PROVO, Utah – The fourth-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team outlasted No. 5 BYU in five sets Friday in the first of two non-conference matches at Smith Fieldhouse. Set scores were 20-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-16, 22-20.
The Rainbow Warriors (7-0) fended off six match points in the marathon fifth set which the Cougars led 8-4 at the change-over.
Kristian Titriyski had seven of his team-high 20 kills in the final set, including three that erased match point. His final kill ended the match and silenced the sold-out crowd of 5,000+.
Titriyski also finished with three aces and four blocks and hit .333 in a team-high 39 attempts.
Adrien Roure added 12 kills, 11 digs, and seven blocks and
Ofeck Hazan had 10 kills, hitting .571, with two aces and five blocks.
Kurt Nusterer led a UH frontline that totaled 18.5 team blocks. Nusterer led the way with a career-high tying 10 blocks while
Tread Rosenthal had a career-high eight blocks and nearly posted a triple double with 43 assists and a career-high nine kills.
Hawai'i also won the service game with 10 aces compared to two for the Cougars.
BYU (6-3) was led by former Rainbow Warrior outside hitter
Keoni Thiim, who finished with a match-high 21 kills, hitting .310. The Honolulu native also added two aces, four digs, and two blocks. Luke Benson had 17 kills.
In a rematch of the 2021 NCAA Championship match, won by Hawai'i, the Warriors rallied twice from a set down, needing to win the fourth set to extend the match. In that set, UH jumped all over the Cougars with leads of 8-4 and 14-7. The 'Bows hit .435 in the set with three aces, and six blocks.
BYU led for most of Set 5 until a 4-0 run put the Warrior ahead 10-9. The teams traded leads until back-to-back BYU points gave them match point at 14-13. Titriyski erased the next two Cougar attempts for the match and UH had its own aloha ball at 16-15 after a Thiim attack error. Thiim's service ace that trickled over the net gave BYU back the advantage. A Titriyski kill tied the score at 20 and Rosenthal followed with an ace setting up UH's second aloha ball.
UH won for the just the fifth time in Provo, Utah in 30 chances. The teams will play again on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. HT) at Smith Fieldhouse.
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