Charlie Wade’s patience paid off.
In the midst of a duel in the third set of Friday’s match against UC Santa Barbara, the Hawaii head coach altered his substitution pattern to keep Keoni Thiim available off the bench in the late points.
Wade finally summoned Thiim with the host Gauchos one point away from taking the set and extending the opener of the Big West men’s volleyball series at Rob Gymnasium.
Instead, Thiim ripped a cross-court serve that landed just inside the sideline for an ace to force deuce at 24-24. After another tough serve, UH outside hitter Chaz Galloway ended a rally with a kill to push the Rainbow Warriors ahead. An attack error ended Thiim’s turn on the service line, but UH’s Spyros Chakas put away UH’s fourth attempt at match point to close out a 25-23, 25-21, 29-27 sweep in Santa Barbara, Calif.
“In that moment I thought, ‘This is a pretty big moment for Keoni,’ ” Wade said in a post-match Zoom call. “Just the peaks and valleys of that position where you can come in and be the hero, but you can be the goat. He fires that ball into the net, the set’s over and who knows, we could still be in there playing right now.
“I think that was a big moment for him, not just for tonight but going forward also.”
The Warriors (21-2, 4-1 Big West) surged late in all three sets and the work of their serving specialists — Thiim and Kana’i Akana — late in the second and third helped UH earn its 14th consecutive win over UCSB (5-14, 1-5).
The Warriors improved to 8-0 on the road this season and face the Gauchos again today at 4 p.m.
Chakas put away a team-high 13 kills on 22 attacks in a .500 hitting performance and closed the match with his final two kills. UH setter Jakob Thelle distributed 35 assists and put away five kills in six swings for an attack that hit a collective .420.
UH middle blocker Guilherme Voss put away nine of his 11 attacks and was in on four of UH’s five blocks. Galloway and opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias posted eight kills each. Mouchlias also led UH’s floor defense with 10 digs.
UCSB entered the week leading the Big West in digs per set, but the Warriors popped up 33 digs to the Gauchos’ 32 and were able to weather extended rallies.
“They are really good defensively, always have been, and you have to be ready to grind it out against a team like that,” Wade said. “You might have to swing at it two or three times, so it’s good to see the offense continues to be productive and efficient.”
UCSB opposite Nick Amoruso led the Gauchos with 16 kills in 37 attempts and outside hitter Dayne Chalmers posted a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Punahou graduate Ryan Wilcox had nine kills, eight digs and an ace. Former UH setter Jack Walmer finished with 36 assists seven digs and three aces.
Despite the Gauchos’ record, Wade entered the series wary of their potential after UCSB pushed No. 4 Long Beach State in four- and five-set matches and dropped another five-set decision to league leader UC Irvine.
“I’m sure that team is tired of losing and they’re going to break through at some point,” Wade said. “So we need to be a little better earlier (today).”
UH closed the first set with a 4-1 run and rallied from a 9-2 deficit in the second to catch the Gauchos at 11-11. The set was tied at 20-20 after back-to-back aces from Chalmers. After a service error, Akana put together a four-point service turn to help fuel a 5-1 closing run.
“He struggled for about a month and I kept rolling him back out here … but he has served great over the last three or four weeks,” Wade said.
The teams traded runs in the third and UCSB went on a 5-1 surge to earn set point at 24-22. A kill by Voss kept UH alive and Thiim’s service turn shifted the momentum and UCSB survived three match points before Chakas ended the night.
