The Hawaii men’s volleyball team rose to the occasion on Day 1 of the stacked Outrigger Invitational.
No. 3 UH came out Thursday night with perhaps its best all-around set of the season and followed through with a 25-9, 25-18, 25-21 sweep of No. 14 Lewis in front of 3,516 (4,908 tickets issued) at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Rainbow Warriors sided out at 100% and hit .765 with six aces in the first frame, then settled down to hit .458 for the match.
“We were really good early. Very efficient,” UH coach Charlie Wade told Spectrum Sports’ Scott Robbs. “That’s really impressive. Wish we could’ve been able to keep our foot on the gas a little bit. But overall, productive and efficient. The third set got a little loose, but trying to get some other guys in there, and overall pretty good.”
Spyros Chakas hit a career-best .737 with 15 kills while setter Tread Rosenthal had 28 assists and three aces. Opposite Alaka‘i Todd contributed eight kills and middle Guilherme Voss seven.
Voss' back-set to Todd in Set 3 coincided with UH extending its lead for good.
UH (15-1) won its 14th straight match heading into a true litmus test against No. 1 Grand Canyon (15-1), which suffered its first defeat of the season in five sets against No. 5 UC Irvine in the first match of the tournament, 25-21, 19-25, 24-26, 29-27, 15-6.
“Legit No. 1,” Wade said of GCU. “They had a chance to close it out in four. I’m sure they’re disappointed with the way tonight went and are going to be ready to fire on all cylinders tomorrow.”
Former UH setter/libero Brett Sheward notched 58 assists and 10 digs for UCI (13-4), which UH will see on Sunday in a preview of Big West play.
UH backup setter Kevin Kauling, a three-time All-American at Lewis, saw brief action against the Flyers (10-9), and logged two assists and a dig.
Max Roquet led Lewis with nine kills on .286 hitting.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.