The fourth-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team is more than ready to contend in the Big West this season.
An earlier than usual starting date against one of the true national title contenders from the conference ended in a competitive sweep by the Rainbow Warriors, who answered a few questions in a 25-21, 26-24, 25-22 victory over UC Irvine on Friday night.
A SimpliFiArena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 7,024 watched Hawaii (13-1, 1-0) continually win the competitive points at the end of sets to hand the Anteaters (10-3, 0-1) their third consecutive loss.
The top three kill leaders were all freshmen with Kristian Titriyski putting down a match-high 17 kills. Adrien Roure hit .533 with nine kills and Justin Todd, making his fifth career start, had eight kills in 10 swings with no errors.
“One of things we preach is point service turns late and tonight at the end of every set, we had a variety of guys go back there and have some pretty good turns and put pressure on them,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “That’s been the hallmark of the success of the program now for a long time.”
It was the first time the two teams played since the Anteaters ended Hawaii’s season in straight sets in the semifinals of the Big West Tournament last season.
Five of the 10 Rainbow Warriors who played were not on the team last season. Setter Tread Rosenthal, who had a match-high 36 assists, four kills, three digs and two blocks, said the guys who were on the team last season did remember the feeling.
“A lot of the new guys came in and they don’t know about it, but you definitely take that to your personal self, and just, I needed to beat these guys,” Rosenthal said.
Hilir Henno, the reigning AVCA National Player of the Year who averaged 6.20 kills per set in four matches against UH last year, finished with 13 to lead UCI. Senior Nolan Flexen, who was averaging more than four kills a set this season, was held to six and hit .043 with five errors.
UC Irvine used two different setters in the match.
“The offense became very predictable,” Wade said when UCI changed setters. “It really reduces the incentive to miss serves when you know where they are going.”
Todd, who put down his first six kill attempts, replaced Ofeck Hazan in the starting lineup and set a career high in kills and hitting percentage.
Hawaii finished with 41⁄2 blocks but got them at critical junctures of the match.
“My motivation the whole game was to try and block (Henno),” Todd said. “I got pretty close but…
“It’s hard,” Rosenthal said completing his sentence.
The first set showcased how even both teams are. Henno had five kills for the Anteaters and Hawaii hit .583 as a team but nobody could go ahead by more than two points until a Titriyski ace gave UH a 23-20 lead.
UCI answered with its 12th kill in the set but a service error gave Hawaii set point. The Anteaters elected not to use their second timeout and Louis Sakanoko pinpointed an ace to give UH the early advantage.
The second set provided similar drama with neither team ever leading by more than three points.
Hawaii led 21-19 when the Anteaters rattled off four straight points with three coming on UH hitting errors.
UCI had two blocks and Sakanoko picked up his third hitting error in the set, prompting Wade to bring in Clay Wieter on the outside.
Titriyski ended the run with a kill and then put down an ace to tie the match at 23-all. After the teams traded points, Sakanoko returning to the match to serve and hit two balls in to set up the win for UH.
“They changed the setter and you could get them in some rotations,” Wade said. “There was very little incentive to miss serves at that point. You had to do put them in play. Louis can do that.”
A Rosenthal ace in the third set gave Hawaii its largest lead at any point of the match at 11-6.
UCI hit out on match point but challenged the call, forcing Hawaii and its fans to wait to celebrate. After a minute, the call was upheld, setting off a loud cheer.
“This is the coolest thing in the world right now in volleyball — what’s going on here,” Wade said. “Literally everybody around the world is talking about what’s going on in the Stan Sheriff Center for men’s volleyball. We’re incredibly humbled by the support that we get and it’s absolutely the wind in our sails.”
The two teams will play again on Sunday at 5 p.m.
