Efficient on offense, disciplined on defense. That continues to be the winning combination for the No. 2 Hawaii men’s volleyball team.
There was nothing neutral except the court on Friday as the Rainbow Warriors (7-0) were in high gear while sweeping Saint Francis in a nonconference match in Charlotte, N.C.. Hawaii hit .115 above its national-best .470, finishing at .585 in the 25-15, 25-20, 25-12 victory that took just 66 minutes at the Levine Center.
Led by junior opposite Rado Parapunov (11 kills, .714) and junior hitter Colten Cowell (7 kills, .875), the Warriors have matched their best start under ninth-year head coach Charlie Wade. Hawaii also hasn’t dropped a set this season,
“We played pretty good tonight,” Wade said in a telephone call. “We keep talking about holding ourselves to our standards, which are pretty high. It’s being efficient on offense, disciplined on defense.
“In Set 3, Stijn (senior hitter van Tilburg) and Rado had really nice turns from the service line. It’s not about just going back and bombing serves. It’s about being able to sustain it 3-4-5 times where you’re continuing to score points.”
Overall, van Tilburg had one error in 17 serves, and Parapunov no errors in 14 serves. The pair had Hawaii rolling in Set 3.
Van Tilburg had a 7-0 run from the service line that had the Warriors off to a 10-1 start. Hawaii closed it out on an 8-0 run with the final seven serves from Parapunov, including his two aces.
“We are playing good, we are having a lot of fun,” Parapunov said in a telephone call. “We didn’t underestimate them and (after a close Set 2), we kept working hard.”
Hawaii outblocked Saint Francis 8-3, with junior middle Patrick Gasman in on all eight.
“It’s why he’s up there,” Wade said of the 6-foot-10 Gasman, who added five kills and an ace.
Junior hitter Michael Fisher led the Red Flash (5-4) with 13 kills. SFU, which upset host Ohio State in five last a week earlier, had 19 hitting errors, 15 service errors and just one ace.
The Warriors dominated Set 1, hitting .737, their only hitting error coming early when senior middle Dalton Solbrig was blocked to bring Saint Francis to within 9-4. Four of SFU’s 15 points came on Hawaii service errors and the Red Flash scored consecutive points only twice, the last when holding off set point at 24-15 on an ace by Evan Feltz. The junior hitter gave the point right back on a service error, SFU’s fourth.
The Red Flash settled down and the Warriors cooled down, with Set 2 tied eight times through 8-8. Saint Francis’ fifth service error put Hawaii up for good at 10-9 and the Warriors gained some separation at 16-12 on two kills by Parapunov, two SFU serving errors and UH’s seventh block.
Four of Hawaii’s six hitting errors came in the middle set and “they had a couple of nice blocks,” Wade said. “I think Joe (senior setter Worsley) was getting too far into the playbook and the guys weren’t ready.
“Hopefully we’ll get some more guys in Saturday. Brett (senior hitter Rosenmeier) was going to come in in Set 3, but then Rado finished it off.”
The Warriors have a rematch with host Queens (2-8) today at 2 p.m. Hawaii used all 12 on the travel roster in Thursday’s sweep of the Royals.
One statistic that stands out from Friday is the dig differential. The Warriors won that battle 17-9, with sophomore libero Gage Worsley having as many digs (9) as the Red Flash did as a team.
One anomaly came in Set 3 when Hawaii took an 8-1 lead without having a kill. The Warriors’ points came on two blocks and six SFU errors.