James Anastassiades started the night filling the shoes of Milan Zarkovic, replacing Hawaii’s gregarious — and ailing — associate head coach by greeting each of the Rainbow Warriors starters coming out of the tunnel with a bear hug during prematch introductions. The fifth-year senior hitter ended the night filling the shoes of senior Colton Cowell at the service line when Cowell went out after landing awkwardly late in Set 3 against Harvard.
The “next man up” mentality served Anastassiades and top-ranked Hawaii well, with the Warriors finishing off their fourth consecutive sweep by finishing off the Crimson in 94 minutes. Cowell had 13 kills and senior opposite Rado Parapunov added 12 in Hawaii’s 25-17, 25-18, 25-17 victory in Friday’s second match of the Raising Cane’s Volleyball Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.
>> Click here to see photos of Hawaii’s victory over Harvard
It was the 21st consecutive home victory for Hawaii (4-0), which plays for its third straight title in this event when it takes on Grand Canyon at 7 tonight. The Lopes (1-1) swept Emmanuel 25-11, 25-16, 25-22 in Friday’s first match.
The Lions (0-2) meet the Crimson (1-1) at 4 p.m. today.
“Milan is such a big presence, someone has to fill his shoes,” said Anastassiades, who finished with two digs and one of Hawaii’s four aces. “And Colton … there’s a lot of nerves coming in for him. Those are big shoes, too.
“For sure, keeping the serve in has been a target of mine. It’s five years of hard work and you feel way more confident each time. We want to be the best and be the best version of ourselves.”
Cowell had a near-perfect version of himself until midway in Set 3, with 13 kills and no hitting errors through 24 attempts. He was blocked on his 25th and then hit long on his 26th, falling backwards after the attempt as Harvard closed to 16-13.
He said after the match that he was fine.
Anastassiades’ ace set off a 5-0 run that gave Hawaii separation at 21-13 and, as 2,949 watched, the Warriors used two of their seven blocks in the final three points to win their 18th straight at home over a nonconference opponent.
Harvard was led by sophomore hitter Campbell Schoenfeld’s 11 kills.
Crimson reserve sophomore middle Ryan Hong (Punahou) had three kills in two sets, while the two starting middles had a combined one.
“You can see the experience of that team,” said former Warriors middle Bill Via (1983-86), a volunteer coach for the Crimson. “They served the ball really well, didn’t make a lot of mistakes. They were good out of system, made really good plays when they needed them.
“The difference is those guys play in these types of games on a regular basis. They know how to respond, how to deal with the moments when you have got to have a play. When we started getting a little roll going, they made the plays. It’s a testament to their experience, that they’ve played in a lot of big games.”
It was an off night for Parapunov, who had all three of Hawaii’s hitting errors in Set 1 and three of the four in Set 2. But the left-handed Bulgarian had just one in Set 3 to go along with a team-high nine digs.
“Everyone has off nights,” Anastassiades said. “It was not his best night, but it shows how many tools we have.”
A night after using 20 players, Hawaii used 10. One was freshman defensive specialist ‘Eleu Choy, the younger brother of former Rainbow Wahine setter Bailey. The Farrington product came up big in Set 2 with his first career assist and a dig late in the frame.
“Now I know how my sister felt,” Choy said. “I was nervous, but my teammates gave me a high-five and it calmed me down.”
Grand Canyon 3, Emmanuel 0
Freshman hitter Camden Gianni and sophomore hitter Christian Janke each had eight kills and the Lopes used seven aces and 7.5 blocks in the 72-minute sweep. The victory gave coach Matt Werle career win No. 68, tying him with Jeremy Price as GCU’s winningest coach.
Lions senior hitter Don Thompson (King Kekaulike) had a match-high 10 kills. Emmanuel was poised to take Set 3 when it led 22-21, but the Lopes used two kills by senior hitter Jack Burton and two aces by sophomore opposite Hugo Fischer to close it out with a 4-0 run.
