IRVINE, Calif. — Riding the energy of a raucous, ti-leaf waving crowd that turned a high-stakes road game into seemingly just another battle at home, the Hawaii men’s volleyball team on Saturday defeated Big West tournament host UC Irvine for the league championship and an automatic NCAA tournament berth.
The Rainbow Warriors will get a chance to earn a third straight national championship in two weeks in Fairfax, Va., thanks to their 25-22, 21-25, 25-13, 25-22 over the Anteaters at Bren Events Center.
UH (28-2) won its 11th straight match and became the first program to earn consecutive Big West tournament championships in the six years the conference has sponsored the sport. Charlie Wade’s Rainbow Warriors have won three of the five tournaments held (one was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
The Rainbow Warriors should be a strong candidate for the No. 1 overall seed in the seven-team NCAA tournament when the field is announced in the NCAA selection show at 7 a.m. Hawaii time on Sunday.
Tournament MVP Jakob Thelle directed his team to a .330 hitting night, distributing 47 assists and getting in on five of his team’s season-high 17 blocks.
Opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias put down 17 kills with six digs and six block assists, and hitter Chaz Galloway complemented him with 13 kills, eight digs and six block assists. Spyros Chakas struggled to a .060 hitting night but had 10 digs.
Five ‘Bows were in on five or more blocks, with middles Cole Hogland compiling eight and Guilherme Voss seven. UCI (18-11) hit .160, with its top hitters Hilir Henno and Francesco Sani combining for 20 errors.
Henno, the nation’s top server, was limited to one ace.
UH, which beat UCI in two meetings at the Stan Sheriff Center earlier this month, came out with high energy and broke open the first set on a four-point service run by serving sub Keoni Thiim, during which Thiim put down two of UH’s six total aces.
UCI drew even thanks to a pair of challenges it won late in Set 2. UH appeared to have tied it up at 20-all on a block, but UCI challenged an in/out call and was successful to go up 21-19.
The Anteaters followed with an ace. With UH threatening to draw within 23-22, UCI again challenged, this time a net violation on UH, and was successful to set up set point. The ‘Eaters put it away on their first chance.
UH got off to an 8-0 start in Set 3, forcing UCI to burn both of its timeouts over that span.
The ‘Bows led comfortably the rest of the set. They earned set point on a Thelle dump shot and Chakas put away the next on an assist from Thelle for a 2-1 overall lead.
Irvine tied up Set 4 at 21-all with an ace by Sani. The teams traded service errors to make it 22-all, but UH finished it off with consecutive kills by Mouchlias and two in a row by Galloway.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.