Match Stats
- #4 Hawaii def. #10 Pepperdine 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-11)
- Hawaii improves to 15-2
- Pepperdine fallls to 6-6
Stijn van Tilburg hit an incredible .737 against Pepperdine, leading Hawaii to a 3-0 rout with 15 total kills. That led all players from both teams.
As a team, Hawaii hit .477, getting 10 more kills from Kupono Fey. And 31 team digs held Pepperdine to just .261 in hitting percentage.
Mitchell Penning led Pepperdine with 11 kills. The teams will meet again on Sunday.
Press Releases
Hawaii:
HONOLULU – The University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team continued its unbeaten streak at home with a straight-set win over No. 10 Pepperdine, Friday, in the first of two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches at the Stan Sheriff Center. Set scores were 25-21, 25-19, 25-11.
The rematch is Sunday at 5:00 p.m.
The fourth-ranked Rainbow Warriors (15-2, 6-2 MPSF) extended their win streak to 10 matches and their set streak to 17 straight. UH also won its 14thconsecutive home match and improved to 10-0 this season at the Sheriff Center.
Sophomore opposite Stijn van Tilburg led a potent Warrior offense with 15 kills, hitting .737. Senior outside hitter Kupono Fey added 10 kills at a .500 clip as UH hit .460 for the match.
Mitchell Penning had a team-high 11 kills for the Waves (6-6, 4-5).
In a tightly contested Set 1, UH pushed its lead to 18-15 after Hendrik Mol‘s stuff block before the Waves trimmed it to one at 19-18. The teams traded side-outs until Jenning Franciskovic’s dump and van Tilburg’s fifth kill put UH on top 24-20 and the Warriors went on to the 25-21 victory. Hawai’i hit .533 in the set with only one error in 30 attempts.
UH scored five straight points for a 6-3 lead to start Set 2 and added three more for a 10-5 lead. The Warriors maintained their cushion after Gasman’s overpass kill for a 17-12 advantage and blew it open at 22-15 following Franciskovic’s ace and Fey’s kill.
The Warriors jumped out to a 6-1 lead in Set 3 and never looked back. The lead was 17-4 after a six-point run and UH cruised to it most-lopsided set victory over the Waves (25-11) in series history.
Pepperdine:
HONOLULU, Hawai’i.: – The 10th-ranked Pepperdine men’s volleyball team were downed in three sets by 4th-ranked Hawai’i at the Stan Sheriff Center this Friday night. In the night match beginning at 9 p.m. (PT), the Rainbow Warriors earned 25-21, 25-19 and 25-11 set wins to compete the victory.
Senior Mitchell Penning (St. Louis, Mo./Westminster Christian Academy) led the Waves with 11 kills on a .714 clip, including two blocks and an ace. As a team, Pepperdine (6-6, 4-5 MPSF) hit for a .261 success rate with 35 kills and 12 errors on 88 swings. Hawai’i (15-2, 6-2 MPSF) posted a .477 output on 48 kills with only seven errors in 86 attempts. The Waves also amassed 2.0 blocks and 22 digs compared to the oppositions 5.0 team blocks and 31 digs.
Junior Alex Harthaller (Innsbruck, Austria/Akademischeg Gymnasium/IPFW) garnered seven kills and three blocks, while redshirt-sophomore David Wieczorek (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) was good for six kills and three digs.
Senior Joshua Stewart (San Jose, Calif./Bellarmine College Prep/Pacific) led the Waves with 24 assists, seven digs and two blocks.
The Waves and Rainbow Warriors went point-for-point early, setting a competitive tone for the entire night. The teams reached a 9-9 before the opposition would gain an advantage that they would not give up. Pepperdine came within one-point of the tie many times throughout the remainder of the first, but Hawai’i worked with the momentum and picked up a 25-21 win to pull ahead early.
In the second set, UH broke ahead early with a 4-1 run for the 7-4 advantage. It was a lead the Waves would be unable to overcome as the opposition worked for a 22-15 advantage late in the set and eventually turned it into a 25-19 second set victory.
With a 2-0 edge heading into the third set, the Rainbow Warriors continued to pound down on the offensive, amassing an 11-3 lead that eventually turned into a 25-11 set win to close the match.
Pepperdine will faceoff with Hawai’i again on Sunday at 9 p.m. (PT) to close out the trip. Follow Pepperdine @PeppVolleyball on Twitter and Facebook for immediate updates and head to PepperdineWaves.com for recaps, results and more.
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