anteaters (17-7, 6-1) split the Big West series although UCI would win a tie-breaker due to set percentage. UH, which saw its 15-match win streak in the series snapped on Friday, still leads the season series 2-1 by virtue of a five-set win in the OUTRIGGER Invitational.
Hawai'i was led by freshman sensation
Louis Sakanoko, who tallied a match-high 16 kills, hitting .375, along with eight digs. Fellow freshman
Tread Rosenthal directed an offense which hit .362, dishing out 47 assists with nine digs, five blocks and five kills.
UH's middles – Gulherme Voss and
Kurt Nusterer – combined for 15 kills and 10 blocks and had only two attack errors in 25 attempts. As a team, the Warriors recorded 13.0 team blocks and held the Anteaters to .146 hitting.
Alaka'i Todd added 12 kills, seven digs, and five blocks while
Keoni Thiim matched his career-high of 12 digs along with eight kills and three blocks.
Hawai'i also managed to keep UCI's top attacker Hilir Henno in check as the Frenchman had 13 kills and eight errors, hitting at a .104 clip. William D'Arcy added 12 kills.
After dropping a closely contested first set, after the allowing the Anteaters to score three of the final four points in a 25-22 decision, the Warriors rallied in Set 2. UH overcame a 20-17 deficit with a 4-1 run to tie the score at 21. The score was tied three more times, before a big block gave UH set point at 25-24. After a Voss service error, Todd closed out the set with consecutive kills, which included a remarkable save by Sakanoko to keep set point alive.
UH took commanding leads in both Sets 3 and 4, holding UCI to a combined 16 kills with 17 attack errors. Hawai'i hit .423 with five blocks in the third set and .526 with 3.5 blocks in the fourth.
Hawai'i closes out the regular season with a two-match series at UC San Diego, April 12-13, in La Jolla, Calif.
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