HONOLULU – The University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team posted its ninth consecutive straight-set victory and extended its set win streak to a program-record 29 Friday against No. 8 Stanford in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-22, 25-17, 25-22.
The teams play again on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
The Rainbow Warriors (19-2, 9-2 MPSF) also extended their overall win streak to 14 and home win streak to 18, one shy of tying the program mark.
Sophomore opposite Stijn van Tilburg was nearly unstoppable with a match-high 21 kills, hitting a remarkable .515. The Amsterdam native also recorded one ace, four digs, and three blocks while posting his fourth career 20-kill match.
No other Warrior reached double figures in kills, however, UH’s two middles – Hendrik Mol (6) andPatrick Gasman (5) combined for 11 kills and five blocks, hitting .588. Setter Jennings Franciskovicdished out 42 assists and led the Warriors to a team hitting percentage of .370.
‘Iolani School grad Gabriel Vega had 11 kills to lead the Cardinal (11-8, 6-6) while Kamehameha Schools-Hawai’i alum Evan Enriques added 10 digs.
The Warriors opened Set 1 with a three-point lead but that quickly vanished as the Cardinal led 16-13. But UH used a 7-1 run to recapture the lead and closed out the set with back-to-back kills by van Tilburg.
Hawai’i led 13-9 in Set 2 after a 5-1 run which included a thundering kill by van Tilburg. The lead stretched to 18-13 and the Warriors out-scored the Cardinal 7-3 en route to a 25-17 victory. UH tallied three blocks and two aces in the frame.
In a back-and-forth Set 3, UH tied it at 20 after van Tilburg’s 19th kill. The teams traded points beforeKupono Fey stuffed Clay Jones one-on-one giving the Warriors a 23-22 lead. Van Tilburg’s 21st kill got the crowd on its feet for aloha ball and the Vega has ruled across the 10-foot line on a kill attempt to end it.
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