No. 1 Hawaiʻi brought a lively show to the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center Friday as they defeated Long Island University in a 25-18, 25-13, 25-16 match. Even with Long Island putting up a fight, the Warriors had control of each set and solidified Hawaiʻi’s 26th straight home match victory.
LIU managed to keep Hawaiʻi at bay with a 3-3 tie at the beginning of the first set, but UH quickly pulled away to 7-4. A 5-0 run from the Warriors brought them to an even larger lead in a 13-6 play. Another 22-14 advantage was earned by Hawaiʻi before Chaz Galloway ended the first set in a kill at 25-18.
UH kicked off the second set in a 2-0 lead, but LIU quickly salvaged a 4-4 draw. An impressive save from Cole Hogland led to a kill by Spyros Chakas, eventually giving Hawai’i a 11-6 lead in a 4-0 run before taking off to a 15-8 advantage. With UH having total control of the set, Cole Hogland helped the team pull away to an easy 25-13 win with a service ace.
A solo block by Dimitrios Mouchlias gave Hawaiʻi a quick point to start off the third set. Despite a service ace from Long Island to push UH down to a 4-3 deficit, Hawaiʻi carried themselves through to a 8-4 play. Leading 18-12, the Warriors gave the Sharks little room to catch up and ultimately swept them after a 25-16 third set.
Spyros Chakas ended the match with 10 kills and 3 blocks, followed by eight kills from Dimitrios Mouchlias, who hit .417.
Livan Moreno was also LIU’s top scorer, recording six kills.
“We’re already halfway through the season; it’s going by quick,” Chakas commented as he reflected on the season so far for Hawaiʻi. “We’ve got good games ahead of us, so I think getting better at everything is going to help us going forward.”
The Hawaiʻi men’s volleyball team will return to take on No. 7 Pepperdine on Wednesday, Mar. 1 at the Stan Sheriff Center at 7 p.m.