Needing a boost after dropping the first set, the No. 4 Hawaii men’s volleyball team went to its bench to win its road opener of the 2024 season.
Senior Alaka’i Todd hit .667 with 12 kills in 18 swings after sitting out the first set and Chaz Galloway returned from a two-match absence to hit .412 with nine kills and seven digs to lead the Rainbow Warriors to a 22-25, 25-13, 25-21, 25-14 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday night at Arnie Ball Court at Gates Sports Center in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Spyros Chakas added 12 kills, and freshman Tread Rosenthal finished with a match-high 33 assists and 10 digs for Hawaii, which improved to 4-1 with its third straight win.
“We were a little just, kind of, off in that first set,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “We just weren’t playing volleyball very well. We went back to our more familiar lineup with Chaz and Alaka’i and they played well.”
Kurt Nusterer, who is from Indiana, put down UH’s final point of the match with his third kill in four swings as Hawaii won in its first-ever match played in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Hawaii hit .355 and had six aces with 17 service errors.
Purdue Fort Wayne doubled up Hawaii in blocks 8-4, with six coming in the first set.
The Mastadons (4-2) hit .393 in the first set but ended at .157 for the match.
“It always comes down to when we can control what we are doing,” Chakas said. “(When) we’re the ones controlling the rhythm of the game, we’re the ones implementing our game and our rhythm, and when we realize that and make less errors, put the ball in play … we end up being better than anyone.”
Eleu Choy added nine digs for Hawaii, which raised its hitting percentage more than 200 points after hitting .115 in the opening set.
Graduate transfer setter Kevin Kauling, who was injured in warmups just before the season opener, entered the match late in the fourth set and had three assists and an ace.
“He’s been playing great at practice — he really has — and that’s something that we’ve toyed with a little to go into a double sub and get both of them out there on the floor,” Wade said. “Good to have him out there and it’s been great to have him back in practice.”
The Mastadons took advantage of eight UH hitting errors to take the first set, with Axel Melendez and Mark Frazier leading the way with four kills apiece.
The set was tied at 21-21 when a Bryce Walker kill put Purdue Fort Wayne in the lead for good.
Two straight hitting errors gave the Mastadons three match points. Hawaii got one point back on the Mastadons’ eighth service error in the set, but Louis Sakanoko was solo blocked by Jon Diedrich to end the set.
The Rainbow Warriors changed up their lineup to open the second set, with senior Todd in at opposite and Galloway returning for the first time in three weeks at outside hitter.
Todd put down five kills in as many attempts and Keoni Thiim subbed into the set with UH ahead 19-12 and served the next five points with an ace to double up the Mastadons.
Purdue Fort Wayne’s 13th service error ended the set to tie the match at one set apiece.
UH scored seven of the final 11 points in the third set to pull away and dominated in the final set with four of its six aces.
“It was nice to see that we were able to come back as fast as we did,” senior middle Guilherme Voss said. “Sometimes we are, as a team, a little slow to react to sets and stuff, so it was nice to see how fast we were able to switch up on the situation.”
Frazer finished with a match-high 14 kills and two aces to lead the Mastadons.
The two teams will play again today at 2 p.m.
NO. 4 HAWAII DEF.
PURDUE FORT WAYNE
22-25, 25-13, 25-21, 25-14
RAINBOW WARRIORS (4-1)
S K E ATT PCT D BA PTS
Galloway 4 9 2 17 .412 7 0 9.0
Choy 4 1 0 1 1.000 9 0 1.0
Voss 4 3 3 9 .000 0 2 4.0
Chakas 4 12 4 28 .286 4 1 13.5
Nusterer 4 3 1 4 .500 0 1 4.5
Rosenthal 4 2 0 3 .667 10 1 3.5
Todd 3 12 0 18 .667 5 1 14.5
Thiim 3 2 1 5 .200 4 0 3.0
Sakanoko 3 3 3 8 .000 2 0 3.0
Kauling 1 0 0 0 .000 1 0 1.0
Match 4 47 14 93 .355 42 6 57.0
Mastodons (4-2)
S K E ATT PCT D BA PTS
Hernandez 4 0 0 0 .000 6 0 0.0
Diedrich 4 8 4 26 .154 4 1 9.5
Walker 4 5 0 12 .417 2 4 7.0
Meld. Watts 4 7 5 22 .091 3 2 9.0
Frazier 4 14 6 42 .190 2 0 16.0
Polomac 4 1 0 4 .250 4 2 3.0
Lyons 3 1 3 4 -.500 0 1 1.5
Muir 2 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0.0
Fosdick 2 1 1 4 .000 2 0 1.0
Papaleo Jr. 1 0 0 0 .000 1 0 0.0
TEAM 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0.0
Match 4 37 19 115 .157 24 10 47.0
Service aces — Hawaii 6 (Chakas, Kauling, Nusterer, Rosenthal, Thiim, Todd). Purdue Fort Wayne 2 (Frazier 2). Service errors — Hawaii 17 (Chakas 4, Sakanoko 4, Galloway 3, Rosenthal 2, Kauling, Nusterer, Thiim, Voss). Purdue Fort Wayne 22 (Frazier 6, Polomac 5, Walker 4, Diedrich 3, Lyons 2, Fosdick, Melendez Watts). Assists — Hawaii 44 (Rosenthal 33, Chakas 4, Kauling 3, Galloway 2, Choy, Sakanoko). Purdue Fort Wayne 31 (Polomac 28, Diedrich, Frazier, Hernandez). Block solos — Hawaii 1 (Todd). Purdue Fort Wayne 3 (Diedrich, Melendez Watts, Polomac). Ball handling errors — Hawaii none. Purdue Fort Wayne 1 (Walker). Reception errors — Hawaii 2 (Chakas, Choy). Purdue Fort Wayne 6 (Frazier 2, Hernandez 2, Diedrich, Muir). T—NA. A—897. Officials— Michael O’Connor, Beverly Rea, Michael Alejado, John Rodewald.
