No. 2 Hawaii extends record in sweep of No. 6 Pepperdine
DARRYL OUMI / SPECIAL TO THE HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii’s Stijn van Tilburg, second from left, is congratulated by teammates after putting down a kill for a point during the second set.
Senior hitter Stijn van Tilburg put down 16 kills, junior opposite Rado Parapunov added 13 and No. 2 Hawaii was golden in the 25th Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Invitational men’s volleyball tournament tonight at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A season-high crowd of 4,997 saw the Rainbow Warriors (15-0) extend their NCAA-record sets-won to 45 with their 15th consecutive sweep when defeating No. 6 Pepperdine 25-18, 25-20, 25-23. The Waves (13-5) lost for the 11th straight time in Honolulu dating back to 2009.
Parapunov, named the tournament MVP, added three of Hawaii’s five aces, and junior hitter Colton Cowell had 11 kills. Sophomore libero Gage Worsley had 15 of the team’s 29 digs.
It was the ninth Outrigger title for Hawaii.
Kaleb Denmark led the Waves (13-4) with nine kills.
Van Tilburg becomes the second Warrior to be named to the all-tournament team all four years, Costas Theocharidis the other. Van Tilburg moved into a tie for No. 9 in the program’s all-time kill list with Dejan Milodinovic.
Also named to the all-tournament team were Ball State’s Matt Szews, Pepperdine’s Denmark and Michael Wexter and Hawaii’s Joe Worsely and Gage Worsley.
