No. 2 UH sweeps again, awaits No. 8 BYU

It could have easily been a trap game, with No. 2 Hawaii looking past Friday’s opponent, Princeton, to tonight’s showdown with No. 8 and host Brigham Young. The Rainbow Warriors were aware of their men’s volleyball history — not much of it good — when playing in Smith Fieldhouse.

But as they have done all season, the Rainbow Warriors dialed in when they had to, dialing up their 19th consecutive sweep along the way. Led by senior hitter Stijn van Tilburg’s 11 kills and 10 from junior hitter Colton Cowell, Hawaii took just 93 minutes to dispatch the Tigers 25-17, 25-18, 25-22.

In Friday’s second match, the Cougars were upset by McKendree, 19-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-22, which prevented a true championship in the BYU Invite finale (3 p.m. today). The Warriors (19-0) can claim the title outright with a win over the Cougars (12-7).

Not only did the Warriors extend their NCAA-record sets-won mark to 57, they tied the program record for consecutive victories of 19 set in 2006.

Hawaii has not defeated BYU in Provo since 2003, a string of 15 losses. The Warriors are 3-25 all-time in Smith and have only taken 10 setts off the Cougars in the series dating back to 1990.

“Our guys have been pretty good all season about taking care of the business at hand,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said in a telephone call. “We knew Princeton was good, we had watched them live (Thursday, when the Tigers lost in five to the Cougars). Princeton could very well be in the NCAAs; they’re leading the EIVA (8-1).

“We’re familiar with their personnel, had recruited a couple of their guys. We are not taking anyone lightly.”

Hawaii was never seriously threatened until late in a tight Set 3. The Warriors led by as many as six several times, the last at 18-12, only to have the Tigers go on on an 8-2 run to tie at 20.

At 21-21, Cowell put down his 10th kill and added a solo block of Parker Dixon, giving Hawaii breathing room.

At 23-22, the Warriors closed it out on a Tigers service error and their 10th block of the night when senior setter Joe Worsley and senior middle Dalton Solbrig teamed to stuff Kendall Ratter.

Hawaii, the national leader in hitting percentage (.491), hit .382, its second-lowest percentage of the season.

Hawaii outblocked Princeton 10-8.5, with Solbrig, junior middle Patrick Gasman and junior opposite Rado Parapunov each in on four. Joe Worsley and brother Gage, a sophomore libero had five digs apiece as the Warriors won the dig battle 20-15.

The Tigers had 17 service errors compared to 10 by the Warriors. Cowell had two of Hawaii’s aces, including the one that capped a 5-0 scoring run in Set 2 and gave the Warriors a 2-0 lead.

While Hawaii’s middles didn’t get a lot of sets, Solbrig was 4-for-4 and Gasman 4-for-5 with no hitting errors between them.

“They did a nice job,” Wade said. “It’s all about how the other team is defending you. Sometimes the passing dictates where the set’s going to go and you don’t have a lot of options.

“When you look at the stats it can be misleading. With the matchups we were getting and were able to take advantage of, not going to the middle a lot was by design.”

The Tigers were led by Dixon’s 11 kills. Greg Luck was in on seven blocks.

Of concern to Hawaii tonight is BYU’s 6-foot-7 sophomore opposite Gabi Garcia Fernandez. The Puerto Rican had 22 kills in the five-set win over Princeton on Thursday, including seven in the deciding Set 5, but did not play Friday as Cougars coach Shawn Olmstead rested most of his starters in anticipation of tonight’s match with the Warriors.

Wade isn’t sure who will be setting for BYU tonight. The Cougars have used two — junior Cyrus Fa’alogo and freshman Brody Earnest — since junior setter Wil Stanley (Punahou) went down with a severe ankle sprain at Stanford on March 2.

“It doesn’t matter who’s setting, their offense doesn’t change,” Wade said. “Their opposite (Garcia Fernandez) is still their go-to guy and the Italian (6-9 hitter Davide Gardini) is good.

“We can’t control who they have out on the court. Gabi is another good opposite that we’ll face. The key is to get in front of him. You’re not going to stop him, but you hope he doesn’t hit .400.

“BYU’s a good team and they’re very good at home.”

Tonight is expected to be a sellout at the 5,000-seat fieldhouse. It is the Cougars’ final home match of the regular season.

Hawaii got a taste of the hostile crowd Friday when the BYU students showed up early to heckle the Warriors in the first match.

“At the end of the day, good players don’t let it bother them,” Wade said. “If these things are new to you, then you can be distracted.

“I’m not worried about our guys. They’ve played all over in different environments.”