When Chaz Galloway was notified of his starting assignment, one word summed up his reaction.

“Finally.”

After missing the previous nine matches due to an ankle injury, the Hawaii outside hitter returned to the lineup for Saturday’s match against Lincoln Memorial and helped the third-ranked Rainbow Warriors roll to a second straight sweep of the 15th-ranked Railsplitters before a crowd of 2,083 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Galloway posted seven kills in 14 attempts in his first appearance since Jan. 16 and the Warriors (12-2) swept the Railsplitters 25-11, 25-16, 25-17.

The sophomore was UH’s leader in kills per set at 3.11 when he injured his left ankle prior to a series at Ball State. He suited up for Friday’s series opener with Lincoln Memorial (8-2) but was held out of action another night before making his return.

“I was just waiting for the trainers to clear me and then coaches gave me the green light,” Galloway said. “Last night I was good to go, but we just wanted to hold me off a little bit longer.”

UH coach Charlie Wade said Saturday’s 2 p.m. serve-and-pass session convinced him Galloway was indeed ready to return to the starting lineup.

“He had a pretty good week (in practice),” Wade said. “Early in the week I didn’t think it was going to be possible and we were just hoping for Sunday because I thought it was really important that he gets in live game time before league play starts.

“I saw him hit a couple balls in warmups and it was like, ‘Yup, he’s going to be OK.’ And then early on he went up and blocked a ball and it was like he’s close to doing Chaz-like stuff now. It was a good sign.”

While UH closes the three-match series with Lincoln Memorial today at 5 p.m., a trip to UC San Diego for a series on March 2 and 4 to open the Big West season factored into Galloway’s return this weekend.

Galloway said the initial prognosis was a four- to six-week recovery, but he was able to get back into action in three.

“We were going back and forth on whether I was going to play this weekend because we have a week off,” Galloway said. “I was like, I need reps before we go to San Diego. I wanted to get in the game and see what I could do instead of just waiting.”

Galloway’s first kill of the night gave UH set point at 24-10 in the opening set and he added three more in the second and delivered an ace in the third.

“We talked that (setter Jakob Thelle) wasn’t going to set me a lot front row,” Galloway said. “But after I got that kill, I was like, ‘Jake I’m good to go. Let’s go.”

Along with Galloway’s production, Wade noted his stability in serve receive in helping set up the Warriors’ attack, and the Warriors hit .556 in the first set and .377 for the match to Lincoln Memorial’s negative-.028.

UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias put away his first eight attempts and finished with a match-high 14 kills on .435 hitting.

UH middle blocker Guilherme Voss had four kills and was in on six of UH’s 10 blocks. Cole Hogland delivered kills on all five of his attempts in his rotations through the front row.

“(Mouchlias) and Jake have a good connection, and when we’re passing well and can get the middle of the court involved it really opens it up on the pins for us,” Wade said.

“That’s going to be really how good we are this year, our ability to receive and run the offense as best we can.”

UH’s offense was rolling early and Mouchlias put away five kills in UH’s 10-2 start to the match. The Warriors remained in command and led 21-9 after Spyros Chakas fired back-to-back aces on their way to a 14-point win.

Lincoln Memorial stayed close early in the second set until UH went on a five-point run punctuated by back-to-back blocks by Voss and Mouchlias. The Warriors put down four blocks in the set, with a solo stuff by Mouchlias giving UH set point at 24-16.

Galloway’s ace gave UH an 11-7 lead in the third set and the Warriors held steady until Voss and Chakas combined on a block to cap UH’s eighth straight win.