Hawaii closed a dominant season-opening homestand — at least, officially — with the most efficient performance in program history.
The No. 1 Rainbow Warriors finished off a series sweep of Edward Waters on Sunday by posting a program-record .688 hitting percentage in a 25-10, 25-7, 25-12 win in Sunday’s rematch with the Tigers at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The Warriors also fired 14 aces to set a program record in the rally-scoring era. The mark of 17 set in 1996 remains the overall record.
With just Friday’s alumni match remaining before the Warriors embark on their first road trip of the season, UH posted a .459 hitting percentage through its first four matches with 39 aces to a combined four for Loyola Chicago and Edward Waters.
They set the hitting record while getting 20 players into Sunday’s match, including three setters in starter Jakob Thelle and freshmen Jack Walmer and Austin Buchanan.
“We got a lot of guys in and maintained a really high standard,” UH coach Charlie Wade said.
“The overall efficiency is pretty remarkable,” Wade said, noting the Warriors’ 21 total errors over six sets in the series with the Tigers. “That’s hard to do in warmups when there’s nobody on the other side of the net let alone having adult men on the other side trying to stop you.
“I think it speaks well to how hard we’ve been training and how the guys are improving and it’s certainly a good sign moving forward.”
Thelle fired an ace on his first serve of the match and finished with four before exiting after two sets. UH hit .690 with Thelle running the attack and converted on 17 of 18 sideout opportunities over the first two sets.
UH outside hitter Chaz Galloway put away all four of his attempts in the lone set he played and opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias went 4-for-5 in the opening set. Middle blocker Max Rosenfeld played all three sets and was in on five of UH’s 10 blocks.
Kana’i Akana put away five kills in six attempts over the final two sets and opposite Alaka’i Todd had three kills, three blocks and two aces, all in the second set.
Freshman outside hitter Makua Marumoto ended the match by putting away the first two kills of his UH career.
“I was just really excited that coach brought in our bench and showed our depth because everybody on our team has been working hard and it showed how efficient our whole team was,” Todd said. “It was really nice to see everybody showcase their talents and skill.
“Throughout the years we’ve been against high-level players, like (former UH standouts) Rado (Parapunov), Colton (Cowell), all those guys coming through the program. Playing against high-caliber players you raise your game and you just don’t bring it down when you play other players.”
Edward Waters made the trip to Hawaii from Jacksonville, Fla., for the program’s first two matches as the newest member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
EWU established the program as part of an effort to foster the growth of men’s volleyball among Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Tigers again started an all-freshman lineup on Sunday. The were led by Evens Edouard’s nine kills in 19 attempts and coach Brandon Reeves said giving the Tigers a chance to visit a different part of the country was part of the motivation to schedule the series.
“We knew Hawaii was a power team and we said, ‘Hey let’s see what level we’re at,” Reeves said. “We’ve got a lot to work on but I’m very proud of the guys. They came together, played as a unit and they finished.
“It’s been a tough start but I think it’s going to all pay off. We’ve got a good group of kids. If they stick together the next four years there’s going to be some great things happening on this team.”
The Warriors have their alumni match scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m. before embarking on their first road trip of the season. They open a two-match series at Ball State on Jan. 29 before heading to Texas for the First Point Collegiate Challenge to face Kentucky State, Queens and Stanford on Feb. 4 and 5.
