Hawaii senior Rado Parapunov set the tone from the service line and just kept on hammering and the top-ranked Rainbow Warriors capped an impressive road trip by completing a series sweep of No. 3 UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.
Parapunov fired three consecutive aces in a five-point run early in the opening set and went on to put down a season-high 20 kills and the Warriors closed the week with a 25-22, 25-19, 26-24 victory at Robertson Gym in Santa Barbara, Calif.
After dropping the first set of the series opener on Thursday, the Warriors swept through the next nine in a row and improved to 7-0, playing all of their matches on the road so far.
“We played well, there’s no question. (The Gauchos are) a really good team, so for us to win nine sets in a row is impressive,” UH coach Charlie Wade said in a postgame phone interview.
UH outside hitter Chaz Galloway and middle blocker Patrick Gasman posted seven kills each for the Warriors, who won Big West matches with UCSB (4-3) on Thursday and Friday, then held off the Gauchos in Saturday’s nonconference meeting.
Parapunov served up four of UH’s six aces, Gasman was in on six of UH’s seven blocks and fellow senior Colton Cowell contributed nine digs to go along with six kills and three assists.
UH setter Jakob Thelle led an attack that hit a collective .416 and finished with 38 assists. He put down three kills of his own, the last coming on match point off a pass from libero Gage Worsley.
As in the first two matches of the series, UH finished with advantages at the net (seven blocks to UCSB’s 4.5) and the back row (26 digs to 23).
The middle was also an emphasis for the week, and Gasman and Guilherme Voss hit a combined .557 with 46 kills and seven errors in 70 attempts in the series. Voss put down all five of his attempts on Saturday.
“We went in knowing we had to play better defense, and we were able to, and knowing that we wanted to run the middle more,” Wade said.
“And we’re getting to a point where offensively we can focus on what we think is an advantage against the other team. With this team we wanted to run middle more. Some nights you’ll see it on the left side and, obviously, Rado contributes quite a bit every night.”
Parapunov led the Warriors in kills in all three wins over the Gauchos and finished the week hitting .422 with 52 kills in 90 swings. He entered Saturday’s match with four aces this season and matched that number by the second set.
His early serving run gave UH control of the first set and his fourth ace gave UH a 17-13 lead on its way to claiming the second.
UCSB led for much of the third set before UH tied it at 19 with a 5-1 run capped by a Cowell kill. A kill by UCSB’s Randy DeWeese gave the Gauchos set point at 24-23. But Parapunov answered with a kill and a UCSB net violation gave UH match point. Thelle then took a swing on a second touch to complete UH’s ninth straight win over the Gauchos.
“It’s always nice to get pushed. I think … we need more of that,” Cowell said. “We can never expect our opponents to give up and lie down. When push comes to shove we want to be the team that responds with confidence and great energy.“
DeWeese hit .346 and led the Gauchos with 12 kills in 26 attempts with three errors. Outside hitter Roy McFarland added 10 kills while hitting .450. Punahou graduate Ryan Wilcox added seven kills.
After a week off, UH opens its home schedule with a series against UC San Diego on March 26 and 27 at SimpliFi Arena.
