Rainbow Warriors defeat Grand Canyon

At times it resembled a Hawaii high school all-star volleyball match, with three island prep products playing on each side of the Stan Sheriff Center net. At other times — many of them crucial — the Rainbow Warriors needed their international contingent to come through.

In the end, No. 6 Hawaii got its biggest performances from its European players in turning back Grand Canyon 25-23, 20-25, 25-18, 25-19 in a nonconference volleyball match on Friday night. Dutch national Stijn van Tilburg put down a match-high 18 kills and Serbian Siki Zarkovic became the program’s 19th player to reach 1,000 kills, adding 16.

It was Hawaii’s 14th consecutive home win dating back to last season. As a season-high crowd of 2,265 will attest, the 2 hours and 9 minutes were anything but easy.

“It feels good to win this one, and it’s definitely good for our RPI,” UH junior setter Jennings Franciskovic said after the victory over the ‘Lopes from the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. “They were digging a lot of balls, were playing very well.

“Nainoa (freshman middle Frank) came in and it changed some things. We got a better matchup. It was good win for us.”

It was a dream come true for Grand Canyon sophomore setter Puna Kaniho. The Kamehameha graduate had the ‘Lopes hitting .440 in Set 2 and had the Warriors rethinking their blocking scheme.

“And then I think we lost focus in Set 3,” said Kaniho, who finished with 28 assists.

The Warriors regained theirs as Zarkovic reached the 1,000-kill mark while tying it at 2 in Set 3. He added four more while helping Hawaii go ahead for good at 16-14.

“Our left sides (Zarkovic and junior Kupono Fey) were slow starting tonight,” Warriors coach Charlie Wade said. “But it also allowed us to establish the middle and Iain (junior middle McKellar from England) did a nice job (nine kills).

“This was good for us, to be challenged like we were. It was a good win.”

Zarkovic said he felt Grand Canyon (5-2) was better than the Warriors expected and, following Thursday’s sweep, UH might not have been as focused as needed for the rematch.

“It’s all about the passing and we lost concentration at times,” Zarkovic said. “But we were able to change our block and focused.”

The Warriors didn’t completely stop GCU middle Christian Ward, but they did limit the 6-foot-9 middle to four kills after Set 2. Hawaii also figured out the dynamic Gerrard Lipscombe; the 6-1 junior hitter got loose for 11 kills, three coming in the final set.

“We played at an extremely high level in Set 2,” Grand Canyon coach Matt Werle said. “But we talked about it in the locker room that we knew Hawaii would come back refocused. They served very tough in Sets 3 and 4.”

Hawaii struggled with Grand Canyon’s quick attack in Set 1, as well as the ‘Lopes’ well-formed block. GCU stuffed the Warriors on three straight plays in taking an early 8-5 lead, only to have Hawaii rally to tie at 9.

It was tied six more times, the last at 23 on a kill by Ashton King. Zarkovic put down his fourth kill and reserve freshman setter Joe Worsley ended it with an ace.

The Warriors never got it going in Set 2, again having trouble in the rotation when Lipscombe was serving. The ‘Lopes took the lead for good at 4-2 on consecutive slam backs of service overpasses by Ward. After trailing by as many as 6 (21-15), Hawaii rallied to within 21-18 but no closer. The Warriors held off two set points but not a third, with Worsley’s service error ending Hawaii’s unbeaten set streak at home at 13.

The Warriors broke away midway in Set 4, a kill by McKellar breaking what would be the fourth and final tie at 13. At 21-15, Zarkovic put down two straight kills and added an ace to help give Hawaii match point at 24-17. Lipscombe personally held off two match points with a kill and an ace, but served long to end it.

Van Tilburg was in on a career-high seven blocks as the Warriors won the block war 11-8.5.

The Hawaii prep products playing for Grand Canyon were Kaniho and sophomore hitter Cullen Mosher, both from Kamehameha, and sophomore libero Sky Engleman (Moanalua). For the Warriors it was Fey (Punahou), senior libero Kolby Kanetake (Moanalua) and Nainoa Frank (Kalaheo).

Notes

Watching Friday’s match was former Hawaii All-American Allen Allen, this year’s recipient of the volleyball program’s Pae Makaukau Alumni Recognition Award. Allen is the sixth award-winner and joins former Hawaii greats Pono Ma’a (2011), Mauli’a LaBarre (2012), Manny Relator (2013), Tom Pestolesi (2014) and Brian Beckwith (2015).

Allen will receive his award at Sunday’s sixth A’o a Koa scholarship fundraiser dinner at the Stan Sheriff Center. He ranks No. 1 in all-time block solos (112) and No. 3 in all-time kills (1,483) and kill attempts (3,151).

MPSF VOLLEYBALL

Friday

Hawaii def. Grand Canyon 25-23, 20-25, 25-18, 25-19

BYU def. Long Beach State, 26-24, 25-17, 16-25, 25-20

UC Santa Barbara def. Cal Baptist, 25-21, 29-31, 25-14, 22-25, 15-10

Pepperdine def. UC Irvine, 34-32, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19

Stanford def. UC San Diego, 25-16, 25-20, 25-19

Saturday

USC at UCLA

BYU at Long Beach State

UC Irvine at Stanford

UC San Diego at Holy Names

No. 6 UH def. grand canyon 25-23, 20-25, 25-18, 25-19

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 — Grand Canyon 4 (Lipscombe 3, Maxwell). Hawaii 4 (Zarkovic 2, Franciskovic, Worsley). Service errors — Grand Canyon 11 (Maxwell 4, Lipscombe 3, Kaniho 2, Mather, Saada). Hawaii 16 (Franciskovic 4, Zarkovic 4, Fey 2, van Tilburg 2, Frank, McKellar, Mol, Worsley).

Assists — Grand Canyon 42 (Kaniho 28, Milstein 8, Engelman 4, Lipscombe 2). Hawaii 59 (Franciskovic 52, Fey 2, van Tilburg 2, Zarkovic 2, Namahoe). T — 2:09. A — 2,265.