Matautia helps No. 2 UH terrorize Penn State

Austin Matautia has been a nightmare for opposing teams lately, whether the Hawaii sophomore hitter has been in the front row or on the service line.

The Moanalua graduate has hit over .400 in three of the past four matches — all starts — and has terrorized foes’ serve-receive with a collective 13 aces.

He’s haunted Penn State’s collective dreams since last May at Ohio State when he came off the bench for seven kills and served the final seven points of the Rainbow Warriors’ 15-4 Set 5 victory in the NCAA championship quarterfinal. He was back again Friday night with another impressive performance against the Nittany Lions in the 24th Outrigger Resorts Invitational.

As a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,000 watched for 90 minutes, Matautia had three of Hawaii’s six aces, including the match-ender, as the second-ranked Warriors racked up their fourth straight sweep, 25-16, 25-19, 25-16. The victory sets up a true championship match at 7 tonight between Hawaii (13-2, 2-0 ORI) and No. 4 Brigham Young (16-4, 2-0).

The Cougars, who have won this event in both of their appearances, turned back No. 8 Lewis in Friday’s first match, 25-19, 18-25, 25-23, 26-24. The Flyers (13-7, 0-2) meet the 11th-ranked Nittany Lions (10-6, 0-2) in the de facto third-place match today at 4 p.m.

“I thought that (Thursday) he was surprisingly good,” Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said of Matautia’s four aces and 10 kills against Lewis. “We know that Brett (junior hitter Rosenmeier) had been in the lineup until recently and then Austin comes in.

“I think the difference for us is coming here as an experienced Outrigger participant. The bulk of this year’s team hasn’t been here before. They played an emotional five-game match Thursday (a loss to BYU) then had to come back and play another tough match at midnight our time tonight. It’s one thing to tell a team about it, another for them to experience it.

“At Ohio State, we had a chance to win in three and it went five. Tonight, we got our butts kicked by a very good Hawaii team.”

The Warriors, the two-time defending event champions, got a balanced attack led by junior hitter Stijn van Tilburg’s nine kills. Matautia added eight with one error, hitting .438, and sophomore middle Dalton Solbrig added six kills with one error, hitting .500.

Junior setter Joe Worsley had Hawaii hitting .343, including .500 in Set 3, and turned in his third double-double of the season (29 assists, 10 digs). The Warriors outblocked the Nittany Lions 8.5-7 with sophomore middle Patrick Gasman in on six.

Sophomore opposite Calvin Mende had 10 kills for Penn State, which came into the match hitting .308 and left the arena after an .089 night.

“Joe was incredible tonight,” said sophomore opposite Brandon Rattray, who replaced struggling sophomore Rado Parapunov in Set 3 and finished with four kills with no errors, hitting .571. “His defense, his setting … everything about Joe Worsley was impeccable.”

And facing BYU tonight?

“We have to come out full speed ahead and take it to them,” Rattray said.

The Warriors did just that to the Nittany Lions early. Matautia had four kills in Set 1 then tormented Penn State’s serve-receive to open Set 2. Matautia notched his 11th ace in four matches during a 7-0 run that had Hawaii rolling at 8-1.

The Nittany Lions outblocked the Warriors 4-1 in Set 2 to close the gap to four, 23-19. Matautia matched his uniform number (7) with his seventh kill on a tip shot to give Hawaii set point then had the Warriors quickly headed to the locker room with his second ace of the night.

Penn State switched setters in Set 3 and Hawaii went with Rattray for Parapunov. It was tight until the Warriors pulled away at 11-10 on sophomore hitter Colton Cowell’s 4-0 serving run to make it 16-11. Solbrig’s final kill gave Hawaii match point and Matautia aced Penn State junior libero Royce Clemens to end it.

“For me, the match against them last year gave me confidence,” Matautia said. “It’s about knowing that I can go back and do my best.”

No. 4 BYU 3, No. 8 Lewis 0

No MIVA program has won this event in the previous 23 years. It won’t happen this year either as the Flyers are 0-2 after falling to the Cougars.

Brenden Sander put down 14 kills and Gabi Garcia Fernandez added 10 for BYU. Sander added three aces and Wil Stanley (Punahou) two as the Cougars won their 11th straight.

For the Flyers, Ryan Coenen had 15 kills and three aces, and Julian Moses had 11 kills and was in on five of the team’s 10 blocks.