Box Score

HONOLULU – In a marathon match that seemed like it would never end, the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team out-lasted fourth-ranked BYU, 30-17, 28-30, 31-33, 30-28, 15-10 Friday night in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at the Stan Sheriff Center.

 

The match lasted three hours and six minutes, marking the third time this season, UH (9-5, 5-4 MPSF) surpassed three hours in length. The match was also the Warriors' fourth five-setter this season and third win.

 

A trio of Warriors led the way. Freshman Jonas Umlauft, junior Joshua Walker, and sophomore Steven Hunt each tallied 19 kills. Senior middle blocker Matthew Rawson added 10 kills and nine blocks.

 

As a team, the Warriors hit .281 and had a season-high 18 blocks. More importantly, UH had six service aces while the BYU had zero.

 

Robb Stowell led four Cougars in double figure kills with 18. Andrew Steward added 15 kills and 13 digs while Kaua'i High graduate Futi Tavana recorded 14 kills and six blocks.

 

The Warriors dominated the net in Set 1. After a 12-12 tie, UH scored three straight for a 15-12 lead and pushed their lead to 20-16 before setter Nejc Zemljak went back to serve. The junior scored nine straight points – with aces to start and end the 9-0 run. During that span the Warriors blocked four Cougar kill attempts with Rawson was in on all four. 

 

In Set 2, the teams traded side-outs until 13-13 when the Cougars took a two point lead. BYU (9-5, 7-4) extended its lead to 24-19, forcing UH head coach Charlie Wade to exhaust both timeouts. The Warriors scored the next four points, highlighted by three straight Walker kills and finally caught the Cougars at 26 with kills by Walker and Umlauft. BYU's Andrew Stewart pounded back to back kills for a 28-26 lead and the Cougars took the set when Umlauft was stuffed by Stewart and Tavana.

 

Set 3 was much like the first two as the teams traded leads through the first part of the game. The Warriors regained the lead at 25-24 after a pair of Cougar hitting errors. BYU tied it at 27 and stuffed Hunt for a 28-27 lead. The Warriors responded with kills by Umlauft and Hunt for their first set point at 29-28. BYU fended off two set points before winning it on its second try at 33-31 when Stewart pounded his 11^th kill.

 

With momentum on BYU's side, the Warriors jumped out to a 13-10 lead but a kill by Stewart and two straight hitting errors by Hunt tied the score at 13. Moments later, UH scored three straight on kills by Rawson and Walker and a block by Umlauft and pushed its lead to as much as five at 23-18. The Cougars closed to within 26-24 and after an Umlauft error, BYU trailed by one at 27-26. Umlauft was blocked to tie the set at 28 but the Warriors closed out the set with a kill by Hunt and a BYU setting error.

 

In the fifth and deciding set, the Warriors got the early advantage at 5-2 but a pair of costly hitting errors by UH tied the score at 5. Hawai'i quickly answered back with four straight points for an 11-6 lead. The Cougars pulled to within 11-8 but the Warriors sided out and ended it with a kill by Hunt, block by Grgas, and Walker kill.

 

The teams play again on Saturday at Maui's War Memorial Gym. The game is a sell-out at the 2,500-seat facility. First serve is 5:05 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN 1420AM.