A fifth set was within reach. So close that No. 2 Hawaii could almost touch it.
Three points. Three points was it when the Rainbow Warriors were leading 22-21 in Set 4. Instead, it was three letters that spoiled the Warriors winning a third consecutive Outrigger Resorts Invitational championship.
B-Y-U.
The fourth-ranked Cougars stormed back in Set 4, getting a career-tying 16 kills from sophomore hitter Storm Fa‘agata-Tufuga pulling out a 20-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-23, Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,995-deflating victory Saturday night. Tournament most outstanding player Brenden Sander added 12 kills and had three of the Cougars’ 11 aces as BYU (17-4) won its third title in as many appearances.
“It came down to making plays at the end and we couldn’t make the plays,” said Hawaii junior setter Joe Worsley, named to his fourth all-tournament team. “It felt like it was going five …
“Hats off to them. Their servers came up big.”
Hawaii (13-3) has much to work on and little time to do it this week before heading out for three matches. The Warriors are at Cal State Northridge for Big West matches Thursday and Friday, and a nonconference match at Pepperdine on Sunday.
Worsley had his second consecutive double-double with 43 kills and 10 digs. Joining him on the all-tournament team were teammates junior hitter Stijn van Tilburg, who had won the previous two MOP awards in this event, and sophomore hitter Austin Matautia.
Van Tilburg, moving from left-side to opposite after spending time on the bench, finished with 16 kills. Matautia added 11 kills and a career-high five aces, all of which came in Set 1.
Joining Sander, Worsley, van Tilburg and Matautia on the all-tournament team were Ryan Coenen of Lewis, Kevin Gear of Penn State and Gabi Garcia Fernandez of BYU.
In the de facto third-place match, No. 8 Lewis held off a late charge from No. 11 Penn State for a 25-17, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22 win.
“I thought we’d send it to a fifth and I liked our chances,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said after the 2 hours and 12 minutes. “We were OK, weren’t great, and they played at a really high level.
“Their serving impacted the match in a big way.”
Sander came in keeping his serve inbounds at about 65 percent. Saturday, he had one error in 17 attempts with three aces. Equally disrupted was the serving of Garcia Fernandez (five aces) and Fa‘agata-Tufuga (three).
Set 1 was dominated by serving with eight aces between the two. Matautia had the first one as Hawaii rolled out to a 7-1 lead.
BYU answered with three when tying at 10. After taking a 20-18 lead, the Cougars got stuck on 20.
At 20-19, it was Matautia who was stuck on the service line. The Moanalua High product had four heaters in the final six points, including the walk-off ace that gave him a career-high five as well as 12 for the tournament.
The Cougars tied the match, getting it done on both ends of the court. BYU had five blocks and four aces when leading Set 2 from 4-3.
Hawaii’s serve-receive struggled and looked bad doing it. Two-time tournament MOP van Tilburg went to the bench, replaced by junior Brett Rosenmeier on the left late in Set 2.
Van Tilburg returned with the Warriors down 11-5, replacing sophomore Rado Parapunov at opposite. It only got uglier as Hawaii got down by as much as 20-10.
An ace by sophomore serving sub Colton Cowell made it 21-14, seemingly sparking the crowd and the Warriors.
Worsley’s 4-0 serving run narrowed it to 22-19, but a kill by freshman middle Felipe de Brito Ferreira and BYU’s 10th ace — and Garcia Fernandez’s fourth — gave the Cougars their first set point.
Hawaii fended off two when closing to 24-21, but ran out of time. Fa‘agata-Tufuga ended it with his 15th kill.
Hawaii flipped its middles and kept Cowell in on the left for Rosenmeier. It worked well until the end.
The Warriors led 20-17 and couldn’t hold on. Hawaii’s last lead was at 22-21 with UH’s 14th service error — this by sophomore middle Patrick Gasman — tying it for the 12th time.
A kill by Cowell tied it at 23, but Garcia Fernandez gave BYU its first swing at match point and the Cougars — the top blocking team in the country —had their 13th when stuffing van Tilburg to end it.
Impressively, BYU won the match without its starting libero and top two middles, out out with injuries.
No. 8 Lewis 3, No. 11 Penn State 1
The Flyers (14-7) had just eight kills in Set 4, but took advantage of two of the Nittany Lions’ 26 service errors to claim third place.
Coenen had 13 kills and junior hitter Julian Moses 12 kills and three of Lewis’ seven aces.
The Flyers outblocked the Nittany Lions 11-4, with freshman middle Tyler Mitchem in on six.
Penn State had four players in double-digit kills led by Aiden Albrecht’s 19 and Kyle Mackiewicz’s 15. The Nittany Lions had 20 more kills than Lewis (59-39), but 15 more service errors (26-11).
