The 50th state saw 50 straight … plus 1.
No. 2 Hawaii ran its NCAA-record consecutive sets-won to 51 in sweeping No. 12 Cal State Northridge in Big West volleyball for a second night in a row, again in 100 minutes. Led by junior opposite Rado Parapunov’s 17 kills and an errorless hitting night with 10 kills for senior middle Dalton Solbrig, the Rainbow Warriors swept Cal State Northridge 25-16, 25-17, 25-18 Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
It was an impressive parting gift for Hawaii, which hits the road for six matches in 10 days, including this coming week’s tournament hosted by Brigham Young. The Warriors (17-0, 4-0) take a break from conference play during spring break when playing McKendree Thursday, Princeton Friday and the ninth-ranked Cougars Saturday; Hawaii hasn’t won in Provo since 2003.
“It’s going to be a tough trip,” said Solbrig, who hit .a career-high .909. “I thought tonight we played well, a combination of everybody doing their jobs. We had three pin (outside) hitters hitting at least .400 and I was able to use my foot speed a little bit.”
In addition to Parapunov hitting .520, junior hitter Colton Cowell hit .571 with nine kills and senior hitter Stijn van Tilburg hit .400 also with nine kills. The Warriors, coming into the week leading the country in hitting percentage (.483), finished at .500.
The Matadors (10-10, 0-4) weren’t as much of a concern for the crowd of 3,837 as the health of Hawaii junior middle Patrick Gasman. The nation’s leading blocker went down with an apparent ankle injury with the Warriors leading 8-4 in Set 2; he was cleared to participate in warm-ups between Sets 2 and 3 but did not return to the lineup.
“He bounced up pretty quickly, we were happy to see that,” Hawaii senior setter Joe Worsley said. “He’s a tough kid. He should be good to go next week.”
Replacing Gasman was sophomore middle Max Rosenfeld, who was in on two of Hawaii’s 7.5 blocks.
The Warriors were cruising through Set 2 with just two hitting errors, both coming in the opening set. They had six in Set 3 where the Matadors had three of their four blocks.
CSUN led 15-13 before a kill by van Tilburg put Worsley back at the service line. By the time Worsley was done, Hawaii had taken control at 19-15, a 6-0 run that saw two kills by Parapunov.
“I wasn’t happy with some of my decisions so I wanted to make it up with a late (service) run,” Worsley said. “I was frustrated. I wanted to make sure I had a good turn back there.
“We’re ready to go on the road for sure. It’s going to be a real test for us.”
CSUN, losing for the sixth straight time in Honolulu, got nine kills from senior hitter Dimitar Kalchev. The Warriors held the Kalchev, the program’s career ace leader, without an ace in the two matches.
Cowell just missed a double-double with a match-high nine digs. Hawaii won the dig war 29-18.
“Offensively at the end we made a couple of errors but then it was all defense,” van Tilburg said. “We got a couple of great blocks, a couple of great digs and great transition swings, which is huge for us.”
The Warriors opened the night about as perfect as could be with no hitting errors on their first 11 swings, hitting .818, en route to taking a 19-8 lead. Hawaii used a 6-0 serving run by Cowell that included an ace and CSUN coach Jeff Campbell burning both timeouts before the technical timeout at 15.
Set 2 was filled with consistency — no hitting errors and a .630 clip — and concern — when Gasman went down.
“It just shows how fragile the season can be,” Solbrig said.