By: Tiff Wells
As the cool kids say, it’s been a minute. After a season-long 5-week homestand, the Bows hit the road for four straight matches. After holding down the top spot in the polls for 13 consecutive weeks dating back to last season, the Bows dropped a spot to No. 2 in the latest AVCA Top 15 Coaches Poll. With their RPI holding firm at five, all eyes for UH this week focused on CSUN. A team that has been up (two wins over Stanford) and down (losses to Vanguard and Daemen) this season with a first-year Head Coach, UH understood the assignment of needing to continue their overall good play and not let the ranking nor record of its opponent dictate their level of play.
A back-and-forth opening set that feature a lot of offense and not a lot of separation (16 ties, six lead changes), the Rainbow Warriors eventually strung together a couple of points late in the frame to win it 25-22 and lead the match 1-0. The top offense in the Big West Conference hit .440 (14-3-25) in the set, led by four kills each from Chaz Galloway and Spyros Chakas. With a good crowd supporting the team on the road, UH put on a show in Set 2. It was such a good show that early on in Set 2, there was a stoppage in play because all three volleyballs being used weren’t properly inflated. What was a 7-all score in the set turned to a rout as UH closed on an extended 18-7 run to win 25-14 and lead the match 2-0. If you thought .440 was good, try UH’s .609 (15-1-23) performance. CSUN had no answer defensively for the Bows’ well-rounded offense. A 4-1 lead ballooned into a 17-9 advantage. CSUN got it to within four (21-17) before UH closed out their 7th-straight win in the series with a 25-18 victory. A season-high offensive night for UH (34-5-57) as they hit .478 for the match, their 10th time this season hitting .400 or better. Chaz Galloway has elevated his game and looks more comfortable as for the third-straight match, he recorded double-digit kills (team high 12). All five attackers for UH hit .375 or better, while Keoni Thiim unleashed 11 total serves throughout the contest without a service error.
Typically in a 2-match series, UH does tend to play better on the second. Crazy to think how much better could they be after hitting a season-high .478. Adjustments are made and typically the team that loses the first night comes out with more fire as they want to earn a split in the series and not lose both matches. The Rainbow Warriors have also done a good job at slowing down the number one offensive option of their opponent, this case being CSUN’s Kyle Hobus. Hobus in night one had 12 kills and hit .226. In night two, Hobus had eight kills and hit -.097. Night one was UH’s offense. The second night was about the defense. To a tune of a season-high 13 total team blocks and out-digging CSUN 29-24 as well. Outside of 1-0 deficits in Sets 1 and 2, UH never trailed the rest of the way. Five Dimitrios Mouchlias’ kills and four kills from Chaz Galloway paved the way for a 25-17 victory and 1-0 match lead. Set 2 on night 1, UH hit .609 (15-1-23). Could it get better in Set 2? You bet! The Bows went 15-0-21 to hit .714 as a 9-8 lead turned into a 21-14 advantage before winning the Set 25-18. Despite having just seven kills in Set 3 and hitting .192, UH held CSUN to a -.182 hitting percentage as a 10-2 lead paved the way to a 25-15 Set 3 victory and another 3-0 match win.
Seven road matches played, seven road matches won. All by 3-0 set scores. For the fifth time under Head Coach Charlie Wade and 12th in program history, Hawai`i has itself a 20-win season. 11 blocks for Guilherme Voss in the six sets played as the Bows defeated the Matadors for the eighth-straight time. With only three teams in action this past week (UH, LBSU and CSUN), look for UH to get at least one of the three weekly conference awards. Now at 20-2 overall, 3-1 in Big West play, UH heads home on Sunday only to head back to the road for their final conference regular season road-trip, this time to UC Santa Barbara. The unranked Gauchos (5-13, 1-4) have lost two-straight and have struggled this season. With UH transfer Jack Walmer running the offense and Ryan Wilcox leading the way offensively, the Gauchos would like nothing more than to spoil UH’s perfect road record this season. Matches Friday and Saturday at UCSB (Rob Gym) can be heard on ESPN Honolulu, coverage beginning at 3:45pm HT, 6:45pm PT. Hope to see you there and hope to see you at Call The Coach with Charlie Wade this coming Tuesday, 6:30pm at Ruby Tuesday Moanalua. Call or text in your questions.
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