The season-opening volleyball tournament may have changed title sponsors, but the title result was the same.
No. 4 Hawaii again swept USC for the championship.
And, again, Rainbow Warriors setter Joe Worsley left the Stan Sheriff Center with the most outstanding player trophy.
Worsley (34 assists) successfully defended his award and the Rainbow Warriors again defended home court with a 25-12, 25-23, 25-16 sweep of the Trojans for the title of the Hawaiian Airlines Classic. A season-high crowd of 3,209 saw the Warriors improve to 3-0 and senior hitter Stijn van Tilburg pass another UH great on the all-time kills list.
Van Tilburg had 15 kills to replace Aaron Wilton (1,089) and is three kills away from passing Brook Sedore (1,096) at No.13. Junior opposite Rado Parapunov had 16 kills and sophomore libero Gage Worsley a career-high 12 digs.
USC (2-1) got 10 kills from senior hitter Gianluca Grasso and 11 digs from libero Matt Douglas.
Six players from the 2018 Texaco Classic all-tournament team were on the court Saturday, with five repeating in Joe Worsley, van Tilburg, Parapunov, Grasso and USC’s Ryan Moss. Joining them were Concordia-Irvine libero Addison Enriques (Kamehameha-Hawaii) and New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Enrique de Diego Garcia.
In the third-place match, sophomore hitter Alvaro Gimeno put down 15 kills with 14 digs as NJIT (1-4) outlasted Concordia-Irvine (0-6) 19-25, 25-23, 15-25, 25-20, 15-8 in a match between two winless teams.
Hawaii rolled early and late. It was 16-12 in Set 3 and then it was over. Parapunov’s 6-0 service run had the Warriors running away at 23-12.
“I was feeling good, just wanted to put the ball in and trust our system,” said Parapunov, who had two of the team’s five aces. “I wasn’t going to go crazy. I wasn’t going to go for my hardest serve.
“And Joe … even before the tournament started, I knew he was going to be the most outstanding player. He is the most amazing setter in my career, the hardest worker in the gym. Even though I know how amazing he is, he surprises me every day in practice. He raises the bar every day. To me he is the best player in America by far.”
Worsley praised his teammates in return.
“I was so proud of how my brother played — he and Rado really stepped it up,” Worsley said. “My brother played at such a high level and is a big part of why we are in so much of a flow, keeping our serve-receive in rhythm. Rado was on fire tonight and all tournament.”
Hawaii has a big break, next hosting its alumni on Jan. 25, then a two-match series with No. 11 Stanford (4-0) on Feb. 1 and 3.
“It’s their physicality, their consistency,” USC coach Jeff Nygaard said after his team lost to Hawaii for the fourth straight time. “They make you have to match it or best it if you want to compete and win. And they have multiple guys who are capable of bringing that level.
“Stijn has shown that over the course of a couple of years, that he’s a very consistent attacker for them. Whenever they needed a kill, he was able to provide that.”
Hawaii kept SC off balance while rolling in Set 1. Van Tilburg had five kills and the Warriors a 3-0 edge in blocks.
The Trojans responded in a much tighter Set 2 that saw six ties and two lead changes. SC’s last was at 10-9, but Hawaii struggled to pull away.
The Warriors saw their 23-18 lead shrink to 23-22 when Parapunov was blocked. Junior hitter Colton Cowell put down an overpass to give Hawaii set point at 24-22 and, one play later, Grasso netted his serve to end it.
