Hawaii’s middle blockers accounted for just four of the Rainbow Warrior volleyball team’s 44 kills on Friday night. Yet their influence still factored heavily in a second straight sweep of Saint Francis.
With the Red Flash tracking Guiherme Voss and Cole Hogland along the net, UH pin hitters Dimitrios Mouchlias and Spyros Chakas put away 14 kills each and Chaz Galloway added eight in the 25-21, 25-20, 25-20 victory over the Red Flash before a crowd of 4,550 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
“Wherever we sent Guilherme they sent a guy with him,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “If you’re going to make that deliberate decision to defend us, then we’re going to set it the other way.
“You’ve gotta kind of pick your poison, right?” Wade added. “If you’re going to stay and read, we’re going to set the middle a bunch. If you’re going to go ahead and front, then we’re going to move away from it and get it unbalanced.”
Mouchlias had just one error in 27 attempts to hit .481 and had three of UH’s nine aces. Chakas hit .345 on his 29 swings, setter Jakob Thelle fired four aces while running an attack that hit .340 and the top-ranked Warriors closed their season-opening homestand at 4-0.
Chakas, Mouchlias and Galloway accounted for 56 of UH’s 65 attempts through two sets and Wade, as he did in UH’s sweep of the Red Flash on Wednesday, called on the “B side” to finish off the match in the third.
Freshman Kurt Nusterer started the third set in place of Voss and setter Austin Buchanan made his first appearance of the season in relief of Thelle in the third set. Buchanan connected with Alaka’i Todd for a kill from the right side on match point.
Saint Francis’ focus on the middles cleared a runway for the high-flying Chakas and Galloway to score out of the back row.
“Jakob always sees that and Coach Charlie helps us recognize situations,” Chakas said. “Guilheme and Cole, they always keep the middles busy, so that opens up a lot of space.”
Chakas, the reigning AVCA National Player of the Week, had just two kills on two swings and went to the bench after the first set in UH’s sweep on Wednesday. He put in a full work load in the rematch, posting five kills in the first set and nine more on 13 attacks in the second.
Libero Brett Sheward, the Big West Defensive Player of the Week, was the only UH player to go the distance and finished with 13 digs.
Mouchlias finished with 22 kills against two errors in 37 attempts in the series and had back-to-back aces late in the first set on Friday and added another off the tape in the second set. Keoni Thiim, who ended Wednesday’s match with an ace, had two more in the rematch.
Saint Francis (0-4) led for just one point in the match — at 1-0 in the third set. After a service error, Thelle went on a four-point service run capped by back-to-back aces.
Given UH’s scoring production from the service line, Wade wasn’t overly concerned with 12 service errors after the Warriors committed three in the first meeting.
“Not as efficient as we would like, but the productivity, nine aces in three sets? I can’t be too disappointed in it because we want to stay aggressive with it … and were getting lots of guys in there to serve.”
Saint Francis opposite Nathan Zini led the Red Flash with eight kills on 19 error-free attacks.
The Warriors embark on their first and farthest road trip of the season next week. They will play three matches in North Carolina, facing Queens on Wednesday in Charlotte, Belmont Abbey on Thursday in Belmont, and Barton on Saturday in Wilson.
Friday’s festivities began with a celebration of the program’s history with the alumni match. First-year UH assistant coach Kupono Fey was among the headliners in the three-set match, helping the Green team to a sweep, before changing into an aloha shirt and taking his spot on the bench for the night’s main event.
“A lot of people worked really hard over a long, long time to get this program to where it is,” Wade said. “So we appreciate those guys and everything they put in to get us to this point.”
