No. 1 Hawaii completes series sweep of Concordia University Irvine

‘Eleu Choy’s dazzling defense electrified the crowd and No. 1 Hawaii’s men’s volleyball stretched its winning streak to 20 with a sweep of Concordia University Irvine tonight at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Choy, a Farrington graduate, popped up a career-high 11 often spectacular digs and the Rainbow Warriors (11-0) completed a series sweep of the Golden Eagles (4-7) with a 25-20, 25-19, 25-19 win before a crowd of 4,078.

With Jakob Thelle again sitting out the match, Brett Sheward started at setter with Choy at libero for the second straight night.

Sheward distributed 36 assists for an attack that hit .382, with outside hitter Spyros Chakas putting away a match-high 14 kills on .462 hitting. Opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias added 10 kills on 17 attacks and outside hitter Chaz Galloway rebounded after a rough start to finish with 11 kills.

UH and CUI traded sideouts for most of the first set until Galloway’s solo block of Uriel Batista gave the Warriors a bit of separation at 20-17. UH closed with a 3-0 run, with Chakas putting down his sixth and seventh kills to end the set.

UH opened the second set with a 10-2 run triggered by Guilherme Voss’ solo block. Chakas’ ace gave UH a 5-0 lead and later in the run Choy dove for a pancake dig to save a shot off the UH block and Chakas ended the rally with a kill out of the back row. UH coach Charlie Wade went to the bench, with Austin Buchanan taking over at setter late in the set, and the Warriors held off a late rally to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Most of the starters returned in the third set and UH led 8-7 before going on another 10-2 run that included two blocks and an ace from Voss and finished off the win.

Batista led CUI with 10 kills in 19 swings.

UH continues its five-week homestand with a series against Long Island University starting Wednesday.