Hawaii beats Penn State in 5, goes for 3-peat against UCLA

Jason Kaneshiro, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
·3 min read

May 5—The Warriors (29-2 ) will face top-seeded UCLA for the national championship on Saturday.

FAIRFAX, Va.—Hawaii opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias put away a season-high 25 kills, setter Jakob Thelle delivered the final kill of the night and the Rainbow Warrior volleyball team's quest for a three-peat survived a five-set duel with Penn State in the semifinals of the National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship today at EagleBank Arena.

The Warriors (29-2 ) will face top-seeded UCLA for the national championship on Saturday. The Bruins rolled to a 25-16, 25-14, 25-19 sweep of Long Beach State in today's first semifinal match.

Mouchlias hit. 364 in his 44 attempts, outside hitter Chaz Galloway posted a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs, and UH weathered a Penn State bombardment from the service line to advance with the 25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 23-25, 15-10 win.

Penn State outside hitter Brett Wildman fired seven of the Nittany Lions' 12 aces and Penn State's five in the third set turned the momentum of the match until UH jumped out to an early lead in the fifth.

After an even start, Wildman fired back-to-back aces in a four-point service turn that gave the Nittany Lions a 13-9 lead in Set 1.—PHOTOS :

Penn State maintained a four-point cushion at 15-11 when the Warriors flipped the momentum with a 12-2 surge highlighted by four blocks and led 23-17 when Voss and Mouchlias denied Fisher. The run also included Kana'i Akana's ace off the tape that tied the set at 16-16, and Thelle went on a seven-point service turn.

Penn State held off two set points, the second on Wildman's third ace, but Galloway closed out the set with his third kill in four swings.

A tight second set was tied 15-15 on a Fisher ace and UH took a 19-18 lead when Galloway scored. After Mouchlias ended a rally to push UH ahead 21-19, he went back to the service line and forced an overpass that Cole Hogland hammered.

After Hawaii went up 23-20, Penn State closed to 23-22, but the Warriors traded sideouts and took a two-set lead when Fisher's serve landed beyond the end line.

Mouchlias had three more kills in the first four points of the third set, giving him 15 for the match. But Wildman went wild from the service line, with three aces in a five-point run and the Nittany Lions led 9-5 when Toby Ezeonu's serve hit the net cord and fell.

Ezeonu's second ace of the set gave Penn State 10 for the match and the Nittany Lions, who haven't been swept this season, pulled away to send the match to the fourth.

Mouchlias put away four more kills and UH jumped out to an 8-3 lead. A UH service error and three attack errors aided a 6-1 Penn State run and the Nittany Lions pulled ahead 14-11 when Fisher delivered another Penn State ace off the tape.

UH rallied to tie the set at 15-15 when Voss and Mouchlias teamed up on UH's seventh block. Mouchlias tied the set at 20-20 and a block by Thelle and Voss pushed UH ahead 21-20. Penn State answered with a tying block followed by Mouchlias' 25th kill. But Fisher then put away three kills in a 4-1 Penn State run to close out the set and send the match to the fifth.

Spyros Chakas delivered UH's second ace of the match and scored out of the back row on a scramble to give the Warriors a 4-1 lead in the race to 15. The lead stretched to 8-3 when Mouchlias curled in another ace and UH went up 10-5 on Penn State's fourth service error of the set.

A Chakas kill out of the back row gave UH match point and Thelle scored off a touch to trigger the UH celebration.