The question this volleyball season is going to be how to keep everyone happy.
No. 5 Hawaii continued to showcase its depth of talent Friday night, easily winning its 24th consecutive home match by dispatching Division III Juniata in 76 minutes at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 1,527 watched as 15 of the 17 available Rainbow Warriors saw the court in a 25-10, 25-15, 25-13 victory. The sweep set up a true championship final for the Texaco Classic trophy between Hawaii (2-0) and No. 12 USC (3-0).
Earlier Friday, the Trojans prevailed over Division III Stevens Institute of Technology 25-17 27-25, 22-25, 25-18 behind a career-high 21 kills from junior hitter Ryan Moss.
The Ducks (0-2), ranked No. 2 in Division III, take on the Eagles (0-2), No. 6 in D-III, in today’s de facto third-place match at 4 p.m.
Tonight’s title showdown could be the final time that Hawaii senior Larry “Tui” Tuileta faces his former teammates. Tuileta, a second-team All-America libero for the Warriors last season, played for the Trojans in spring 2015 and the ensuing fall, the latter costing him a year of eligibility.
“I’m not disappointed,” said Tuileta, Hawaii’s lone senior. “I’m happy. I’ve got a great bunch of guys to play with my last year and I’m taking it all in and enjoying it. And (Saturday) I get to see old friends (on SC).
“It’s a good problem to have, all of this depth. Charlie (UH coach Wade) does a good job at putting people on the court who’ll help us win games. It might not be who you expect, but the different combinations somehow are working.”
It happened Friday night with Tuileta after he moved from serving specialist in Set 2 to outside hitter in Set 3. A kill by sophomore hitter Brandon Rattray put Tuileta at the service line at 10-8; when he was done, the Warriors were up 17-9 and the Eagles had dug themselves into even deeper negative hitting percentage after giving Hawaii four points on hitting errors and two more when being blocked.
Rattray was impressive coming off the bench in Set 2, finishing with six kills and two blocks, including one solo. He also had three of the team’s 12 aces as the Warriors kept the heat on from the service line.
“Serving tough and blocking was important tonight, but our serve-receive was the most important,” Rattray said. “Staying in system and keeping the other team out of system is how we win games.”
So is having a diversified attack where eight players had at least one kill, led by junior hitter Stijn van Tilburg’s eight over the first two sets. Sophomore middle Patrick Gasman added five with no errors on seven swings, hitting .714, as the Warriors hit .491 last night to the Eagles’ negative .044.
“Our ‘B’ guys were really good this week,” Wade said. “How to keep everyone happy? Everyone knows how hard everyone else is working.
“You never know who you’re going to need. In reality, you need all of them. The more depth, the better.”
Hawaii ran away early in Set 1, the 7-0 start coming on the tough serving of junior hitter Brett Rosenmeier. The Warriors, who had just one block in Set 1 of Thursday’s sweep of Stevens, had two in the opening five minutes as they had no attack attempts in earning their first six points.
By the time it was 22-9, Hawaii had switched setters, giving freshman Jackson Van Eekeren his first court time of the season. The Warriors sided out at an impressive 90 percent, with just one error, to go along with 4.5 blocks and four aces.
The heat continued from the service line with another five aces, two straight by Rattray, as Hawaii jumped out 19-10. The match wasn’t even an hour old when the teams headed to the locker room for the 10-minute break, the Warriors up 2-0 and having used 15 of the 17 players suited up.
Juniata was led by junior hitter Quinn Peterson’s five kills.
USC 3, Stevens 1
Senior setter Gert Lisha had 10 digs to go with 43 assists and four blocks to help the Trojans hold off the Ducks. Junior hitter Jack Wyett added 16 kills for SC.
Stevens was poised to even the match up 21-17 and 24-22, but the Trojans rallied to tie at 24. Consecutive kills by Wyett and a Ducks hitting error put the Trojans up 2-0.
Sophomore opposite David Lehman led Stevens with a 19 kills and senior hitter Gabe Shankweiler added 10.
