UH alumni brings heat in exhibition volleyball loss to varsity

Old happens.

For the Hawaii men’s volleyball program, old happens to be pretty competitive. The Rainbow Warrior alumni team more than held its own on Sunday with some booming shots that rivaled the thunder that could be heard from inside the Stan Sheriff Center.

In the end, youth prevailed with the varsity pulling out a 24-26, 25-13, 17-15 victory in front of an estimated 500 fans, friends and family. For third-ranked Hawaii (8-1) it was the perfect way to end a two-week break and head into Friday’s match with No. 4 UC Irvine to open the inaugural Big West season.

“It was nice that we could be a little loose and have fun out there,” said Warrior senior Tui Tuileta, who started the night at libero and finished at outside hitter. “But there’s a fine line between staying loose and having fun and being locked in.

“It was a good lesson after losing Set 1 to be able to come back the way we did.”

The varsity served for Set 1 at 24-23 only to give up three straight points, highlighted by Davis Holt’s solo block of Patrick Gasman. The revolving-door lineups used by both sides saw the momentum swing over to the varsity in a Set 2 runaway behind the tough serves of sophomore hitters Colton Cowell and Austin Matautia.

Set 3 was a battle with four ties beginning at 11-11. The crowd was able to do the “Viking Chant” for aloha ball for both sides as the alumni served for the match at 14-13 and the varsity at 15-14 and 16-15, the second time being the last with sophomore James Anastassiades ending it.

Warrior assistant coach Joshua Walker (2008-11) enjoyed the view from both sides of the net, leading the alumni with nine kills and an ace. He was targeted on serve by his varsity players and “I don’t know how they got that on their scouting report,” Walker said.

While Walker’s serve-receive got more than a passing grade, he did get blocked by junior setter Joe Worsley in Set 1. The opening set also featured Rainbow Wahine beach and indoor All-American Emily Maglio serving with the varsity trailing 13-12.

Maglio had participated in the earlier skills competition, winning the hitting accuracy drill against Justin Ching (2008-11) and finishing second to Rado Parapunov in the serving accuracy drill.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Maglio, who opens her beach season on Saturday against Stanford at the Ching Complex. “It was different playing with the higher (men’s) net.

“I enjoyed watching the guys play. I loved how competitive it was.”

“Why not have her play,” Warrior coach Charlie Wade said. “The fans enjoyed it, she’s a good player. The (men’s and women’s) teams are really close and support each other. It was fun.”

Sophomore hitter Brandon Rattray, who won the serving speed drill (70.1 mph), led the varsity with seven kills and junior Stijn van Tilburg added six.