Match Stats
- #4 Hawaii defeats #14 USC 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-18)
- Hawaii improves to 18-2
- USC drops to 6-12
Hawaii won its 8th-straight 3-0 sweep, taking down USC at home on Friday night. That came one day after a similar 3-0 sweep of the Trojans Thursday.
Freshman Rado Parapunov notched 10 kills and hit .389 in the win, with Hawaii hitting .353 as a team. Austin Matautia had 9 kills and Larry Tuileta 7 digs for the Rainbow Warriors.
USC was held to a paltry -0.011 in hitting percentage, though Aaron Strange did earn 6 kills to lead the team.
Hawaii hasn’t dropped a single set since a 3-1 win over UC-Santa Barbar back on February 4. That marks a full month of 3-0 sweeps with a list of victims including UC-San Diego, Cal Baptist, McKendree, Lindenwood, Pepperdine (twice) and USC (twice).
Press Releases:
Hawaii:
HONOLULU – For the eighth consecutive match, the University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team won its straight-sets after Friday’s victory over No. 14 USC in a non-conference match-up at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-13, 25-15, 25-18.
The fourth-ranked Rainbow Warriors (18-2) extended their win streak to 13 matches and their set win streak to 26 after the 96-minute contest. UH also won for the 17th straight time at the Stan Sheriff Center, two-shy of the program record.
Fourteen players saw action for the Warriors, who were led by freshman outside hitter Rado Parapunov. The Bulgarian posted a team-high 10 kills, hitting .389. Sophomore middle blocker Dalton Solbrig tallied six of the team’s season-high 14 blocks. Freshman outside Austin Matautia added eight kills while freshman middle Patrick Gasman recorded four kills and four blocks.
Leading hitter Stijn van Tilburg played just one set and had four kills.
USC (6-12), which played without four of their Thursday night starters including the nation’s kill leader Lucas Yoder, hit -.013 for the match. Freshman Aaron Strange led the Trojans with six kills.
UH jumped out to a 7-3 lead in Set 1 and made it 10-4 following an ace by Brett Rosenmeier. After a USC point, the Warriors then blew it wide open, scoring six of the next seven points for a 16-6 lead. UH hit .480 and recorded four blocks.
In Set 2, the Warriors reeled off seven straight points for an 8-2 lead and the Trojans never threatened the rest of the way. UH’s block came up big with 5.5 stuffs in the set and Parapunov tallied five kills in the 25-15 victory.
Hawai’i put up three early blocks in Set 3 and scored six straight for an 11-3 lead.
The Warriors conclude their homestand by hosting No. 8 Stanford, Friday, March 10 and Saturday, March 11. Match time is 7:00 p.m., for both matches.
USC:
For the second consecutive night, the No. 4-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team swept No. 14 USC, this time 25-13, 25-15, 25-18 on Friday (March 3) in Honolulu in a match that was contested as a non-conference meeting.
Only 2 of USC’s regulars started on Friday as Trojan head coach Jeff Nygaard opted to get his backups some action in the non-league contest. Hawaii started its usual lineup, but began subbing out its starters midway through the opening set.
On Thursday (March 2), the Rainbow Warriors swept the Trojans, 25-20, 25-23, 25-23, in a match that counted in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings.
With Friday’s victory, Hawaii won its 13th consecutive match and its 16th straight at home to improve to 18-2 overall. The Rainbow Warriors have won their past 26 sets and are off to their best start since 1996.
The Trojans fell to 6-12 overall.
Aaron Strange had 6 kills for USC, Blake Markland added 5 kills while hitting .444 and Vinnie Rios had 9 digs.
Rado Parapunov came off the bench to lead Hawaii with 10 kills (hitting .389), while Austin Matautia had 9 kills, Dalton Solbrig had 6 blocks and Larry Tuileta, the former USC volleyball and football player before transferring to Hawaii, had 7 digs.
Hawaii hit .353 in the match and had 14.0 blocks. The Trojans had more hitting errors than kills, ending up with a -.011 hitting mark. USC managed just 4.0 blocks.
In the first set, Hawaii used 3-0 runs to build leads of 5-2, 10-4, 13-5, 16-6 and 22-11 to control the set while hitting .480 and getting 4.0 blocks. It was more of the same in the second set, as the Rainbow Warriors scored 6 early unanswered points to go up 8-2 and soon after went on a 4-point run to build a 13-4 margin before USC pulled within 5 points at 19-14, but the Trojans could get no closer as Hawaii posted 5.5 more blocks. Hawaii jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the final set by virtue of a 6-0 run and was never threatened while closing out the match.
USC now returns home to start a 9-match homestand by hosting No. 5 Lewis on March 9 at 7 p.m. PT in a non-conference match that will be played in the North Gym, the original home of Trojan volleyball.
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