Hawaii setter Jakob Thelle helped the Rainbow Warrior volleyball team carry an efficient end to its last road trip into the start of this week’s series back home.
Thelle ran an attack that put away 15 kills with no errors in the first set of Thursday’s match with No. 12 Lewis and the fourth-ranked Rainbow Warriors never trailed in a 25-15, 25-21, 25-19 victory before a crowd of 2,687 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Coming off a .429 hitting performance in a Big West sweep at UC San Diego on March 4, the Warriors (15-3) cooled a bit after hitting .750 and converting on all 16 sideout opportunities in the first set on Thursday.
They finished at .424 led by outside hitter Spyros Chakas’ match-high 14 kills, with opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias adding 12 in the opener of a two-match nonconference series.
“We definitely had some things we did well against San Diego that we tried to transition to this game, especially keeping energy, which we talked a lot about with the coaches,” Thelle said.
“We had a plan going into that (first) game and we executed pretty well, which is something we have to do to be efficient.”
Chakas put away 15 kills in 20 swings with one error in the finale of UH’s split at UC San Diego last week and got out to another hot start on Thursday with nine kills in his first 14 attempts before finishing the match with a .440 performance.
“He’s really good on the fastballs, but he was better tonight on the out-of-system balls as well,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “He hit them high and hard off the block and we’re going to need that going forward.”
Thelle distributed 40 assists and had two aces and five digs in the win. Wade noted Thelle’s ability to work with various lineups this season due to illness or injuries. Middle blocker Cole Hogland remained out of action for the third straight match and Guilherme Voss and Max Rosenfeld both posted six kills in nine attempts on Thursday.
“The challenge for (Thelle is) we’ve played four middles and four outsides, and we haven’t really had a set lineup,” Wade said. “Guys have been hurt and sick, so I think he’s done a really good job of keeping us still hitting for a high percentage with so many guys in and out of the lineup.”
Libero Brett Sheward led UH with seven digs and handled 23 service receptions, and the Warriors didn’t allow an ace in the match while serving up five.
After UH closed out the rout in the opening set, Thelle opened the second with back-to-back aces and Chakas added another that gave UH a 5-2 lead. The Warriors built a 22-16 lead when Voss and Chakas combined on a block.
The Warriors went without an error in their first 26 attacks of the match but had a few loose swings that fueled a 5-0 Lewis run late in the second set. The run included four UH attack errors, including a solo block by Tyler Mitchem, as the Flyers closed to within a point at 22-21. After an attack error gave UH the serve back, Chakas won a joust at the net and Mouchlias went off the block to close out the set.
Mouchlias had four kills early in the third set to help UH surge to a 15-8 lead, and his solo block later in the set gave UH a 23-18 advantage. His 12th kill gave UH match point and Chaz Galloway ended the match with his sixth kill of the match.
“Today I was comfortable with everybody,” Thelle said. “Everyone was always engaging with me and calling for the balls, and that’s what I want from the players and that makes my job easier in just giving it to whoever and I know they can put the balls away.”
Max Roquet led Lewis (10-7) with 11 kills, while Mitchem, an All-America middle blocker, finished with seven kills and four blocks as the Flyers hit .222 as a team.
The Warriors and Flyers meet again on Saturday.
