#5 Hawaii Rolls Through Top NAIA Squad, Grand View, In Three Sets

Match Stats

• #5 Hawaii def. Grand View 3-0, (25-21, 25-19, 25-13)
• Hawaii improves to 7-2, while Grand View falls to 3-1

The #5-ranked Rainbow Wahine take down the top-ranked NAIA team, Grand View in a three set sweep.

For Hawaii, Stijn van Tilburg put down a team-best 10 kills, while Rado Parapunov added a perfect nine kills, producing no errors on nine swings. In the back court, Larry Tuileta picked up eight digs.

Leading Grand View was John Chamone with 12 kills on a .476 hitting percentage, while Tim Johnson added an additional eight kills for the squad.

Press Release

Courtesy of Hawaii Athletics

The University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team withstood a gritty effort by the NAIA’s top-ranked team, Grand View, winning in straight-sets Friday in a non-conference match-up at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-21, 25-19, 25-13.

The Rainbow Warriors (7-2) extended their home win streak to 10 straight dating back to last season including a perfect 6-0 in 2017. The win also marked UH’s 18th straight against non-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation teams. GVU (3-1), the NAIA’s runner-up last season, dropped its first match of the season. The teams play again on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.

Sophomore Stijn van Tilburg led the Warriors with 10 kills in two sets of action. Freshman Rado Parapunov pounded nine kills in nine attempts playing only the third set while freshman Austin Matautia added five kills and five digs.

As a team, the Warriors hit .368 compared to .184 for the Vikings, who are coached by Maui native Donan Cruz and feature a travel squad with two players from Hawai’i.

The Vikings were not intimidated by the nation’s fifth-ranked team taking a 13-11 lead in Set 1. The Warriors responded with four straight for a 19-16 lead and closed out the set by out-scoring the Vikings, 10-5 for the 25-21 win.

Head coach Charlie Wade shuffled his lineup in Set 2 and the Warriors broke it open with an 8-1 run for a 16-9 lead. Moments later, UH strung together a four-point run for its largest lead at 20-12 and held on to win 25-19.

In Set 3, the Warriors jumped out to a 10-4 lead with four quick kills by Parapunov. UH hit .714 in the set as they steamrolled GVU 25-13 to close out the match.