CHICAGO >> The No. 1 Rainbow Warriors found themselves in a déjà vu situation Saturday night at No. 12 Loyola, going down a set before rallying to win their seventh straight match.
With a crowd that made Gentile Arena feel like a home court, Hawaii head coach Charlie Wade and the Rainbow Warriors men’s volleyball team delivered a rousing four-set win — 22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 27-25 — to stay undefeated.
Colton Cowell made an immediate impact on offense in his return after a two-match absence with 19 kills and two aces accompanied by Rado Parapunov’s 24 kills and a pair of aces.
“Those two guys are pretty accomplished players and that’s nice to see them play as well as they did tonight,” Wade said. “Rado has played great for a while now — he’s getting really consistent.”
A back-and-forth first set saw Loyola get the ball rolling with an ace. A kill by Parapunov gave the Rainbow Warriors a 6-5 advantage, but a 3-0 Loyola run put the Ramblers up 16-12 as they gained momentum. Hawaii fought back to a 19-19 tie, but to no avail and Loyola took the first set, the second Hawaii has dropped this season. Hawaii also lost the first set in a four-set win over No. 5 Lewis on Friday.
Hawaii came out strong in the second set and the Rainbow Warriors had a 15-13 advantage before Loyola called a timeout. A Parapunov service error out of the stoppage followed by an error evened the game at 15. A battle at the net on the next point resulted in a Ramblers point, prompting a Hawaii timeout. But the Rainbow Warriors would take the set to even the match.
Hawaii opened up a 13-9 lead in the third set with dominating kills by Chaz Galloway and Cowell and stretched the margin to 17-10 with a 4-1 run. Loyola crawled its way back to a 21-18 deficit, but Hawaii finished off the set to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set would see a 4-0 Ramblers run cause a Hawaii timeout with the Warriors trailing 11-8. Hawaii answered with a 4-0 run of its own and prompted a Loyola timeout with the score knotted at 15. It was a close one down to the wire, but the Warriors outscored Loyola 7-5 to secure the win.
“We just looked a little stale,” Wade said. “There were a couple misfires (in the first set), then the second set I think we were up for a little bit and we made a nice comeback late and were able to win a close set. Third set, I thought we were pretty much in control, got it rolling a little bit. Fourth set was close again and had to make a comeback there.
“Loyola is a really good team, really good players,” he continued. “They were searching for some rhythm also and we knew they were going to play well tonight.”
The Warriors are halfway through their four-game road trip. They will take a travel day as they make their way to Tennessee before taking on Lincoln Memorial on Monday and King on Tuesday.
“We’ve (traveled like this) for several years now and the guys wear it as a badge of courage,” Wade said. “Playing four matches in five days in different cities, it’s just a lot of moving parts and the guys have to stay focused and be consistent.
“We looked tired. We left Honolulu on Wednesday and just looked a little off, but I’m proud of how our guys battled. We weren’t pretty all the time, but we were pretty good when it counted.”