UH sweeps USC, takes Texaco Classic title

Team championship trophy or most outstanding player trophy? There is no choice for Joe Worsley.

“It’s not even close,” Hawaii’s junior setter said. “I’d give any personal one away for the team one. There’s not even a discussion.”

Worsley didn’t have to decide Saturday night. The Rainbow Warriors team captain picked up both as No. 5 Hawaii picked up its 25th consecutive home victory along with the championship of the inaugural Texaco Classic.

Junior hitter Stijn van Tilburg put down a match-high 14 kills and sophomore opposite Rado Parapunov added 11 to help Hawaii to a 25-17, 25-20, 25-22 sweep of No. 12 USC in 105 minutes. It is the fourth straight year that the Warriors have opened 3-0 and “you can’t get much better than that,” said Worsley, who finished with 36 assists and a match-high eight digs. “We still have a lot to work on and a lot of big matches still to come.”

Saturday night was big in that the Warriors were tested late by the Trojans (3-1). Hawaii trailed for much of Set 3 and appeared to be behind at 20-18 as it called a timeout. However, USC was called for a re-entry violation with the wrong server and the point reversal tied it at 19.

The Warriors gained separation at 22-20 on two Trojans errors, one serving and one hitting. SC closed to 23-22 on Gianluca Grasso’s 13th kill, but Hawaii answered with kills by van Tilburg and Brett Rosenmeier.

Joining Worsley on the all-tournament team were Warriors van Tilburg and Parapunov, Trojans Grasso, Jack Wyett and Ryan Moss, and David Lehman of Stevens.

“Joe played great,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “We had a lot of guys deserving of it (the MOP trophy). Stijn played great, Rado played great, Rosenmeier played great. And that’s with us playing a lot of guys this week.

“I’m stoked for Joe. He’s going to be a big part of our success this season.”

Hawaii used 14 players in Thursday’s win over Stevens and 15 in beating Juniata on Friday. Saturday night, 10 Warriors saw the court, with senior Larry “Tui” Tuileta playing his third position in as many nights.

After being used as a serving specialist and outside hitter, Tuileta was at libero — a position he earned All-America honors at last season — against his former team (Tuileta played for the Trojans in 2015-16).

Tuileta had five digs and continued to stabilize the Warriors’ passing. The change moved freshman libero Gage Worsley to serving specialist, where the younger brother of Joe Worsley came up big in Set 3.

Hawaii was down 15-12 when the left-handed Gage Worsley fired off bullets from the baseline, keeping the Trojans out of system as the Warriors rallied to tie at 15.

“I’ve seen him play for 10 years and he’s always been clutch,” Joe Worsley said of his younger brother. “No one else has seen it, but I knew when he came in we were in a very good situation.

“I’m just stoked about how we finished tonight. We kind of struggled a bit at the end, but I like how we adjusted. We do this every day in practice — one side goes down a few points, and has to come back. It’s what we did tonight.”

After giving up a 4-0 run to start Set 1, Hawaii settled down, answering with six straight points to take the lead for good. The Warriors outhit the Trojans .400-.000, with a 6-1 edge in blocks.

Hawaii wasn’t just efficient to open Set 2. The Warriors were ridiculously efficient, hitting .900 (9-0-10) in taking a 15-10 lead.

Hawaii’s first hitting error came on its 18th swing when Rosenmeier was blocked by Wyett to make it 23-17. The Trojans switched setters and the Warriors needed four swings at ending it, finally taking the 2-0 lead on van Tilburg’s 10th kill.

Set 3 was tight, with 12 ties and two lead changes. Hawaii struggled with its block and had no stuffs in Set 3, while half of SC’s six came in the final set.

In Saturday’s first match, Gabe Shankweiler put down 15 kills to lead Stevens Institute of Technology over Juniata 25-27, 25-23, 25-18, 25-14 to claim third place in the battle of Division III teams. The No. 2 Ducks (1-2) outblocked the No. 6 Eagles (0-3) 15.5-8, with junior middle Cooper Diamond in on eight. Sophomore opposite Lehman added 10 kills and sophomore setter Grant Burden had back-to-back aces during a 7-0 run in Set 4 to help seal the victory.

Junior opposite Quinn Peterson led Juniata with 15 kills.