The Hawaii volleyball team controlled the middle and then Ohio State for a season-opening 25-22, 25-21, 25-21 victory in the Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 1,295 saw the Rainbow Warriors sweep their first match in the four-team, three-day Outrigger Volleyball Invitational. Tonight, UH faces Penn State, which lost in five sets to UCLA on Thursday.

UH middles Taylor Averill and Nick West each had eight kills and hit .600 and .500, respectively.

"Our plan was to pump the middle hard, get them to meet with us, and then beat them outside," Averill said.

When the Buckeyes locked on Averill or West, setter Joby Ramos was able to place quick and high sets to Brook Sedore on the right and Siki Zarkovic on the front left and middle back. Sedore had a match-high 11 kills on 20 swings, and Zarkovic added nine kills, with a third launched from behind the 3-meter line.

Early in the match, West told Ramos: "They’re committing on me every single perfect pass. This is the time to set the pins."

Ramos obliged.

"Our pins had a fiesta out there," West said. "We loved it."

UH coach Charlie Wade said Ramos had worked extensively on diversifying his sets.

"He’s starting to understand the offense more," Wade said. "When you watch him, he’s not so predictable anymore. He went to the middles first. Our middles are legit. When you can establish them middles, life gets easier for everybody."

Sedore often faced a single block.

But Zarkovic, through the middle of the second set, would be greeted by a triple block on sets to the left pin. On his first swing, his shot was swallowed by the block. After that, Zarkovic learned to tool the block with angle shots. When he was in the back rotation, Zarkovic feasted on quick pipe sets. He had four kills in the third set.

"Joby had a really nice night setting," Sedore said. "He kept everyone involved. That’s something he was struggling with."

Ramos played sporadically in two years at Pacific. He transferred to UH in August 2012 and eventually ascended to starter during the 2013 season.

"Last year was really my first year playing (regularly in college)," Ramos said. "I definitely feel a lot more comfortable on the court and with the group of guys we have."

Indeed, the Warriors appear to be playing with renewed enthusiasm. That was apparent when they did a six-man dance on a play kept alive with Sedore’s diving swing. That also was evident when Ohio State’s aloha-ball serve was caught in the net.

The Warriors gave away 17 points on attack errors and 14 more on missed serves. They also amassed only three blocks. Wade also noted there were subtle miscues on attention-to-details plays.

"It’s been a while that we got a win without playing our best," Wade said. "Are you going to show up and play? For the most part, our guys did that. They were focused and they executed. It wasn’t exceptional, but we’re making progress."

Sedore said: "We’re having fun. We’re not that kind of team that can get down on each other and play with that negative emotion. We’re the type of team that when things are positive, we play our best."

UCLA 3, Penn State 2

Robert Page, a 7-foot outside hitter, produced big numbers — 23 kills, .525 hitting percentage — in the Bruins’ 25-15, 22-25, 23-25, 25-21, 16-14 victory in the opening match of the Outrigger Invitational.

"He’s really improved," UCLA coach John Speraw said of Page. "He’s a nice player."

The other left-side hitter, Gonzalo Quiroga, produced 15 kills and hit .324. The Bruins hit .407, with only one unforced error, in the first set.

Aaron Russell led the Nittany Lions with 19 kills.

Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills plus blocks plus aces). Service Aces — Ohio State 1 (Henchy). Hawaii 6 (Sedore 3, Zarkovic 2, Ramos).  Service errors — Ohio State 12 (Johnson 3, Guessous 2, Herron 2, Blough 2, Henchy, Heinen, Vallis). Hawaii 14 (Sedore 4, Zarkovick 4, West 2, Averill, Olsen, Ramos, Timmer). Assists — Ohio State 30 (Blough 29, Domecus). Hawaii 42 (Ramos 35, Franciskovic 6, Averill). T — 2:35. Officials — Dickson Chun, Ernie Ho. A — 1,295.