No. 1 Rainbow Warriors sweep UC Santa Barbara again

Hawaii started fast and pulled off a late comeback in the third set to finish off a sweep of UC Santa Barbara today at Rob Gymnasium in Santa Barbara, Calif.

UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias led the top-ranked Rainbow Warriors with 14 kills with one error and outside hitter Chaz Galloway added 12 kills in UH’s 25-19, 25-21, 29-27 win to complete a sweep of the two-match series and claim the program’s 15th consecutive win over the Gauchos.

UH (22-2, 5-1 Big West) improved to 9-0 on the road this season and remained second in the conference standings entering a series with Big West leader UC Irvine next week at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

UH outside hitter Spyros Chakas put away his ninth kill of the night on match point, getting a touch off the UCSB block. Setter Jakob Thelle distributed 36 assists with two kills and a one-handed solo block in the first set.

Middle blocker Guilherme Voss had seven kills in nine swings. Freshman Kurt Nusterer made his fourth start of the season and finished with four kills in nine attempts and was in on four blocks.

Galloway and Chakas had two aces each and the Warriors overcame 18 service errors with a .418 hitting performance offensively.

Punahou graduate Ryan Wilcox shook off a slow start to lead UCSB (5-15, 1-6) with 12 kills on 20 attacks in a .450 hitting performance and added two aces and seven digs. Opposite Nick Amoruso finished with 11 kills in 35 attempts.

UH opened up a 20-11 lead in the first set and Mouchlias put away six kills in the second to lead the Warriors to a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Warriors played from behind for much of the third set and the Gauchos took leads of 15-11, 17-13 and 21-17. UH then went on a 6-2 run and tied the set at 23-23 on a block by Thelle and Nusterer. UCSB had two attempts at set point but served out on both. UH earned its third match point on a kill by Voss that was upheld after a UCSB challenge and Chakas put away match point for the second straight night.