Penn State advances to challenge Hawaii in NCAA men’s volleyball tournament

The second-seeded Hawaii men’s volleyball team finally knows its opponent for the quarterfinals of the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship.

The Rainbow Warriors will face a familiar foe in EIVA champion Penn State, which swept Northeast Conference champion Daemen 25-23, 25-21, 25-22 in a first-round, play-in match on Friday in Amherst, N.Y.

HawaiI (26-5) will play the Nittany Lions (15-15) in the second quarterfinal match at Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday at 7:30 a.m.

The Rainbow Warriors needed just 1 hour, 40 minutes, to sweep the Nittany Lions during the Outrigger Invitational in March, 25-13, 25-23, 25-12.

Freshman outside hitter Adrien Roure hit .636 — a season high for a match in which he took more than two swings — and finished with 15 kills, seven digs and four block assists.

The Nittany Lions were 11-15 and seeded third entering the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association tournament before sweeping all three of their opponents, including Princeton in the final, to earn the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

Penn State has won 15 consecutive sets since suffering a four-set loss to Princeton on April 18.

Sophomore pin hitter Matthew Luoma had 13 kills and hit .310 to lead Penn State in its win over the Wildcats on Friday.

Lioma hit minus-.111 in the loss to the ’Bows.

Hawaii returns to the Ohio State campus for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since it won its first national championship in 2021.

Head coach Charlie Wade was named the Big West Coach of the Year this week after three of his players — Roure, setter Tread Rosenthal and opposite Kristian Titriyski — were named to the All-Big West Conference first team.

UH is making its 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Hawaii advanced to four straight NCAA national finals before missing the tournament outright last season.

The semifinals will take place a week from today and the championship match is set for May 12 at 1 p.m.