HONOLULU — The Hawaii men’s volleyball team’s first home match in nearly a month served as a reminder that the two-time defending national champion is far from infallible.
The Rainbow Warriors were also far from concerned.
Playing without All-America setter Jakob Thelle, No. 1 UH faltered at times against an average opponent in Concordia Irvine – notably in Set 2 and late in Set 4 – but recovered for a 25-14, 22-25, 25-15, 25-23 victory at the Stan Sheriff Center on Thursday night.
“We hit over .400 tonight with our libero setting, against a team that plays good defense, so it’s hard to be too critical of what we’re doing out there,” UH coach Charlie Wade said.
A crowd of 3,590 (4,920 tickets issued) turned out for UH’s first home match since Jan. 20 after it recorded five straight sweeps on the road. It was the first of an 11-match homestand.
Thelle sat out to rest a balky knee for what Wade has called “load management.” In a domino effect, libero Brett Sheward reprised his former role as setter and ‘Eleu Choy donned the libero’s reversed green jersey.
Sheward, in his first home start at setter since facing BYU in the abbreviated 2020 season, delivered a career-high 55 assists, nearly doubling his previous career best of 29, and helped his team to a .402 hitting percentage.
He’d set at Belmont Abbey in North Carolina this season, but there was something different about doing it in front of the home crowd, he acknowledged.
“It was a lot of fun, (it) gets the emotions going a little bit more,” Sheward said.
“My hitters helped me a out a lot, just communicating, and going hard on every play. I’m a guy who needs to hear some feedback and (we) definitely talked throughout the play, and that helps with connection.”
UH (10-0) and CUI (4-6) rematch at 7 p.m. Friday. Wade was noncommittal if Thelle, who watched Thursday’s match from the bench, would return or rest again.
Choy notched five digs in his second start of the season.
Wade was impressed by his fast feet on serve-receive.
“(Choy’s play) really is what brought Brett back in the mix at the setting position, because he has played at a really high level in our practice gym now for quite a while,” Wade said. “There was a stretch there in January where he was literally the best player in the gym, really playing at a high level.”
Reigning Big West offensive player of the week Dimitrios Mouchlias recorded 20 kills with six errors on 36 swings, hitting .389. Spyros Chakas added 16 kills on 33 swings (.424) and middles Guilherme Voss (.700) and Cole Hogland (.600) combined for 18 kills and just two errors.
“Nothing hits like home. You know what’s going on, rather than going into a different environment,” Hogland said. “It’s good to be home because I can eat my muffins and my PB&Js.”
UH led comfortably throughout Set 1, hitting .550 in the frame with four kills by Mouchlias, to .061 for CUI, thanks in part to four blocks for the ‘Bows.
UH’s sets won streak of 24 coming into the night was broken as the Golden Eagles, whose signature win this season was over No. 12 Loyola Chicago, provided a surprisingly stiff test in Set 2. They hung within a couple of points, drew even at 10-all, then went ahead for the first time at 14-13.
Consecutive attack errors by Voss and Chakas gave CUI an 18-16 lead and forced a UH timeout.
UH drew even at 22, but a costly double hit gave the lead back to the Eagles and Uriel Batista followed it up with a kill for set point. UH could not side out cleanly and Johnny Anselmo put away the frame, to considerable celebration by the visitors.
Wade said there wasn’t a message after the first dropped set since Ball State took one on the second night of the season, Jan. 13.
“There were a couple kind of loose plays late, and we got a couple changes to the lineup. I think you just need to be a little patient.”
The ‘Bows responded with force in Set 3, going up by as many as 10 points after a 6-0 run on Hogland’s serve created separation. They had just one attack error in the set, hitting .615.
UH appeared to be similarly coasting in Set 4 but after the ‘Bows led 22-17, the Eagles threatened to send it to extra points when Batista solo blocked Galloway to deny a second match point and bring his team within 24-23.
After a UH timeout, Chakas put down aloha ball.
“There were a couple weird plays, a little bit sloppy. Including my setting,” Sheward said. “But luckily we were able to close it out. Spyros did a nice job of detonating that last ball.”
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.