Hawaii sweeps Concordia-Irvine to set up title match vs. USC
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii libero Gage Worsley keeps the ball in play against Concordia-Irvine during the second set.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii middle blocker Dalton Solbrig puts a kill past Concordia-Irvine outside hitter Parker Maki and middle blocker Noah Lassandro during the second set.
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii opposite Rado Parapunov puts a kill past Concordia-Irvine outside hitter Parker Maki and middle blocker Hunter Howell during the second set.
Senior hitter Stijn van Tilburg continued his climb up the Hawaii career kill chart, finishing with a match-high nine kills in two sets, and the Rainbow Warriors had little trouble in dispatching Concordia-Irvine 25-13, 25-12, 25-20 in tonight’s second match of the Hawaiian Airlines Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Van Tilburg passed Steven Hunt (1,076) for 15th place and is 11 kills away from passing Aaron Wilton (1,089) for 14th.
In what will be up a true championship match, Hawaii (2-0) will face USC (2-0) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The Trojans turned back New Jersey Institute of Technology in today’s first match 25-17, 24-26, 25-23, 25-15.
Looking for their first win of the season, the Highlanders (0-4) and Eagles (0-5) meet for third place at 5:30 p.m. The match times are later due to the Big West women’s basketball game between the Rainbow Wahine and UC Davis at 1 p.m.
Junior opposite Rado Parapunov added eight kills with no errors on 12 swings with an ace and six digs while also playing in the first two sets for Hawaii. Junior hitter James Anastassiades had a career-high five kills and senior middle Dalton Solbrig was in on five of the Warriors’ nine blocks.
Junior hitter Jordan Hoppe led the Eagles with nine kills. Sophomore libero Addison Enriques (Kamehameha-Hawaii) had a match-high 13 digs.
