Published On: January 26th, 2023Categories: Hawaii News

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The top-ranked University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team opened its three-match road trip with a straight-set win over Queens, Wednesday, at Curry Arena. Set scores were 25-20, 25-21, 25-17.
 
The Rainbow Warriors (5-0) played without All-American setter Jakob Thelle, who missed the road trip due to load management. In his place, sophomore Austin Buchanan made his first career start and played the first two sets before giving way to Brett Sheward, who switched out of his libero jersey to play setter in the third set.
 
Outside hitter Spyros Chakas finished with a match-high 16 kills, hitting .393. Dimitrios Mouchlias added seven kills and two aces while Keoni Thiim tallied five kills all in Set 3. As a team, UH hit .301 with seven aces and 6.5 blocks.
 
Daniel Leitao had 14 kills to lead the Royals (1-4), who hit .263 as a team with nine blocks and one ace.
 
UH extended its win streak to 14 consecutive matches and 22 straight against unranked opponents on the road dating back to 2016. The teams last met in Charlotte in 2019 with the Warriors taking both matches. UH improved to 5-0 all-time against Queens.

 
UH jumped out to an early lead before the Royals scored three straight to pull within 9-6. The Warriors led 15-10 at the media timeout after Chakas’ fifth kill. Queens closed to within two at 19-17. However aces by Chakas and Mouchlias propelled the Warriors on a 6-3 run to close out the set.
 
In Set 2, Hawai’i trailed 12-8 after a four-point spurt by Queens. The Royals led 16-13 after their seventh block of the match but the Warriors rallied to tie it at 17 after another kill by Chakas. UH retook the lead at 21-20 on Kāna’i Akana’s overpass kill. Mouchlias recorded kills on consecutive points during a 5-0 run and gave UH a 2-0 lead in the match with his fifth kill of the set.
 
Head coach Charlie Wade tinkered with his lineup for Set 3, with Sheward, Alaka’i Todd, Keoni Thiim, and ‘Eleu Choy entering the lineup. Chakas’ 15th kill gave UH its first lead of the set at 8-7 and the Warriors pushed it to 12-9. Moments later, a 7-0 run which included back-to-back aces by Todd and outstanding defense by Choy, made it 21-13.
 
UH continues its road trip with a non-conference match-up at Belmont Abbey, Thursday in Belmont, N.C.
 
 

#HawaiiMVB

 
 

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