Patience is a virtue. It can also lead to another “V” — victory.

No. 1 Hawaii was patient at the service line, patient on the block and saw the patience of two redshirt freshmen pay off during Saturday’s 25-18, 25-16, 25-17 sweep of Charleston.

While senior Colton Cowell wowed the Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,178 with his team-high eight kills and heat-seeking missiles of serves, it was the career debuts of middle Alaka’i Todd and outside hitter Cole Hogland that drew perhaps the loudest cheers during Set 3 of the 88-minute nonconference volleyball match.

>> Click here to see photos of the match between Hawaii and Charleston.

Todd’s first toss from the service line resulted in an ace and Hogland atoned for launching his first serve attempt long with a solo block to help the Rainbow Warriors (2-0) win their 19th straight at home dating back to 2018.

Hawaii used 15 players — one more than in Friday’s season opener — with four freshmen from island high schools seeing the court. In addition to Todd (Punahou) and Hogland (‘Iolani), true freshmen Shea Suzumoto (Punahou) and ‘Eleu Choy (Farrington) made their debuts.

Add Cowell (King Kekaulike) and “it’s pretty special for us that five guys from Hawaii got to play,” Warriors coach Charlie Wade said. “As we’ve said all along, it’s not depth unless you play it.”

The Warriors especially dug deep into the depth chart in Set 3, with redshirt freshman setter Brett Sheward running the offense with Hawaii leading 17-10.

“I’m super stoked for our young guys,” said Sheward, who replaced sophomore Jakob Thelle. “Alaka’i got his first ace, Cole his block … It was a good team effort.

“We’re still trying to figure out who we are, but it’s a good start to the season for sure.”

Charleson, a sixth-year program, returns home today to West Virginia 0-2. The Golden Eagles were led by freshman opposite Jake Vorburger’s match-high 11 kills.

Hurting Charleston’s momentum on Saturday were 19 service errors. The Eagles also had problems with the Warriors’ serve, as Hawaii finished with six aces, several of them clocked in the 68-mph range.

One of those was Todd’s that put Hawaii up 13-8.

“I’m ecstatic,” he said. “I felt calm being in my own space and felt confident.”

Hogland’s experience was dramatically different minutes later with the Warriors ahead 20-13. His attempt landed way beyond the baseline and “it was embarrassing,” he said. “I knew I had to make up for it. I was looking for a kill, but … ”

Instead, Hogland shut down Vorburger to give the Warriors match point.

“I’m super stoked we got a bunch of Hawaii kids in,” Hogland said. “Now it’s back in the gym and back to grinding. There’s always things to improve.”

Hawaii remains at home next week, hosting the Raising Cane’s Rainbow Warrior Classic from Thursday through Saturday. In the field are Emmanuel, Harvard and Grand Canyon. Because school is not in session until the 13th, the Warriors have the rare opportunity to get a couple of double-days of practice in during the coming week.

“We have stuff to work on,” Wade said. “We had talked about being more patient from the service line. Tonight we did that and were aggressive on defense.”

Unlike Friday’s tight Set 1, Hawaii controlled Saturday’s opener as it broke away from a 2-2 tie. Rado Parapunov continued his quest to reach 800 kills, putting down four, giving the senior opposite 798.

Parapunov gave way to freshman Dimitrios Mouchlias in Set 2, with the Greek national putting down four kills. The Warriors, outblocked 3-1 in Set 1, picked up all three of their blocks in Set 2 in the final seven points.

Freshman middle Guilherme Voss was in all three, including a solo of Will Kimenhour.

Hawaii picked up two more stuffs in its first three points of Set 3, the second tying it 3-3. It jump-started a 5-0 serving run by senior hitter James Anastassiades that put the Warriors ahead for good at 7-3.

The Warriors finished with a 9-6 edge in blocks, eight coming in the final two sets. Hawaii also won the dig battle 20-15, with junior libero Gage Worsley and sophomore hitter Filip Humler each finishing with five.

Note

Hawaii freshman hitter Chaz Galloway returned to the team on Saturday following oral surgery during the holiday break. The San Diego native is expected to be cleared to play next week.