Stan Sheriff 25th anniversary countdown: No 3, UH men’s volleyball 2019 season

The University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team failed to win just three times at the Stan Sheriff Center in 2019.

It is important to point out here that we are talking about sets. When it came to matches, the Warriors went undefeated at home.

That included April 20, when a sellout crowd at the SSC saw Stijn van Tilburg notch 25 kills with no errors as Hawaii outlasted nemesis Long Beach State. Coach Charlie Wade’s team prevailed against the defending national champion in the Big West championship match, 25-15, 25-23, 22-25, 20-25, 15-8.

The crowd was louder than ever.

“As I was walking back (to serve the match-winning point), I could feel everyone stand,” All-America setter Joe Worsley said. “I knew it was going to be the last time I’d be back on the (SSC) service line in a UH uniform.”

It was the first time UH was truly tested all season at home, where it went 16-0. And this victory gave the program its first conference championship, as well as an automatic bid and first-round bye in the upcoming NCAA tournament.

UH led the nation with an average home attendance of 5,210.

The Warriors were better than pretty good on the road, too. Their program record of 28 victorious matches included 11 on the road. Their incredible streak of 74 sets without a loss had 33 away from home — one more than the previous national TOTAL record.

They spent five weeks ranked No. 1 and dominated every opponent.

Except one.

Beating Long Beach State at its home, the Walter Pyramid, was like trying to read hieroglyphics. UH’s three match losses were at LBSU. The last one was for the national championship, two weeks after the Warriors’ biggest win in years, against the same opponent.

The Warriors finished with a program-record 28 victories, and one step away from winning it all.