Box Score

HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team clinched a spot into the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs with a 30-28, 30-28, 30-27 victory over UC San Diego Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Warriors (17-8, 13-7 MPSF) snapped a two-year playoff drought with the straight set victory on Senior Night. Following the match, UH paid tribute to six seniors – Justin Ching, Ernie Vidinha, Joseph Strotman, Steven Grgas, Matthew Rawson, and Ric Cervantes – during the traditional Senior Night ceremony.

Outside hitter Joshua Walker led the way with a match-high 17 kills on .448 hitting. Opposite Jonas Umlauft, who struggled for much of the night, hit negative for the first two sets and finished with 15 kills at a .162 clip.

As a team, the Warriors hit .273 and accounted for nine service aces, several of which occurred at the opportune time as UH needed to rally in all three sets.

Carl Eberts, Jason Spangler, and Frank Fritsch each notched 11 kills for the Tritons (8-17, 4-14).

In Set 1, the Tritons led 10-4 before the Warriors mounted a comeback, eventually taking a 16-15 lead. Moments later, UH rallied with three straight points for a 23-22 lead. At 28-28, UH pulled out the set with a Triton service error and Grgas' solo block on Jason Spangler. The Warriors won despite hitting only .171 and Umlauft hitting .000 with five kills and five errors.

The Tritons grabbed a 17-14 advantage midway through Set 2. UCSD led 25-22 before the Warriors tied it following a kill by Umlauft and consecutive hitting errors by Calvin Ross. UH tied it again at 28 after a block by Zemljak and Grgas and an ace by Vidinha and ended it after a Triton hitting error.

UCSD raced out to a 6-1 lead in Set 3. The Tritons led for the better part of the game until Umlauft's ace gave the Warriors a 25-24 lead. UCSD served away two points on service errors giving UH a 27-26 lead. Hawai'i's big block came up huge as Dyer stuffed Spangler and Rawson and Walker teamed for a block on Fritsch giving the Warriors match point. Rawson's sixth kill ended it.

The Warriors will host their annual alumni match next Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center. An alumni vs. alumni match begins at 5:00 p.m. while the Warriors will face the alumni at 7:00 p.m.