COLUMBUS, Ohio >> The final offensive numbers for Finn Kearney in Hawaii’s NCAA quarterfinal win over Penn State aren’t ones he will remember for long.
A team-high 16 kills came on 40 swings with 11 errors for a .125 hitting percentage in the Rainbow Warriors’ 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23 victory over the Nittany Lions at the Covelli Center on Thursday.
However, take away the freshman opposite from Phoenix and it’s not a given Hawaii (27-5) is spending today preparing for a Saturday semifinal showdown with two-time defending champion UCLA.
The ’Bows trailed 11-3 in the opening set against Penn State when a triple block sent Kearney back to the service line.
Eight serves, with three aces, later, the ’Bows had a 12-11 lead. They went on to score 22 of the final 30 points to turn an eight-point deficit into an opening-set win. Considering UH went on to lose the second set and squeeze out the final two sets wins by identical 25-23 margins, and Kearney’s serving run might have been the difference between winning or an early wake-up call this morning.
“They had us on a 7 a.m. to Atlanta (today), and I told the person in shorts, like, that’s reason enough to win right there. That’s going in the opposite direction,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said.
Instead, it’s a ninth trip to the NCAA semifinals in program history and a win in the first NCAA Tournament match for every player who played on Thursday, including Kearney, who finished with four aces and a match-high 10 digs.
“It’s awesome. It’s super cool. Definitely a dream of mine for a while ever since I started playing,” Kearney said. “It’s something I definitely knew would be in the future once I chose this program. Coach Charlie likes winning, nothing else.”
Kearney, who spent the majority of the season on the bench as he transitioned from opposite to outside hitter, found himself back at his old position when fellow freshman Kristian Titriyski went down with an injury a month ago.
Titriyski is healthy enough to play this week, but with him not being 100%, Kearney has more than earned the right to get the start on the right side, where he has excelled.
He has played both positions in matches this season, but since taking over as a starter, he has reached double figures in kills all seven matches.
His eight-point service run in the opening set gave flashbacks to when he came in as a serving sub with UH trailing Harvard 14-12 in the fifth set of a match in January. He promptly spun four straight dimes to allow the ’Bows to win 16-14 and avoid a bad early-season loss.
Kearney is one of five ’Bows with at least 20 aces this season, despite limited playing time.
“It’s one of the things that we’re just the hardest on is putting our serves in, trying to keep our service inbounds percentage the highest possible every game,” Kearney said. “We’re really strict on that and it’s really good that we are because it saves us in a lot of games like that.”
Hawaii’s struggles in serve receive helped keep the hitting numbers down, but the ’Bows also showed signs of a team competing on a stage it isn’t used to.
Adrien Roure, a first-team All-American this season, ended the match hitting negative with five kills in 26 swings. Sophomore Louis Sakanoko had nine kills in 25 swings and hit .160.
Those numbers should only get better as Hawaii moves on with an important win on the national stage under its belt.
“We play in front of big crowds, we deal with the media a lot and stuff, but it’s just got a little different vibe to it,” Wade said of the NCAA Tournament. “You come and there’s just a little different feeling that it’s a big time event and with so many guys experiencing it for the first time, that it in and of itself is really valuable to the program. It will pay dividends going forward and is just a great testament to how far this group has come. For these guys to get a taste of that right now is really valuable for us.”
