HONOLULU – The fourth-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team got the last laugh in a four-set victory over 11
th-ranked UC San Diego Saturday in a Big West match that got chippy late with both teams receiving warnings for talking through the net. Set scores were 27-25, 25-23, 17-25, 25-18.
The Rainbow Warriors (21-2, 4-0 BWC) were led by Frenchmen
Louis Sakanoko and
Adrien Roure, who combined for 29 of the team's 56 kills. Sakanoko led the team with 15 kills, hitting .414 with five digs and four blocks while Roure added 14 kills, hitting at a .400 clip.
UH overcame 18 service errors by hitting .390 in the match, including .640 in the deciding fourth set. Hawai'i also tallied half of their nine team blocks in the final set.
The Tritons (16-6, 2-2) had three players with double-figures kills, including Josh Schellinger's 18 kills on .382 hitting.
UH's middle attack of
Kurt Nusterer and
Ofeck Hazan combined for 15 kills with only one attack error in 21 attempts and eight blocks. Nusterer had eight kills in 11 errorless attempts while Hazan added seven kills and a team-high five blocks.
UH took the first two sets by the slimmest of margins. In Set 1, after the Tritons tied it at 21, the teams traded side-outs until Roure's fifth kill ended it on Hawai'i's third set point. In the second set, the Warriors led from start to finish but not before the Tritons pulled within one at 23-22. Sakanoko's seventh kill gave UH set point and Hazan finished it with his third kill of the set.
UCSD opened up a 9-3 lead to begin Set 3 and the Warriors never threatened the rest of the way. That's when the trash talking started. UH doubled up the Tritons to start Set 4 and led 16-11 after a 5-1 run. The Warriors scored four straight including an ace by
Kainoa Wade to get to match point and Roure's thunderous kill set off the celebration.
Hawai'i will next head to southern California for a two-match series with CSUN, Friday, April 4 and Saturday, April 5 in Northridge, Calif.
#HawaiiMVB
