Box Score

HONOLULU – For the second straight night, the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team needed five sets to defeat defending national champion UC Irvine. The Warriors won 30-26, 32-30, 26-30, 20-30, 15-11 Saturday in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at the Stan Sheriff Center.

 

Hawai'i featured a balanced attack with Joshua Walker leading the way with 22 kills on 38 percent hitting. The junior blasted five of his kills in the final set. After a 37-kill performance on Friday, Jonas Umlauft followed that with 21 kills on Saturday. Matt Rawson contributed 12 kills and seven blocks while Steven Hunt had 10 kills.

 

For the second straight night, the Anteaters relied on the shoulders of outside hitters Carson Clark and Jordan DuFault. Each had 21 kills while DuFault added 13 digs and hit 40.9 percent.

 

Just like a night earlier, the Warriors (6-3, 4-2 MPSF) jumped out on top two sets to none only to see the Anteaters win Sets 3 and 4 and force a deciding fifth set. In Set 5, the Warriors seized control early with a 7-4 lead following a Walker kill and Umlauft service ace. UH was first to reach 10 and led 11-7 after consecutive hitting errors by Clark. After the Anteaters closed to 12-10, UH went to the middle where Rawson put away his 12^th kill. DuFault's hitting error gave UH match point and Warriors put away the match with Umlauft's 21^st kill.

 

The match lasted 3 hours and 12 minutes, the second straight night the teams played past the three hour mark. Prior to the two matches, the Warriors had not played a three hour match in the rally-scoring era, which started in 2001.

 

The Anteaters dominated nearly every category, including out-hitting UH, .356 to .236 and out-blocking them 15.5 to 12.

 

UCI (5-6, 1-5) led from the onset in Set 1, taking a 10-5 lead before the Warriors tied it at 11 with four straight points. The Anteaters regained the advantage but finally gave up the lead at 20-19 after a service ace by Nejc Zemljak. Trailing 22-21, Hawai'i scored four straight capped by a Walker kill and sided out to finish the set at 30-26.

 

In Set 2, the Warriors again had to rally from an early deficit before tying the score at 12. From there, UH took control with a 7-0 run. UCI pulled to within 20-19 but the Warriors extended their lead back to 26-21 with the help of four straight Anteater hitting errors. However, Irvine rallied again and held off two set points to tie it at 29. On UH's fourth set point, Umlauft ended it at 32-30.

 

The Anteaters again led for the first half of Set 3 taking a 15-14 lead at the mid-way point. Back-to-back hitting errors by Clark gave UH a 20-18 advantage but the Anteaters responded with six straight points for a 24-20 lead. Irvine held on to that lead and finished off the Warriors 30-26.

 

With momentum on its side, UCI broke through in Set 4 taking a 15-12 lead and extending it to 24-17. The Warriors had no answer and fell, 30-20.

 

The Warriors continue their five-week homestand by hosting UCLA, Thursday, Feb. 4 and Friday, Feb. 5 at the Stan Sheriff Center.