HONOLULU – The No. 12 University of Hawai'i Warrior volleyball team (1-1) dropped a tough five-set match to the No. 5 Penn State Nittany Lions (1-1) 26-30, 30-26, 30-23, 28-30 and 15-9 in front of a crowd of 3,233 in the second night of the Outrigger Hotels Invitational at the Stan Sheriff Center Friday.

Joshua Walker finished off with a team-high 22 kills and three blocks while Jonas Umlauft had 19 kills and two aces. Matt Rawson had 13 kills and seven blocks while Nejc Zemljak posted 60 assists and two aces. Ric Cervantes also added 12 digs to lead UH, defensively.

After the Warriors jumped out to an 3-1 edge, the two teams traded a bunch of sideouts to keep it a one-to-two point difference. Zemljak broke the stalemate by serving a four-point run, putting UH ahead 11-6. The Nittany Lions made a three-point run to cut it back to 21-19. A couple kills by Umlauft got it to 24-20, only to see another 3-0 PSU run get it to 24-23. Penn State kept it tight until a late three-point run, capped by an ace by Walker, ended it 30-26. Rawson came out firing in the first set, hitting .800 with four kills and four blocks.

The second set started out close with a 5-1 Nittany Lion run putting Penn State ahead 13-11. Hawai'i later answered with a 6-1 spurt to take a 20-17 edge. UH kept the 23-20 advantage before a big 5-0 run by PSU flipped the score to 25-23. The scores stayed tight until Penn State made one final push, scoring the last three points to take the set 30-26.

Penn State used an early 6-2 run to go ahead 14-9 to start the third set. The Nittany Lions later added a four-point run to get it to 18-11. PSU controlled the rest of the way, taking the set 30-23.

The Nittany Lions erased an early Hawai'i lead with a quick 3-0 run to push ahead 10-8. UH came back to tie the score on seven different occasions before a couple of big blocks by Rawson gave the Warriors the lead back at 21-20. Rawson later added an ace to get the UH lead to 24-22 before PSU scored three straight to take the lead back at 25-24.  But Hawai'i had the answer, as Umlauft had two aces in a crucial 4-0 run that got the Warriors the 28-25 lead. Penn State pulled back within a point on a couple occasions before a big kill by Walker ended the fourth set 30-28.

After the two teams traded sideouts to start the fifth set, Penn State posted back-to-back blocks to cap a 4-0 run that put them ahead 5-2. UH pulled back to within a point before a critical 4-1 run later in the set put Penn State ahead 11-7. Hawai'i would get a couple more sideouts before the Nittany Lions put it away by the final of 15-9.

The invitational concludes tomorrow with the final two matches. No. 10 Ohio State faces Penn State at 4 p.m. before the Warriors meet the top-ranked Southern California Trojans in the finale at 7 p.m.

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