HONOLULU – The third-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team pulled out a thrilling four-set victory over seventh-ranked Pepperdine, Friday to split a two-match, non-conference series at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-22, 21-25, 25-15, 36-34.
The Rainbow Warriors (15-2) won a marathon fourth set that went back and forth with each team serving for the set numerous times. Pepperdine had five chances to send the match to a deciding fifth set while the Warriors had eight serves for the win. On their eighth attempt, setter
Tread Rosenthal's kill ended it.
Rosenthal finished with 56 assists, six kills, four aces, nine digs, and three blocks. Two of his aces occurred during an epic nine-point serving turn in the fourth set that flipped an early deficit into a five-point lead. The junior directed an offense that hit .390 for the match and tallied a season-high 73 kills.
Kainoa Wade led the way for the Warriors with an identical line score from Wednesday's loss – 19 kills in 40 attempts along with nine digs and three blocks.
Trevell Jordan recorded a career-high 15 kills, hitting. 600 with five blocks while
Adrien Roure added 15 kills and seven digs.
Louis Sakanoko chipped in with 12 kills, six digs, and four blocks.
Libero
Quintin Greenidge had a season-high 15 digs to lead a defensive backrow that allowed only five aces.
The Waves (11-4) were led by Cole Hartke's 20 kills.
The fourth set was one for the record books. UH appeared to gain all the momentum after Rosenthal's serving turn made it 15-10. The Warriors maintained their lead until Roure's kill gave them their first match point at 24-22. Pepperdine fended off those two chances and had their own set point which capped a 5-1 run.
From there, it was a nailbiter. The Warriors erased set points at 27-26, 28-27, 29-28, and 30-29 and flipped the advantage to their side where the Waves fended off four straight match points, including at 34-33 when UH appeared to win the match but the call was overturned after a net violation on Rosenthal. That seemed to spark the Austin, Texas native who took it into his own hands and finished the match with back-to-back kills.
The teams split the first two sets and the Warriors came out with a vengeance in Set 3. UH jumped out to a 5-1 lead and soon after made it 12-5. UH went on to hit .632 in the frame and held the Waves to -.091.
Hawai'i will next host the 30
th OUTRIGGER Invitational, March 12-14 at Bankoh Arena. The tournament features No. 1 UCLA, No. 16 Lewis, and Mount Olive. Matches begin at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. each day.
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