Hawaii's depth adds up to easy sweep of Belmont Abbey

Jan. 27—A lively crowd in Belmont Abbey's Wheeler Center didn't get to see two of Hawaii's headliners and the top-ranked Rainbow Warriors again leaned into their depth in a 25-18, 25-18, 25-21 sweep of the host Crusaders in the program's first appearance on the Belmont, N.C., campus.

A lively crowd in Belmont Abbey's Wheeler Center didn't get to see two of Hawaii's headliners and the top-ranked Rainbow Warriors again leaned into their depth in a 25-18, 25-18, 25-21 sweep of the host Crusaders in the program's first appearance on the Belmont, N.C., campus.

"It was a fun environment, " UH coach Charlie Wade said after the match played before 1, 154, the largest home crowd in Belmont Abbey's men's volleyball history. "That place was packed to the gills and it was a really valuable experience for everybody, especially the guys who were on the court."

Outside hitter Spyros Chakas, the Warriors' kills leader, joined All-America setter Jakob Thelle on the inactive list for the second match of UH's first road trip of the season. Still, the Warriors (6-0 ) pulled away late in each set in their 15th consecutive win while also stretching their run of consecutive sets won to 15.

UH closes the trip on Saturday against Barton in another matchup with a member of Conference Carolinas.

UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias put away eight kills in 13 attempts to hit.538 in the first two sets before going to the bench. Outside hitter Chaz Galloway also finished with eight kills while playing all three sets, libero Brett Sheward led the UH defense with 11 digs and the Warriors overcame 16 service errors in the win.

With Thelle back in Hawaii, Austin Buchanan went the distance in his second career start. The sophomore, who played the first two sets in UH's sweep of Queens University on Wednesday, delivered back-to-back aces in a 7-0 UH run late in the third set after Belmont Abbey took a 20-17 lead. Buchanan finished with 31 assists, one kill and a solo block along with the two aces.

"He went back in a tight situation and did a really nice job putting the ball in play and in that moment that's his job, " Wade said. "That's really valuable experience and something you cannot create in the practice gym."

Chakas led the Warriors with 16 kills on Wednesday but spent the match on the bench due to illness. Keoni Thiim moved into the starting lineup and had six kills in 17 swings in his first UH start.

Freshman middle blocker Kurt Nusterer played the final two sets in place of Guilherme Voss and put away four kills in six swings and had an ace.

Alaka'i Todd stepped in for Mouchlias in the third set and put away three kills, including match point.

"Those are all really valuable opportunities we want to make sure we're giving our guys, " Wade said.

Starting middle Cole Hogland started all three sets and had four kills in six swings and was in on three of UH's 81 /2 blocks. Belmont Abbey finished with four blocks, giving UH the advantage in that category for the first time this season.

Matteo Miselli led Belmont Abbey (1-6 ) with 12 kills in 32 attempts and the Crusaders hit.111 overall. But coach Derek Sullivan came away encouraged by the experience of playing the two-time defending national champions.

"We did exactly what we wanted to do, " Sullivan said on the online broadcast. "We knew they were the best team in the country, but we told ourselves this was going to be an opportunity for us to come out and grind and just to show how hard we worked in the gym and show the area what volleyball is all about and what Belmont Abbey volleyball is all about.

"The environment was electric. ... This is the kind of environment the guys want to experience in college."

The Warriors hit.370 in the first set, converted on 15 of 19 sideout opportunities and closed the set with a 6-1 run, with Mouchlias finishing it off with his fifth kill.

Nusterer had two kills and Buchanan put down a solo block to give the Warriors a 9-3 lead in the second set. After Belmont Abbey trimmed the deficit to 19-16, UH surged away again with a 6-2 closing run.

After hitting.450 in the second set the Warriors committed seven attack errors in the third and Belmont Abbey led for most of the set.

The Crusaders charged up the capacity crowd when they took a 20-17 lead. But after the Crusaders' 18th service error, Buchanan put together his lengthy service turn. Thiim scored off the block to give UH a 21-20 lead and Buchanan followed with consecutive aces.

"We play a lot of those mini-games from 18-all, 20-all (in practice ), " Wade said. "And we certainly found ourselves in that situation tonight and we were good when it counted down the stretch."