Hawaii beats UC Irvine in Big West final, will go for NCAA 3-peat

IRVINE, Calif. >> Two-time defending national champion Hawaii secured its opportunity to make it three in a row with a four-set win over UC Irvine in the championship match of the Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship today at the Bren Events Center.

UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias led the Rainbow Warriors (28-2) with 17 kills, and his serve on match point set up Chaz Galloway’s kill on a joust at the net to close out the 25-18, 21-25, 25-13, 25-22 win before a raucous crowd of 4,064 in the 5,000-seat arena.

UH captured its second straight Big West Tournament title and the program’s third in the event’s five-year history.

Galloway finished with 13 kills in a .417 hitting performance and middle blocker Cole Hogland went 7-for-7 offensively and was in on eight of UH’s season-high 17 blocks.

UH setter Jakob Thelle was named the tournament MVP after directing an attack that hit .330. The senior finished with 47 assists, two kills and five block assists, and the Warriors earned the Big West’s automatic bid to the National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship in Fairfax, Va.

UC Irvine (18-11) will hope to receive one of the two at-large berths into the seven-team field. The bracket will be revealed at 7 a.m. Sunday on the tournament’s selection show on NCAA.com. Long Beach State is also hopeful of an at-large spot.

Hilir Henno led UC Irvine with 17 kills and opposite Francesco Sani finished with 13 kills against 11 errors and the Anteaters hit .160 as a team.

Henno, the NCAA leader with 86 aces, forced a tight pass on his first delivery, then landed the first ace of the match into the middle of the court to give UCI a 6-3 lead. Mouchlias answered for UH two points later and the Warriors edged ahead 11-10 on back-to-back aces by Chakas.

UH serving specialist Keoni Thiim also delivered consecutive aces in a five-point service turn that highlighted a 14-3 UH run and the Warriors led 22-13 when Mouchlias put away his fourth kill of the set. Three UCI blocks fueled a 5-1 run late in the set, but Voss and Chakas teamed up on UH’s first block of the night to end the set.

UH led 12-10 in the second set when Sani tapped down his sixth kill of the match, drilled a serve leading to a UH error, then fired an ace to push the Anteaters ahead. A block by Thelle and Voss on Sani tied the set at 19-19, but two successful UCI challenges were part of a 6-1 UCI run to end the set. Cole Gillis, who sat out the first two matches of the tournament, served up an ace during the run and Connor Campbell’s solo block evened the match.

After dropping a set for the first time in 11 road matches this season, the Warriors responded with an 8-0 run to open the third set. With Thelle on the service line, Chakas teamed with Voss on a block and finished off two rallies extended by the Warriors’ floor defense. The Warriors maintained control and closed the set with a 5-1 run that included an ace from Galloway, UH’s 11th block and Thelle’s first kill. Kana’i Akana forced an overpass and Chakas’ kill off the block gave UH the set and the lead in the match.

The Warriors and Anteaters traded runs early in the fourth set and UH took a 15-12 lead when Hogland combined with Galloway on a block and tapped down his sixth kill in as many attempts. Sani tied the set at 21-21 with an ace, and after the teams traded aces, Mouchlias scored to give UH the lead. He then came up with a diving dig, leading to a Galloway kill to give UH set point and the duo combined to put away match point.

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