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Hawaii's Joby Ramos sets middle blocker Taylor Averill who hits past Stanford's Spencer Haly in the first set of the Stanford vs Hawaii volleyball match tonight at the Stan Sheriff Center. (Bruce Asato/basato@staradvdertiser.com)
The Punahou Carnival had nothing on the atmosphere at the Stan Sheriff Center tonight. Both No. 3 Stanford and unranked Hawaii went on plenty of wild rides, taking the crowd with them, for a second straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball match.
When this particular Tilt-A-Whirl stopped after 2 hours and 55 minutes, the Warriors and Cardinal had played a second straight five-setter and Hawaii its sixth five-set match in seven home matches.
And for just the third time, the Warriors prevailed.
Sophomore hitter Brook Sedore had 17 kills, including the match-ender, and freshman hitter Siki Zarkovic added 11 kills and was in on six blocks as Hawaii rallied past Stanford 20-25, 25-23, 21-25, 27-25, 15-11.
The Warriors (4-7, 3-5) finished with nine aces, three by sophomore hitter JP Marks.
Junior hitter Steven Irvin led Stanford (7-3, 4-3 MPSF) for the second match, finishing with 22 kills and 12 digs, while junior hitter Brian Cook — the nephew of Nebraska women’s coach John — added 16 kills.
It was the third consecutive year that the two teams split the two-match series.
The Warriors have the week off before traveling to No. 5 UCLA (8-5, 4-3) for matches Feb. 15 and 16.
