Right as pregame introductions for the visiting Tusculum Pioneers began on Friday night, the lights went out inside of SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Unfortunately for the visitors, they quickly came back on to allow a crowd of 3,739 to enjoy No. 3 Hawaii’s 25-11, 25-16, 25-17 thumping of the Division II school from Greeneville, Tenn.

Senior Alaka’i Todd continued his recent hot streak with a match-high 13 kills in two sets and the Rainbow Warriors emptied the bench in their sixth straight win.

Graduate transfer setter Kevin Kauling played the entire third set and had seven assists and five digs. Sophomore Oguzhan Oguz had his first two kills as a Rainbow Warrior and freshman Alex Parks put down both of his kill attempts.

Twelve Rainbow Warriors played in the match, with seniors Chaz Galloway and Spyros Chakas not suiting up.

“I’m glad I’ve been practicing enough with the team where I’m at the position where I can step in without a beat being skipped,” said Parks, a Maryknoll alumnus who made his first start. “I think that going forward I’ll be there for the team as much as they are for me. I know I push my guys and they push me and collectively it makes everyone better.”

Senior Keoni Thiim ended the match in 94 minutes with his career-high seventh ace. Hawaii had 10 aces total and hit .586 as a team.

Middle Kurt Nusterer, who sat out the first set, put down all five of his hitting attempts and freshman Louis Sakanoko had nine kills and hit .533.

“It’s really valuable to invest into Keoni and Louis and the potential there,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “Letting them get to play full sets and tonight, like a full match, I think is only going to bode well going forward.”

Kauling, who injured his ankle in the final warmups prior to opening night, missed Hawaii’s first four home matches.

He made his season debut on the road at Purdue Fort Wayne and came in for a serving attempt in the first set before giving freshman Tread Rosenthal his first extended rest during a match in the third set.

“It obviously was an interesting start coming off an ankle injury so super excited to already be back and touching the floor a little bit,” Kauling said. “You never really expect it until it happens, but I’m really grateful it’s not as bad as I thought. Right away I heard a snap and I was like, ‘Oh, this is probably a broken ankle,’ and if you see the video, I’m lucky I didn’t break my leg either.”

With Guilherme Voss putting down both of his attempts in the first set, Hawaii’s middles combined to hit a perfect 9-for-9.

Todd, who has five straight matches with double figures in kills, had seven of them on nine swings in the first set as Hawaii hit .647. The only delay in the set was on a UH challenge, otherwise it was smooth from beginning to end.

Todd had one of Hawaii’s three aces and Rosenthal and Voss each had a solo block and teamed up on another to hold the Pioneers to a .000 hitting percentage.

Thiim blasted a serve off a Pioneer and into the crowd for his fourth ace of the match to prompt a Tusculum timeout trailing 17-7 in the second set. That didn’t do any good for the Pioneers, as Thiim ripped his fifth ace out of the timeout to extend his career high.

“Keoni coming into tonight was serving inbounds at 90%, scoring at a really high clip, and you see him tonight out there kind of hanging the turn and understanding you don’t have to swing out of your shoes,” Wade said. “Some of it is getting really consistent tosses so he can put a really good pace on it.”

He closed the set with kills for Hawaii’s final two points as every UH attacker was hitting .333 or better entering the third set.

Deklan Wingo had 11 kills to lead the Pioneers (1-7), who had never played a team in the Big West.

The two teams will play again on Sunday at 5 p.m.