Advertisement

Top-ranked Hawaii responds to fan's message with big win over UCSD

jason kaneshiro, the honolulu star-advertiser
·5 min read

Apr. 15—Production—particularly from the service line and at the net—followed in the top-ranked Rainbow Warrior volleyball team's four-set win over UC San Diego in Friday's Big West match at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Perspective arrived in an email in Hawaii coach Charlie Wade's inbox.

Production—particularly from the service line and at the net—followed in the top-ranked Rainbow Warrior volleyball team's four-set win over UC San Diego in Friday's Big West match at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

The Warriors put down a season-high 14 blocks, five coming in the final set, and fired eight aces to overcome a sometimes erratic attack and fend off the Tritons 28-26, 25-17, 19-25, 25-15 before a crowd of 6, 008 to open their final homestand of the season.

UH (25-2, 8-1 Big West ) enters the final day of the regular season tied with Long Beach State (19-3, 8-1 ) for the conference lead, but holds the tiebreaker edge over the Beach. The Warriors can clinch the regular-season title and the top seed in next week's Big West Tournament with a win in today's rematch with UCSD (8-15, 2-7 ) or an LBSU loss at UC Irvine.

UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias, one of the six UH players who will be honored in tonight's senior night ceremony, led the Warriors with 13 kills on 29 attempts, and outside hitter Chaz Gallloway added 11 kills in 23 swings in a.391 hitting performance.

Middle blocker Cole Hogland finished with five kills in six swings, served up two aces in the first set, and was in on five blocks. Fellow middle Guilherme Voss had six blocks, including two solo.

Outside hitter Spyros Chakas scuffled through a relatively quiet night offensively, finishing with eight kills in 26 swings. But he delivered two aces and UH served inbounds at over 90 % with nine errors in 96 attempts.

Wade noted the Warriors' focus from the service line as he discussed an email he received from a fan who had attended a match during last week's series with UC Irvine.

"She started talking about how appreciative she was of the players and how hard they go and literally said it was one of the greatest experiences of her life, and she really needed some joy and some happiness in her life, " Wade said.

Wade continued that the writer revealed that she'd recently lost a child, and "for me I can't even imagine losing a child."

"We talk a lot about what we do matters. It means a lot to a lot of people, " Wade said. "The message for the guys was we've all got people in our lives that we should tell them we love them more, we should hug them a little more often, we should reach out to people in our lives that might be struggling with something. ... We live here on this island and we need each other."

UH senior Kana'i Akana said the message was "eye-opening how much our team can really impact the community. We always talk about it, but hearing a story like that makes us want to compete and really show up for all the fans. ... I think it shows the level of community we have here in the state of Hawaii."

The Warriors and Tritons combined to put on a show for the crowd in Friday's opening set, with UCSD putting away its first 10 attempts in a.600 hitting performance, finishing the set with 22 kills in 30 swings.

UH countered by hitting.400 and four UCSD service errors and Mouchlias' six kills helped the Warriors catch the Tritons at 20-20. UCSD edged ahead again and earned set point at 24-22 on a kill from outside hitter Ryan Ka, who had nine kills in the set and finished with a match-high 20 on 45 swings.

UH survived when UCSD's Jim Garrison hit into the net, then forced deuce with a triple block. Hogland's ensuing serve hit the net cord and crawled over for his second ace of the set to push the Warriors ahead.

"I knew I had to first put it in, then bring some heat, because you're not going to chip a ball in and play defense, " Hogland said. "We had to be more offensive at that point because we had our backs against the wall."

UCSD fought off two set points before Chakas forced an overpass on his serve and Jakob Thelle set up Voss for a kill to give UH the set.

UCSD finished the set with six service errors, while UH kept all 27 of its serves in play.

"We talk a lot about our level of engagement and that's something we can control, " Wade said. "We can't control them hitting for a high percentage as much, but we were absolutely locked in from the service line."

The Warriors fired five aces in a second-set rout but hit.038 in the third and UCSD, which pulled out five-set wins over UH each of the past two seasons, sent the match to a fourth set.

UH took command early in the fourth with back-to-back blocks and an ace from Mouchlias. The Warriors' final block of the night gave them match point and UCSD's 24th hitting error ended the match.