ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Wahine play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the previous week for the Bows

1 – Sweet Series Sweep. 11 of the 19 players weren’t on the roster last year when #WarriorBall24 saw their season come to an end at home during the semifinal round of the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2024 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championships. For the eight that were, revenge wasn’t on their mind nor was there reminders from the coaching staff about what happened…at least publicly. They let their play do the talking over the course of the minimum six sets played as two of the top four teams in the country opened up Big West Conference play. As UH hit 20 in every single set, they found different ways to finish each set and take control of the match lead before winning each match. Winning 3-0 on night one set the tone for the series and also provided a little bit of retribution against the team that ended their season a year ago. Taking the second match also by a 3-0 match score, gave Hawai`i a very nice start to conference play. Sweeping the series not only gives UH any tiebreakers there might be with UCI down the road, but the dominant and impressive performances are also nice bullet points on the Hawai`i resume come NCAA Selection Sunday in April.

2 – Night Two Adjustments. The team that typically loses the first match of a series will make more adjustments ahead of the second, doing whatever they can to earn a series split. While UC Irvine kept its same lineup from the first night, it was Hawai`i looked better on night two as both the team and individuals made adjustments. The French duo took turns dominating the left side pin throughout the weekend. While Adrien Roure was offensively efficient on night 1 (9-1-15,.533), Louis Sakanoko (5-5-16,.000) was slowed down by the Anteaters. The all-around game of Roure was on display with two aces, eight digs and 17-for-18 on serve receive. Sakanoko didn’t let the slow offensive night get to him as he ended set 2 with an ace and added two digs. While UC Irvine adjusted to Roure (3-3-13,.000) on night two, there was no stopping Sakanoko (12-1-25,.440, two aces and six blocks). If both Frenchmen are going off in the same match, it will be scary good for UH. The team adjustment by UH came more defensively into night two. After UC Irvine won the block category on night one 8.5 to 4.5 (7 of those 8.5 came in set 2), UH dominated the net en route to an 11-5.5 advantage. Blocks were well-formed and while the reigning Player of the Year (both Nationally and in the Big West) Hilir Henno got his (13 kills, .407 on night one and 17 kills, .433 for night two), the others were slowed down by Hawai`i.

3 – Oh My Todd. We knew coming into the Irvine week that Justin Todd would play a role in the matches. How much of a role and at what time during the series he would see the court was undetermined. But given his fifth and sixth starts of the season, Todd didn’t disappoint. Standing at 6’8 and with a jump touch over 12’0,” he could hang and be in the airspaces of Nolan Flexan (6’9”), Will D’Arcy (6’10”) and even Henno (6’8”). The one-time Moanalua pin hitter went career in night one, going 8-of-10 without an error to hit .800 and added in a block. His net presence picked up on night two as he was in on five (one solo) of the 11 team blocks. Offensively efficient again, Todd was 6-1-9 to hit .556. For the weekend, he scored 14 kills on 19 swings with just one hitting error. 13 of his 14 serves were kept in play as well. Not bad for a player in this position for the first time in his career.

4 – Closing Time Scoring Runs. Once you hit 20 in a set, the mentality of “coffee’s for closers” kicks in. Teams may practice it with different game-like scenarios, but the general theme of closing sets is always on display during a practice session. Though it was a 3-0 sweep, the first match was a tight one, decided by a total of nine total points (25-21, 26-24, 25-22). With the first set tied at 19, Finn Kearny went on a mini serving run to gain separation as UH ended it on a 6-2 extended run for the early match lead. As UCI led the second set 23-21 and was serving for the set at 24-23, the Bows found a way again. Siding out to force a deuce set, Louis Sakanoko came back in (after being subbed out due to a few hitting errors) and served the final two points for the 26-24 win and the commanding 2-0 match lead. With UH leading 22-21 in set 3, the Bows scored three of the final four points to win the set and take the match. Night two saw UC Irvine take a 19-16 lead in set 1 before UH made yet another comeback. A 9-3 close put UH in front 1-0 in the match after winning the set 25-22. Leading 17-15 in set 2, the Bows had another closing run in them, this time it was an 8-4 extended run to win the set 25-19 and go up in the match 2-0. After UH tied the third set at 1, Roure went on a service run to give the Bows a 7-2 cushion and that early lead was the point difference in the set. Despite multiple seven-point leads, UH eventually won the frame 25-20 and for the second time in three nights against UC Irvine, the Bows won 3-0. A statement series sweep for the Bows to open conference play. Coffee was brewing for Hawai`i at the end of each set over the series this past weekend.

5 – 5 + 10 = Dynamic Duo. Two of the four reigning Conference Players of the Week (Kristian Titriyski-Freshman and `Eleu Choy-Defensive) stood out once again in their opposite and libero positions all throughout the UC Irvine series. Making a very strong case for both Big West Offensive AND AVCA National Player of the Week accolades, Titriyski put together yet another solid weekend against another top 5 opponent. What began night one with seven kills on nine errorless swings in set one ended with a match-high 17 kills to hit .281, while adding two aces and two blocks. Efficiency was the name of the Bulgarian’s game on night two as he went 19-3-28,.571 and added six digs along with four blocks. That’s 36 kills on the weekend, an average of six per set. As he more than held his own offensively and carried the UH load both nights, UH’s libero was all over the taraflex frustrating the UC Irvine offense. While UCI hit .316 in night one, Choy scored double-digit digs for a second consecutive match, this time with 10 as UH out-dug UCI 29-23. Irvine came in leading the BWC with 8.76 digs per set. Two nights later, Choy once again led UH in digs, this time with nine. For the series, he also added three assists and was 46-of-51 on serve receive against some real tough Anteater servers that included the UCI all-time ace leader (Hilir Henno). Averaging two aces per set coming into the series, the Anteaters recorded 10 over the six sets played.

6 – 🤙🏻 #WarriorNation. One of the hottest tickets in town has been to catch Hawai`i Men’s Volleyball in action. They led the nation last year (averaging 6,297 per home contest) and this year it’s up to 6,552 per match. While lower campus was uber busy with three home games starting within 65 minutes of one another (6:00 pm for Softball, 6:35 pm for Baseball and 7:05 for Men’s Volleyball), it was Men’s Volleyball shining yet again. Night one of the UCI series saw #WarriorBall25 draw over 7,000 fans for a second time this season (7,024). Two nights later and not competing with Baseball as they ended roughly an hour before first serve, the Bows hosted their second consecutive crowd north of 7,000 (7,220) for the Sunday match. Family night coupled with youth volleyball night, #PackTheStan became #PackedTheStan as it was loud throughout the entire match. With more Friday and now Saturday home matches on the horizon, expect some even larger crowds and who knows, there might be a sellout…or two…or maybe even three.

*Congratulations to Kristian Titriyski (Big West Offensive and Freshman Player of the Week), `Eleu Choy (Big West Defensive Player of the Week) and Tread Rosenthal (Big West Setter of the Week) as the awards came out Monday afternoon prior the posting of the takeaways.