HONOLULU – The second-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team continued its run of sweeps after a straight-set win over No. 7 Loyola Chicago Thursday in the first of two non-conference matches at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-18, 25-19, 25-15.
The Rainbow Warriors (3-0) made it three consecutive sweeps to start the season with another dominant showing. UH hit .426 for the match against one of the nation's top teams and did not allow a service ace while recording seven of its own. Hawai'i held LUC to .172 hitting.
For the third straight match,
Kristian Titriyski led the way with a team-high 11 kills, hitting .368.
Adrien Roure added eight kills and
Louis Sakanoko had six kills, four digs, and two blocks.
Justin Todd had a career-high three aces – all during Set 2 – while
Kainoa Wade came off the bench and served two aces during a late Set 3 run to close out the match.
Setter
Tread Rosenthal dished out 26 assists with five kills of his own and three blocks.
Trevell Jordan had four kills and a team-high four blocks.
The Ramblers (0-1) were led by Daniel Fabikovic's 11 kills.
In Set 1, UH reeled off three straight for a 16-11 lead behind the tough serving by Todd. The lead was 19-13 after a Sakanoko ace. Hawai'i went on to hit .650 in the set despite committing an uncharacteristic seven service errors.
Todd's three aces during a 6-0 run gave Hawai'i an 8-2 lead in Set 2. The Ramblers pulled within one at 15-14 but UH stretched its lead to four at 21-17. A pair of Loyola attack errors gave the Warriors set point at 24-18 and Titriyski's 10
th kill closed out the set.
UH took a 10-7 lead in Set 3 after back-to-back LUC errors. The Warriors extended their lead to 17-12 after a 6-2 run that included five Rambler errors. In all, LUC committed 10 attack errors in the third set and hit .000 and UH only needed eight kills to pull out the set.
The teams play again on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Bankoh Arena. Prior to the match, UH's alumni will hold an all-alumni match at 4:00 p.m. Scheduled to participate are UH associate coach Kūpono Fey and Loyola Chicago assistant coach Dalton Solbrig.
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