No. 2 Hawaii tops No. 8 UCSB to remain unbeaten in Big West
· Yahoo Sports
On a night it wasn’t at its best offensively, No. 2 Hawaii used the service line to stay undefeated in Big West volleyball.
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Justin Todd, Louis Sakanoko and Adrien Roure all had three aces and Todd’s all came in the final four points of the first set of the Rainbow Warriors’ 25-23, 25-18, 19-25, 25-22 victory over No. 8 UC Santa Barbara on Friday at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 6,831 watched Hawaii (20-3, 3-0) clinch its 15th 20-win season in program history and record its 400th victory at the Stan.
Todd, who is third on the team with 23 aces this season, helped Hawaii close the first set on a 5-0 run to win it by two points.
Without that service run, the match might have had a different outcome, according to coach Charlie Wade.
“For sure,” Wade said emphatically. “(Todd) didn’t make solid contact on any of them, but they all count the same. He put it in play and that’s his job at that point.”
Todd, who has come up big at the service line for UH multiple times this season, said he tried something different during that service turn.
“One of (the serves) I was tossing a little bit behind me, and so I noticed that and I like to do a cut shot when I toss it behind me and I got an ace there, so I was like, I’ll just do it again,” Todd said. “Charlie has been giving me a lot of trust back there, going into the last couple of points, and I’ve been proving myself in those moments.”
Sophomore opposite Kristian Titriyski put down a match-high 18 kills and Sakanoko added 13 to lead Hawaii offensively.
George Bruening had 15 kills to lead the Gauchos (11-8, 2-2), who are just the second team to finish with a higher hitting percentage (.240) than Hawaii (.219) in a match this season.
“Am I concerned about the hitting? A little bit,” Wade said. “Some of it was bad choices, some of it was bad location, but we come into the match leading the nation in kills per set and hitting percentage, so hard to get a little pressing the panic button when we’ve been so good offensively. I think we will be better (today).”
Todd also had five kills and was in on seven of Hawaii’s 10.5 blocks.
Titriyski recorded the first double-double of his career with a career-high 12 digs.
“I had more digs than kills in the first set for the first time in my life,” Titriyski said. “I didn’t do anything special. I just was standing where I needed to stand and the ball was coming at me.”
Setter Tread Rosenthal finished with a match-high 44 assists and passed Lyman Lacro for sixth on UH’s career assists list with 3,048.
The Gauchos could have really made things interesting if they closed out a 23-20 lead in the first set.
Titriyski powered his sixth kill of the set off the block and the antenna to send Todd to the service line, and the redshirt sophomore did the rest.
Todd’s first ace bounced high off the chest of libero Joe Wallace, prompting the Gauchos to use their first timeout.
Sakanoko tied the set with a kill off the touch of a triple block and then Todd drilled his second ace to give UH set point.
After UC Santa Barbara called its second timeout, Todd hit one off the top of the tape and down to the floor to give Hawaii the opening set.
Roure continued Hawaii’s assault from the service line with three straight aces in the second set to put UH ahead 16-11.
Sakanoko served Hawaii’s seventh ace of the match, and Hawaii closed with three straight points to go up two sets to none.
“Our serving really bailed us out,” Wade said.
The teams play again tonight at 7.