HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team kicked off the 29
th OUTRIGGER Invitational with a sweep of No. 12 Ball State Thursday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-19, 25-13, 29-27.
The defending tournament champion and third-ranked Rainbow Warriors (18-1) extended their win streak to nine with a dominant performance. Hawai'i hit .405 for the match with seven aces and 8.5 blocks.
UH was led by three pin hitters who all posted 10+ kills –
Louis Sakanoko (14),
Kristian Titriyski (14), and
Adrien Roure (11). Titriyski hit .400 with three digs and two blocks while Sakanoko hit .550 with four digs and four blocks. Roure committed only one attack error in 22 attempts and hit .455 with added six digs, two aces, and two blocks.
The Cardinals (13-7) were led by Patrick Rogers, who tallied 11 kills.
The Warriors made it look easy in the first two sets, jumping out to a 12-7 lead in Set 1. Hawai'i scored the first six points of Set 2 and never looked back in a dominant 12-point win.
BSU jumped out to an early advantage in Set 3 before UH rallied to take a 15-13 lead after a 7-1 run. The Cardinals answered back and used a 5-0 run for a 24-20 lead. UH erased those four set points and eventually sided-out and erased three more. Sakanoko's 14
th kill tied the score at 27 and Titriyski followed with his 14
th kill to give UH match point.
Justin Todd's ace ended it.
In tournament's opening match, fifth-ranked USC swept No. 19 Penn State, 25-20, 25-18, 25-21. The Trojans held the Nittany Lions to -.035 hitting. Dillon Klein had a match-high 10 kills.
The tournament continues on Friday with Ball State and USC at 4:00 p.m., followed by Hawai'i and Penn State at 7:00 p.m.
#HawaiiMVB
