LIHU‘E — The University of Hawai‘i men’s volleyball team got some sweet revenge against No. 2 Stanford, sweeping the defending national champions, 25-22, 25-21, 25-17, Friday night in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at the Stan Sheriff Center, states
LIHU‘E — The University of Hawai‘i men’s volleyball team got some sweet revenge against No. 2 Stanford, sweeping the defending national champions, 25-22, 25-21, 25-17, Friday night in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at the Stan Sheriff Center, states a UH press release.
The Warriors (1-3, 1-0 MPSF) snapped their three-match losing streak and a seven-match skid to the Cardinal, which dated back to 2008. Stanford (3-1, 2-1 MPSF) swept the two-match regular season series last season and eliminated the Warriors from the MPSF Tournament with a three-set sweep in the semifinals.
“Stanford is one of the premiere teams in our conference and the defending national champs,” head coach Charlie Wade said. “For our guys to beat them the way we did tonight is quite an accomplishment. I hope we can carry this momentum into Sunday’s match.”
Hawai‘i was led by All-American opposite Jonas Umlauft, who slammed a match-high 22 kills and hit .500. The sophomore missed UH’s last match due to illness. All-American Joshua Walker added eight kills while Steven Hunt had six kills.
UH out-hit Stanford, .459 to .200 and out-blocked the Cardinal, 8.5 to 3.0.
‘Iolani School graduate Brad Lawson had a team-high 13 kills for the Cardinal while All-American libero, Erik Shoji, son of UH head women’s volleyball coach Dave Shoji, had 10 digs.
The Warriors got off to a great start to the match, jumping out to a 7-3 lead in Set 1. The Cardinal tied it at 14 but UH forged ahead 22-18 after a three-point run. Stanford rallied to within one before the Warriors strung together consecutive points to lead 24-22 and Umlauft ended it with his eighth kill.
With the score tied at 17 in Set 2, the Warriors scored three straight all on Stanford hitting errors. UH led 23-19 after an Umlauft kill and Spencer McLachlin hitting error and closed out the set with another kill by Umlauft.
The Warriors led 8-3 to start Set 3 and extended their lead to as much 20-12. With the crowd of 3,531 on their feet on aloha ball, Hunt ended it with his sixth kill.
The teams will meet again on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.
