The night began by commemorating a championship.
No. 1 Hawaii then opened defense of its NCAA men’s volleyball title with a sweep of No. 7 Loyola Chicago on Wednesday in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Despite turning his ankle in the first set, Rainbow Warrior setter Jakob Thelle fired six aces — four in an overpowering service run to open the third set — and distributed 33 assists to lead a balanced UH attack in a 25-14, 25-23, 25-18 win before an opening-night crowd of 2,092 (3,449 tickets issued).
With fans in the arena for a men’s volleyball match for the first time since UH’s five-set win over BYU on March 6, 2020, the Rainbow Warriors unveiled their 2021 national championship banner prior to first serve. Colton Cowell, one of the seniors who powered the title run, helped unfurl the banner from the catwalk above the court.
“Seeing what it was all for and seeing who we did it for was just magical,” UH middle blocker Guilherme Voss said of sharing the moment with the fans to open the Outrigger Challenge.
The Warriors’ then revealed their new-look starting lineup with outside hitter Spyros Chakas, opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias, middle blocker Max Rosenfeld and libero Brett Sheward joining returning starters in Thelle, Voss and outside hitter Chaz Galloway.
UH finished with four attackers with at least eight kills with Galloway leading the way with 11 kills from the outside and Voss hammering 10 kills in 13 attempts in the middle.
Mouchlias put away six of his nine kills to help UH rally in the second set and Chakas finished with eight kills in 16 attempts.
“(Thelle) always does a really good job of spreading it out,” Voss said. “If he sees that someone’s doing good he’ll keep that person active. He’ll use someone to bait and get another one in the game to distribute everything really evenly.”
The starting group put together an commanding performance in the season’s opening set, with the Warriors hitting .609 on 23 errorless attempts to Loyola’s .097 and converting on all 15 sideout opportunities.
“We came out playing pretty hot,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “Offensively we were near perfect in the first set and we’ve seen that practice.
“Our setter is doing a lot of stuff and has a great connection even with running that faster offense. We were obviously very efficient.”
Thelle turned his ankle on a serve late in the first set and Wade called timeout with the Warriors leading 22-12. After getting the ankle re-taped on the bench, Thelle went back to the service line and only got stronger as the match progressed.
He fired his first two aces of the night in a five-point run in the second set that erased an 11-7 deficit. After the Warriors closed out the set with Cole Hogland in the middle of a triple block, Thelle drilled four aces in a span of five serves in an 8-0 opening burst to give the Warriors command of the third set.
“We knew as it got going that (Thelle’s ankle) was fine and he just gutted it out,” Wade said.
“He is a really exciting player … you see him scoring in a variety of ways. Form the service line, he’s as good as anybody we’ve had. He point scores at really high rate, He’s got a little tail to it, he can crack it, and he absolutely knows where its going too.”
Cole Schlothaurer led Loyola Chicago, the preseason favorite in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, with 10 kills in 31 attempts. The Ramblers ended the match hitting .169 to UH’s .381.
Hogland, who entered the match to start the second set, was in on four of UH’s 9.5 blocks.
After the match Wade expressed his appreciation for the fans who turned out for the opener and the banner ceremony as well as the UH administration.
“I have to acknowledge and thank the leadership of (athletic director) David Matlin and (UH president) David Lassner,” Wade said. “Those two got us through last year and really helped us through their leadership and everything they did to have us have a successful season. I think without their leadership we wouldn’t have been raising that banner tonight.”
The Warriors and Ramblers meet in the second match of the series at 7 p.m. on Friday.
