Hawaii embarked on its first road trip in more than a month without a top ranking in the men’s volleyball poll but with a healthy lineup.
A week ago, the Rainbow Warriors were dealing with illness and injuries in practices leading up to a series with Long Beach State. After trading sweeps with the Beach last weekend, UH coach Charlie Wade said the second-ranked Warriors enter today’s match at No. 14 Cal State Northridge “as healthy as we’ve been the entire season.”
“Everybody’s a full go,” Wade said in a phone interview on Thursday. “We’ve had a good week of practice, coming off a nice win Saturday, so we’re just going to keep pushing forward every day and maintaining that level of engagement.”
The Warriors (18-2, 1-1 Big West) capped their five-week, 11-match homestand with a bounce-back sweep against Long Beach State last Saturday and the series split left them at No. 2 in the NVA/AVCA Men’s National Collegiate Coaches Poll after 11 weeks in the top spot.
A window to move back up opened when new No. 1 Penn State lost to Ohio State in five sets on Tuesday. But the series with CSUN (12-7, 1-1), set for today and Saturday at Premier America Credit Union Arena, is the Warriors’ focus with four weeks left in the regular season.
“These guys have won a lot of matches against really good teams now for years,” Wade said of the Warriors. “We haven’t won all of them, but we’ve won a lot of matches in different environments.
So I think we’ve got a pretty clear idea of what we need to do, and at this point you control your own destiny.
“We’re just going to stay focused on our side and being as good as we can be.”
The UH attack was bolstered last week by a resurgence from outside hitter Chaz Galloway. After posting 12 kills and seven errors over three matches in the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational, the junior put away 21 kills with four errors on .405 hitting in the two-match series with Long Beach State.
“When he plays like he did (last) week, when literally he’s playing as good as any outside hitter on the floor, that just makes us that much more dangerous,” Wade said. ”I thought not only was his execution good, but his decision-making was really good this past week.”
With Galloway serving as one of UH’s primary passers, UH allows a league-low 0.94 aces per set (62 in 66 sets). Wade said his passing helped him catch the attention of the U.S. national program.
CSUN has put together a streaky season to date under first-year head coach Theo Edwards. The Matadors were 4-5 before going on an eight-match winning streak, the program’s longest run since 2009. The streak ended with two home losses last week, a UC San Diego sweep followed by a five-set loss to Daemen.
The Matadors lean heavily on the pin-hitter combination of 6-foot-8 Kyle Hobus and 6-7 Griffin Walters. Hobus ranks fifth in the Big West with 3.74 kills per set. Walters is next on the team with 2.98 kills per set and leads the Matadors with 27 service aces. Hobus is in his fifth year at CSUN and Walters is a fourth-year junior.
“It’s such an advantage for guys that are just more mature and stronger, and certainly those two guys have been around for a long time for them,” Wade said.
The series at CSUN is the first of back-to-back road trips for UH. The Warriors will play at UC Santa Barbara next week before playing their final four regular-season matches at home against UC Irvine and UC San Diego.
Spectrum to carry BWC tournament
The Big West announced earlier this week that the first two days of the men’s volleyball tournament — set for April 20-22 in Irvine, Calif. — will be televised locally by Spectrum Sports. A live stream will be available on ESPN+ for viewers outside of Hawaii. The championship match on April 22 will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
The tournament will be held at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center.
Big West Men’s Volleyball
At Premier America Credit Union Arena; Northridge, Calif.
No. 2 Hawaii (18-2, 1-1 BWC) vs. No. 14 Cal State Northridge (12-7, 1-1)
>> When: Today and Saturday, 4 p.m.
>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
>> Online: ESPN+
