No. 6 Hawaii falls to No. 2 USC in volleyball marathon
Christopher Orenic put down 17 kills and Kamehameha product Micah Christenson had five aces and was in on eight blocks as No. 2 USC avoided another five-set upset by No. 6 Hawaii when rallying for a 30-28, 17-25, 18-25, 25-18, 20-18 victory in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball match Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Alex Slaught added 10 kills for the Trojans (8-1, 7-1 MPSF). The match lasted 2 hours and 52 minutes and was watched by a season-high 3,517.
Brook Sedore had 20 kills and four aces for the Rainbow Warriors (7-3, 4-2). Taylor Averill and Scott Hartley each added 12 kills and Kolby Kanetake had a career-high 18 digs for Hawaii.
It was a career night for Hartley in kills, aces (3) and blocks (4). It was also a season-high for Hawaii in aces with nine, including a season-high four by Sedore.
Christenson added a double-double with 47 assists and 17 digs.
The Rainbow Warriors had leads of 10-6 and 13-10 in Set 5 but couldn’t hold on. The Trojans took match point at 14-13, the first of what would be five match points.
Hawaii had a swing to end it when going up at 16-15 on a kill by Sedore. But Sedore was blocked on the next play to tie it at 16.
It was tied twice more with the Trojans breaking the 18-18 tie on a hitting error by Hartley and Slaught’s last kill to end the marathon.
On Wednesday, Hawaii pulled out the five-set win. It was the fifth time in six meetings that the teams played to five sets and the first time that the visiting team won.