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This was the match most expected on Thursday. Twenty-four hours later, the 50th sold-out athletic contest in the Stan Sheriff Center was one for the ages.
After 3 hours and 11 minutes, it was was No. 1 Hawaii that came up golden on Friday night.
Senior opposite Rado Parapunov put down a career-high 30 kills and senior middle Patrick Gasman had a career-high five aces, including the match-ender, carrying the Rainbow Warriors to a reverse sweep of No. 2 Brigham Young, 20-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 19-17.
Hawaii (15-1) also got a career-high 10 kills from freshman hitter Chaz Galloway, who started in place of ailing senior hitter Colton Cowell, in avenging Thursday’s embarrassing straight-set loss the Cougars (17-1).
A sold-out crowd (9,060 turnstile), the 11th for the Warriors program, saw Hawaii avoid losing a series to an opponent at home for the first time since 2016, that coming against BYU.
>> PHOTOS: No. 1 Hawaii rallies from a 2-0 deficit for an improbable victory over No. 2 BYU
Gasman’s seventh kill gave the Warriors their fifth match point at 18-17 and sent the 6-foot-10 middle who started his volleyball career as a libero to the service line.
“My thinking was, ‘Hey, I never get this opportunity ever — every time I got back to serve, I get subbed out,’” Gasman said. “I wanted to make sure that never happens again.
“I got the toss and I was, all right, it’s go time.’ It was either now or I was never going to get this chance again. After yesterday, when we got our teeth kicked in, went home, reset my head. Think bringing in some new guys who brought new energy was awesome to see.”
Galloway was one of those, as was sophomore setter Jakob Thelle, who replaced freshman Brett Sheward midway through Set 1. Thelle had two of Hawaii’s nine aces, five kills and 39 assists.
Another was sophomore middle Max Rosenfeld, in for freshman Guilherme Voss. Rosenfeld was in on five of the team’s 13 blocks, including two solo, the biggest one a stuff of Branden Oberender to give the Warriors their first match point.
“I hesitate to say we were angry after (Thursday), it was more of a channeled,” Rosenfeld said. “We were not happy for sure.
“Looking forward to going on the road. Keep the momentum going.”
Hawaii opens Big West play at Cal State Northridge on Friday.
Parapunov came up with 10 digs, for his second double-double of the season. Junior libero Gage Worsley also had 10 digs as the Warriors finished with a 38-36 edge.
Hawaii out-aced BYU 9-5.
Junior opposite Gabi Garcia Fernandez led the Cougars with 21 kills and senior hitter Davide Gardini added 17 kills with 12 digs. Garcia Fernandez had three aces in becoming BYU’s single-season aces leader (56).
“It feels great,” Galloway said. “We came out here and executed our plan. The fans were amazing.
“It was a battle, you’ve got to fight every point. We outworked them at the end. They came here to do their job and we knew we had to do ours.”
In the end, it left no undefeated team remaining this season.
Hawaii led 8-5 at the turn in Set 5, then surrendered the lead, only to knot it at 13. The Warriors had five set points, the first at 14-13, and last at 18-17. Gasman ended it with his fifth ace.
Hawaii was poised to even the match when leading Set 2 by as much as 19-13. The Warriors couldn’t hold on when, at 22-22, two kills by Garcia Fernandez sandwiched Parapunov being blocked.
Hawaii came out of the locker room with purpose, rolling to leads of 8-3 and 19-10. As BYU proved in Set 2, no lead was safe and the Cougars began to mount a rally that could be felt around the arena.
The Warriors got to 20 and, as happened in Set 2, seemingly got stuck in neutral. Three hitting errors by Hawaii helped BYU’s cause, with the Cougars closing to 22-20 and holding off two set points to pull to 24-23.
This time the lead was enough, as Parapunov nailed his 32nd attack for his 17th kill and Hawaii avoided being swept in straight sets in a series at home since 2006, when Stanford did so in Warriors coach Mike Wilton’s final season. It was also the first set BYU had dropped since also losing Set 3 25-22 to Pepperdine on Feb. 8, a run of 16 straight.
The Warriors won a tight Set 4 that was tied 13 times with eight ties, the last at 22. A kill by Parapunov and a block of Garcia Fernandez gave Hawaii its first swing at forcing a fifth. The Warriors would need a second, with Parapunov’s 27th kill extending Hawaii’s life.
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