The Hawaii men’s volleyball crew lost a second match to equal Long Ocean side State in as numerous nights. What the Rainbow Warriors gained might’ve been more significant: conviction.
Dissimilar to Friday night’s sweep at the Walter Pyramid, No. 1 UH set up a stern battle without its injured floor leader Spyros Chakas and combat No. 2 LBSU to the furthest limit of a 25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-13 loss to the Ocean side before one more declared horde of 4,000-plus on Saturday.
Mentor Charlie Swim unleashed hitters Keoni Thiim and Louis Sakanoko, both of whom registered a profession high in kills on a tumultuous night that saw UH absorb 65 complete errors and keep right on coming.
“We improved, there ain’t no question,” Swim said. “It’s truly amazing that we’re that serious making that number of errors. All in all, you all skill much we discuss (our typical errors per set), and we were almost doubling it in some of those sets, and still not too far off, still got an opportunity, even in the fifth to win the match.
“We’re a preferred group today over when we got on the plane on Wednesday, that is without a doubt.”
Swim restricted the freshman Sakanoko to a serving specialist job on Friday. The following evening, he came on in the second set in Chaz Galloway’s spot. By Set 4, he got moving and placed down 10 of his 19 kills in the edge, and added nine digs, three blocks and a pro for the evening.
Thiim had 20 kills, seven digs and two aces in playing until right off the bat in the fifth, when he was spelled by Galloway.
The two free swingers had 19 assault errors and 14 service errors between them, however on this evening, Swim could look past it.
“It’s just an extraordinary investment later on, during the current year and going ahead, because the two of them have greater qualification,” Swim said. “In any case, it was impressive and Louis truly kind of settled into his own in that fourth set … . It’s impressive. So definitely, various positives emerged from the match and certainly those two being out there in prime time was one of them.”
Setter Track Rosenthal had match highs of 57 assists and 15 digs and opposite Alaka’i Todd put down 16 kills.
UH (17-3, 0-2 Major West) turned around a match point in the fourth set, scoring the last three points with a kill by Thiim, a block by Rosenthal and Guilherme Voss and a LBSU blunder.
Be that as it may, UH fell behind rapidly in the fifth. It hitched it once and for all at 10, and staved off two more Ocean side match points, prior to succumbing on a back-line assault by Sotiris Siapanis. Siapanis, the standout from Cyprus, had 17 kills and 11 digs.
LBSU (18-1, 4-0) beat UH for the 11th straight time at the Pyramid dating back to 2015. In any case, Ocean side mentor Alan Knipe regarded the match as distant from a certainty, in any event, coming off of Friday’s sweep, and saluted Hawaii for the latest classic match in a series loaded with them.
“Anybody who’s followed Huge West volleyball for the last 10-plus years, this happens when these two teams play,” he said in LBSU’s postgame press meeting. “The players have changed over the course of the years however the … longstanding pride in the programs, not just ongoing history, the manner in which they play the game, the passion they bring to the game, the manner in which their fans support them, this has turned into the standard.
“It’s played at the highest level,” Knipe added. “That (Hawaii) group’s trained incredibly well, and I might want to trust we (have) as well. Yet, when you combine that with how hard the teams played, that is must-see sports not too far off.”
LBSU won the day thanks to a great extent to its 20.5 group blocks to UH’s eight. Center Simon Torwie had 10, including three solo, and Moanalua High alumni DiAeris McRaven added eight.
Torwie, a 6-foot-10 local of Spain, said he invited the five-set long distance race over any three-setter.
“We realize those guys contend energetically,” Torwie said of Hawaii. “There’s a ton of respect that goes toward the players in that program. That is to say, Hawaii showed up with a great deal of fans as well. You could almost think the Pyramid was split between the teams. That is an amazing climate to play in. In the event that you look a tad not too far off on the schedule, we’re hoping the beginning of May (for the NCAA championships at the Pyramid) will be the same thing.”
McRaven, the Honolulu local who advanced toward LBSU after a stint at Orange Coast School, said he partook in the matchups this week. Saturday was the most extensive activity of his two-year Ocean side vocation and coincided for certain natural faces across the net.
“It was loads of tomfoolery. You know, with the Hawaii fans, they always would venture out to anyplace UH was playing, so it’s great to see almost home being here in the Pyramid,” McRaven said. “It’s interesting to see how much better we’ve all gotten, and to play on the enormous stage now in a close game, it’s just great to see. It’s almost inspiring to see how far our diligent effort has been taking us all, in addition to our group yet even the guys on UH. … I can hardly hold back to play them again.”
Knipe paused for a minute to give a shout-out to the LBSU men’s basketball crew, which crushed UC Davis to finish a far-fetched three-game go through the Huge West competition to clinch a NCAA Competition compartment on Saturday. LBSU administration had declared on Monday that Dan Monson will withdraw as mentor after the season’s end after his group had lost the last five standard season games.
“I am so started up for those guys,” Knipe said.
UH hosts CSUN (9-10, 0-2) on Friday and Saturday.