Men’s Volleyball Advances to Big West Final; Wade Sets Wins Record

HONOLULU — The University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team battled past UC Irvine and gave head coach Charlie Wade a record-breaking victory with a four-set win in the semifinals of the OUTRIGGER Big West Championship on Friday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
 
UH freshman Adrien Roure put away a season-high 18 kills to lead the second-seeded Rainbow Warriors to the 25-21, 15-25, 25-21, 25-23 win in UH’s third victory over the Anteaters this season.
 
UH’s win set up a showdown with top-seeded Long Beach State for the Big West title on Saturday at 7 p.m. UH (25-5) and Long Beach State (27-2) split their regular-season series on April 11 and 12 before two sellout crowds at SimpliFi Arena. The Beach won the first meeting in four sets and the Warriors claimed the rematch in five. UH and LBSU will meet in the final for the fourth time since the Big West Championship was established in 2018.
 
UH earned a spot in the final by avenging a semifinal loss to the Anteaters (21-7) in last year’s Big West Championship and Wade picked up his 317^th win to become the program’s all-time leader in head coaching victories. He passed the record held by Mike Wilton since 2009 and enters Saturday’s match with a career record of 317-129 in 16 seasons.
 

 
Roure posted his highest kill total of the season while hitting .441 with just three errors in 34 attempts and helped close out the win with eight kills on 11 attacks in the fourth set. Fellow freshman Finn Kearney added 10 kills in 25 swings and had two of UH’s eight aces.
 
Middle blocker Kurt Nusterer continued his late-season surge with six kills on 11 swings and was in on seven blocks. Louis Sakanoko set a career high with seven blocks, surpassing the previous best of six in UH’s meeting with UCI on March 2.
 
Setter Tread Rosenthal distributed 40 assists for a UH offense that hit .306 and also had two aces and seven digs.
 
The Warriors held off a UC Irvine attack led by Nolan Flexen’s 15 kills on .333 hitting and Hilir Henno’s six aces.
 
Both teams got off to an erratic start offensively and three early blocks helped the Warriors move ahead. Roure landed an ace just inside the endline to give UH a 15-13 lead midway through the opening set. Kai Taylor and Kearney fired aces in a 4-1 UH run that prompted a UC Irvine timeout with the Warriors up 19-15. UCI closed to 20-19 on back-to-back aces, but UH reclaimed control with a 3-0 run and Nusterer’s third block gave the Warriors set point. Kearney then closed out the set with kill off a touch.
 

 
Rosenthal opened the second set with back-to-back aces, but UC Irvine went on a six-point run to take control and took a set against UH for the first time in three meetings this season. The Warriors thrilled the crowd with a rally highlighted by a save off Rosenthal’s foot that set up a kill from Roure. But UC Irvine continued to pull away and hit .538 in the set with 14 kills without an error to even the match.
 
UH took a 16-10 lead in the third set on a block by Justin Todd followed by Taylor’s second ace. UCI went on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to one and caught the Warriors at 19-19 on a Henno ace. Rosenthal put down a kill then forced an overpass from the service line to set up a kill by Nusterer. The Warriors traded sideouts and a diving save by Nusterer set up a kill by Kearney to give UH set point. Kearney finished off another rally to close out the set.
 

 
Sakanoko broke a 12-12 tie in the fourth set with a kill and a block in a 4-0 UH run. UH led 18-14 when Rosenthal sent back a block on Henno’s swing before UCI answered again with Henno’s sixth ace closing the gap to 20-18. UH continued to fend off the Anteaters and Roure’s 18^th kill gave UH match point at 24-22. A UCI service error ended the match and sent the Warriors into the final.

In Friday’s first semifinal, No. 1 seed Long Beach State swept UC San Diego 25-18, 25-23, 25-17. The Beach hit .400 as team in advancing to the championship match for the fifth time in seven years.

 

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