Hawaii sweeps USC in three sets, brings winning streak to 17

It’s not depth unless it is used. And No. 4 Hawaii dug deep into its bench Friday night against No. 14 USC.

With the contest not counting as a conference match, both the Rainbow Warriors and the Trojans used the 96 minutes as a chance to develop and test players who hadn’t seen the competition court as much as the usual starters.

Just as the outcome was never in doubt, there was little doubt in the minds of the season-high crowd of 3,095 at the Stan Sheriff Center as to who would be set on aloha ball.

Senior opposite Iain McKellar, who had only played in six sets this season, put down his only attempt to cap Hawaii’s 25-13, 25-15, 25-18 sweep of USC (6-12). It was the Warriors’ 13th straight victory, their 17th in a row at home dating back to last season, and it extended their consecutive-sets-won streak to 26.

“It felt great, I’ve been waiting a while,” said McKellar, third on the depth chart behind sophomore Stijn van Tilburg and freshman Rado Parapunov. “It was great to get in and show what I could do.

“Tonight was a lot of fun. We got a lot of guys in, played at a high energy level the whole time. It was really nice to show our depth. A lot of teams say they have it, but we proved it.”

On its “Think Pink” night in support of breast cancer awareness, everything was pretty rosy for Hawaii (18-2).

Fourteen Warriors played, with Parapunov — replacing van Tilburg late in Set 1 — finishing with a match-high 10 kills.

Hawaii, the top blocking team in the country, had 14 stuffs. Sophomore middle Dalton Solbrig tied his career high with six blocks and freshman middle Patrick Gasman was in on five.

Only Gasman and junior libero Tui Tuileta played the whole match for the Warriors, who return to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play next week with matches against No. 9 Stanford on Friday and Saturday.

“It’s another big weekend coming up for us — both of those will count in the MPSF. With our home schedule coming to an end (we) got to make sure we finish strong at home and stay on a roll,” sophomore setter Joe Worsley said, noting that the Warriors have just four home matches left. “We had discussed I’d get more time tonight and it was great that we got a lot of guys on the court. More important, it was a win and getting to play our depth is a huge advantage for us.”

As for setting McKellar on match point, “I told him he was getting the ball,” Worsley said. “I’m glad he put it way. That was a pretty good swing.”

Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said his concern with “moving so many pieces around” was maintaining the intensity and execution that have become a trademark of late.

“Our mantra was to maintain the high level, no matter who was on the court,” he said, “and I think you saw that tonight.

“I think the match meant a lot more to us than to them. We were able to get some guys in starting with the middle of Set 1.”

USC coach Jeff Nygaard said he had planned to go with his younger players a week ago. He started four sophomores, two freshmen and a senior libero who had only played in six sets.

It was a deliberate decision to keep out several of his starters who “are working through some nagging things,” he said. “But I also got a chance to develop some guys against a top-level opponent.”

Most notably sitting out was senior hitter Lucas Yoder, who leads the country in kills. Still nursing a reported abdominal issue, he struggled in Thursday’s match, still managing to finish with 10 kills.

On Friday, freshman opposite Aaron Strange led USC with six kills. The Trojans hit negative .011 on the night.

The win was Hawaii’s 22nd straight in non-MPSF regular-season play dating back to Jan. 11, 2013 against Penn State.

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