University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team sweeps Cal State Northridge
ANDREW LEE / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii’s Brett Sheward digs the ball.
ANDREW LEE / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii’s Spyros Chakas slams down a kill past CSUN’s Griffin Walters.
Hawaii rolled through the first two sets then held off Cal State Northridge in the third in a 25-11, 25-17, 26-24 sweep of the Matadors tonight at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
UH’s Greek combination of outside hitter Spyros Chakas and Dimitrios Mouchlias combined for 25 kills between them to lead the Rainbow Warriors (18-3, 3-1) to the win before a crowd of 3,495
Chakas led the Warriors with a match-high 13 kills in 20 swings and Mouchlias had 12 kills and no errors in 17 attempts for a .706 hitting percentage.
UH posted 12.5 blocks to CSUN’s five, and closed the match with a block by Chakas and Cole Hogland after the Warriors fought off a CSUN set point to complete the sweep of the two-match series.
The fourth-ranked Warriors now head on the road for a showdown with No. 3 Long Beach State on Friday and Saturday at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.
A night after fending off CSUN in four sets, the Warriors scored the first six points of the rematch, two coming on Jakob Thelle aces. They led 16-4 when Mouchlias served up UH’s fourth ace of the set. UH went on to sideout on 10 of 12 opportunities and hit .632 with 14 kills in 19 attacks in the set.
The Warriors took a 16-9 lead in the second set on an ace from Kana’i Akana, UH’s sixth of the match. Three UH attack errors and a service error contributed to a 5-1 CSUN run that cut the UH lead to 17-14. But Chakas put away four kills in an 8-3 UH surge to close the set, hammering an overpass of Thelle’s serve on set point.
CSUN’s duo of outside hitter Kyle Hobus and middle blocker Daniel Wetter, who combined for 26 kills in Friday’s series opener, were held to two kills with three errors in 15 attacks between them through two sets in the rematch.
CSUN took their first lead of the night on Olumide Allen’s ace to open the third set and the Matadors led 13-10 when the Warriors couldn’t handle back-to-back serves from Luke Krzmarzick.
UH middle blocker Cole Hogland put down consecutive kills and teamed with Thelle on block that tied he set at 15-15. There were nine more ties in the set, the last coming when Hogland put away a kill to fight off a set point. Hogland then teamed with Thelle on a block to give UH match point and closed the match with his fifth block of the night.
