UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The third-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team was victorious in its first trip to State College in more than two decades after a straight set win over No. 14 Penn State, Friday in the first of two non-conference matches at Rec Hall. Set scores were 25-22, 25-23, 25-15.
The Rainbow Warriors (9-1) made their first appearance at the Penn State venue since their 2002 NCAA Championship run. Hawai'i was challenged in the first two sets before easily completing the sweep with a double-digit win in the third.
UH's pin hitters of
Adrien Roure,
Kainoa Wade, and
Louis Sakanoko combined for 28 of the team's 38 kills led by Roure's 10 kills on .333 hitting and three blocks. Wade contributed with nine kills and three aces while Sakanoko added nine kills and four digs.
As a team, the Warriors hit .368 for the match with seven aces, including three each by Wade and setter
Tread Rosenthal. UH also totaled eight team blocks led by
Justin Todd's six. Todd finished the match with six kills in six attempts.
Penn State (4-3) was led by Sean Harvey's match-high 12 kills.
UH led for the first part of Set 1 before the Nittany Lions jumped ahead 15-14 after a 4-1 run. Hawai'i retook the lead with four straight that included a pair of blocks for an 18-15 lead. A kill by Sakanoko and an ace by Wade gave UH set point at 24-21 and the Warriors finished it off with Roure's backrow kill.
Wade served consecutive aces early on in Set 2 for an 8-3 lead. Back-to-back aces by Rosenthal spurred a 5-0 run to make it 16-7 but the Nittany Lions never wavered and eventually tied it at 22-22 with six straight points off the serve of Owen Rose. But UH scored three of the final four points including a kill by Todd for the set winner.
Hawai'i scored the first four points of Set 3 and never looked back. The lead was 12-7 after a solo block by Todd while an ace by
Finn Kearney made it 16-10.
The two teams play again on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. ET (12:00 p.m. HT) at Rec Hall.
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