Depth and diversity.
It’s going to make Hawaii hard to scout this season.
Very hard.
As good as the starters for the Rainbow Warriors looked Friday night against Princeton, the second wave was just as efficient. No. 7 Hawaii used 13 players and an offense that was good in system and maybe even better out of system in a 25-15, 25-12, 25-11 sweep of a young Tigers squad at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The 82-minute victory sets up a true title match tonight in the 23rd Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Invitational, with the Warriors (2-0) going for their second straight — eighth overall — against No. 15 Ball State (2-0) at 7 p.m. The Cardinals remained unbeaten with a 25-19, 25-10, 25-15 sweep of Erskine.
The Flying Fleet (0-2) and Tigers (0-2) will try to salvage the trip in the 4 p.m. match that will determine third place.
Hawaii has only won consecutive Outrigger titles once, that coming in 1996-97. Ball State was here in 1996, losing to both UCLA and Hawaii, the teams that finished 1-2 four months later in the NCAA championship match.
Who the Cardinals will see across the net tonight is anyone’s guess.
“That’s been the story of our team, that we have the depth, that we can use a lot of different lineups,” Warriors senior setter Jennings Franciskovic said. “We’ve talked a lot about having a special team and I think we’re proving that Hawaii’s going to be good this year.
“One of the biggest things is we’re passing so well that, when we are in system, we have a lot of options. But we’ve been working on those out-of-system balls and guys know what to do.”
Such as putting it away as freshman hitter Austin Matautia did toward the end of Set 1 when he connected on a blind back set to the left-front from senior Kupono Fey. It was the first of three straight kills by Matautia and it capped an 8-1 run that ended it and set the tone for the rest of the night.
Hawaii hit .650 in Set 1, with just two hitting errors. Sophomore opposite Stijn van Tilburg, making a strong case to repeat as tournament MVP, put down all six of his swings and finished with nine kills. Fey also had nine kills, five coming in Set 3.
Matautia finished with six kills, as did freshman middle Patrick Gasman, the latter who hit .867 with no errors on seven attempts. Gasman also was in on five of the team’s 11.5 blocks, including a solo stuff of Princeton’s athletic middle Junior Oboh in the middle of Set 2 that helped the Warriors break away from 14-7 to a 22-8 lead.
Hawaii switched setters, going with sophomore Joe Worsley, and made three other changes, including libero. It didn’t matter. Nearly half of the Tigers’ points in Set 3 came on five UH service errors, three coming after it was 18-6.
“The hard thing was their defense was dynamite,” Princeton coach Sam Shweisky said. “You could see the deflation on our side. ‘You mean they dug that? That’s usually a kill.’ Then there would be a great out-of-system set that they put away.
“Honestly, the scouting we didn’t really try. They have so much fluidity, are so well-balanced and play relaxed. I’ve coached a bunch of those guys … Jennings, Kupono … they don’t get uptight or nervous. They have a roster of 20 talented players. We have 12 guys and we had four freshmen out there. I wish we had risen to the occasion more.”
After senior setter Jonah May went down in Set 4 of Thursday’s five-set loss to Ball State with an ankle injury, the Tigers went with freshman Shane Gooding. The passing was uneven and Princeton ended up hitting negative .072.
Freshman hitter Dixon Parker had the most success with nine kills and was the only Tigers attacker to hit above .000.
Hawaii will be without sophomore libero Larry Tuileta tonight, as he will be at his sister’s wedding. Warriors coach Charlie Wade said sophomore Mamane Namahoe will get the start.
No. 15 Ball State 3, Erskine 0
Matt Szews and Anthony Lebryk each had six kills and the Cardinals needed just 63 minutes to sweep the defending Conference Carolinas champion.
Note
Deitre Collins-Parker, who helped the Rainbow Wahine to consecutive NCAA titles in 1982 and ’83, was named to the inaugural class of the Southern California Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame. Collins-Parker, currently the head coach at San Diego State, is part of the 25-member class that will be inducted on May 7 at the American Sports Centers in Anaheim, Calif., where the hall will be housed. A three-time All-American, Collins-Parker was the two-time Broderick Award winner as the top female collegiate volleyball player, the 1984 Broderick Cup winner as the top female collegiate athlete and a middle blocker on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team.
