Hawaii turned in a performance befitting the rings the Rainbow Warriors received to commemorate their second straight national championship.

Two nights after fending off No. 7 Pepperdine in four sets, the top-ranked Warriors made it a far quicker evening in Friday’s rematch and rolled past the Waves in a 25-19, 25-18, 25-21 sweep that served as prelude to the presentation of their 2022 national title rings.

Much of the season-high crowd of 6,982 stuck around in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center for the ceremony after the Warriors (15-0) put together a .405 hitting performance and put down 11 blocks in their 24th consecutive win overall and 28th straight at home.

With setter Jakob Thelle keeping Pepperdine’s block guessing throughout the 1 hour, 43 minute match, UH outside hitter Spyros Chakas posted a match-high 15 kills in 22 attempts for a .591 hitting percentage and middle blockers Guilherme Voss and Cole Hogland had six kills each to hit a combined 12-for-15.

Chakas finished the series with 33 kills and four errors in 53 attempts to hit a dazzling .547.

Thelle, who returned from a two-week absence in Wednesday’s series opener, also set a season high with four aces and his four kills added another dimension to the UH attack.

“The time off has really paid dividends and he said he’s pain free for the first time in months and months,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “So it’s nice to see him doing everything that he can on a volleyball court.

“We’re already setting both middles as much as we can and running the bic (back-row attack) over the top of it. You add the third element into it and it’s a lot. You can’t defend all of that at once.”

Two nights after Pepperdine’s Jaylen Jasper hammered 26 kills in 47 swings, UH managed to keep the 6-foot-7 opposite to a team-high 11 kills in 22 attempts in the rematch.

Voss was in the middle of a triple block that rejected Jasper’s first attempt of the night and he was in on eight blocks in the match.

“Tonight their outsides were a little better than they were (Wednesday), but overall they kind of stuck to what we thought,” Voss said, “where it was a lot of forcing the middles on good passes and relying on Jasper in the moments of need. Knowing what you think they’re going to do helps a lot.”

Voss went 6-for-9 offensively and Hogland converted on all six of his attacks and stuck out his arm for a one-handed stuff of Pepperdine middle Akin Akinwumi in the first set.

“Akin’s a really good player and he likes his sharp angles, and at that point in the game he wasn’t hitting as high as he usually does,” Hogland said. “So just putting my hand out there, he hit it in the right spot at the right time.”

Thelle entered the match with seven total kills in seven matches this season, but had two kills in the first set and served up back-to-back aces in a four-point service turn that gave UH a 14-10 lead.

Thelle credited UH’s serve reception for giving him “really good opportunities. Also my physicality is more so back to normal.”

Chakas mixed speeds on his serve to land back-to-back aces to help UH take a 6-2 lead early in the second set. Pepperdine tied the set at 9-9 and UH reclaimed control with a 5-1 burst with Voss recording a kill and two blocks. Thelle’s third ace gave UH set point and Jasper hit long for his fifth error to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead in the match.

Pepperdine (10-8) crept out to a 12-10 lead in a sideout-fest in the third set, but UH responded with an 8-1 run that included two Chakas kills, two blocks and Thelle’s final ace of the match.

With added lift on his jump serve, “I was just really focused on getting a good serve in and giving us a good chance to point score,” Thelle said of his five-point turn on the line. “We were really effective when things got closer.”

UH went 19-for-21 (90%) on sideout opportunities in the third set and closed out the match on a review after a heated challenge from Wade. After the review Pepperdine’s Bryce Dvorak was ruled to have committed a foot fault to punctuate the series and start the postmatch celebration of last year’s title.

The Warriors’ five-week homestand promises to ramp up again next week in the Outrigger Invitational. UH will face Purdue Fort Wayne, No. 3 Penn State and No. 2 UCLA in the three-day tournament.