Hawaii opens Outrigger Invitational with sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne
STEVEN ERLER / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii’s Guilherme Voss and Dimitrios Mouchlias fought for the ball at the net against Purdue Fort Wayne setter Zach Solomon.
No. 1 Hawaii fought off a first-set scare on its way to a sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne to cap the opening day of the 27th Outrigger Volleyball Invitational tonight at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias put away 14 kills and had five blocks and six digs, and outside hitter Spyros Chakas added 12 kills in the Rainbow Warriors’ 27-25, 25-13, 25-20 win before a crowd of 3,464.
UH setter Jakob Thelle directed an attack that hit .436, with middle blocker Guilherme Voss putting away six of his seven attempts. Thelle finished with 32 assists and an ace.
Freshman middle blocker Kurt Nusterer made his second career start, and first at home, in place of Cole Hogland, who missed his first match this season. Nusterer contributed four kills in six swings and was in on three blocks.
The three-day tournament continues Friday with No. 2 UCLA taking on Purdue Fort Wayne at 4 p.m. and UH facing No. 3 Penn State at 7. UCLA outlasted Penn State in five sets — 25-20, 25-22, 16-25, 21-25, 15-10 — in today’s first match.
>> PHOTOS: Hawaii vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
UH led 15-11 midway through the first set, but Purdue Fort Wayne stayed close, then tied the set on back-to-back UH errors and took a 21-20 lead on Zach Sullivan’s ace down the line. The Mastodons took a 23-21 lead, but a service error and an attack error aided UH’s 3-0 run to earn set point. Purdue Fort Wayne twice forced deuce before Chakas gave UH its third attempt at set point and Voss converted with his fifth kill of the set.
Purdue Fort Wayne went up 8-6 in the second set only to see UH score 19 of the next 24 points to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Mouchlias sparked the run with a six-point service turn that included two kills and an ace and capped it with his seventh kill of the set. Brett Sheward had three assists from his libero spot, including one to Thelle, who hammered a kill down the line.
Nusterer and Mouchlias teamed up on two of UH’s four blocks in the third set and the Warriors broke away with a 5-1 run late in the set, opening up a 23-17 lead on an ace by Chakas.
