The fourth-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team had its depth tested on opening night.

That worked out just fine for Hawaii coach Charlie Wade, who had freshmen Finn Kearney and Justin Todd ready to step in and turn the tide in a 25-20, 20-25, 25-22, 25-22 win over No. 20 McKendree on Friday.

A SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,185 watched UH win its 12th consecutive season opener, but it didn’t come easy.

The Bearcats had the match tied at one set apiece and led 14-11 in the third set when Todd had a kill and then was in on three consecutive blocks to give UH a lead.

Hawaii had only one block before Todd’s run and the Moanalua alum, who entered the match to start the third set, finished with four kills and five blocks.

Kearney, who also subbed into the match for the first time to start the third set, put down the match-ending kill and finished with seven in 12 swings with five digs and two blocks.

“I think what you saw tonight is going to be relatively common in that you’ll see some really good performances and you’ll see some peaks and valleys,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “It’s nice to be able to make lateral substitutions.”

Freshman outside hitter Adrien Roure put down a match-high 17 kills in his Hawaii debut, and another newcomer, senior Clay Wieter, added 14 kills and three blocks.

Starting freshman opposite Kristian Titriyski, who didn’t practice all week while suffering from the flu, managed to play two sets and had three aces in the first set, but he also had six hitting errors and eventually left the match.

With Kainoa Wade still not cleared by the NCAA, coach Wade also had Kearney, the starting outside hitter for the United States U19 National Team that won gold medals at the Pan American Cup in 2022 and ’23.

Kearney has practiced on the left side leading up to the season, but found himself in a familiar spot on the court Friday night where he was needed.

“For an opening game as a freshman there is nothing better that you could ask for,” Kearney said. “Proud of the way the guys maintained their energy through everything. We faced some adversity earlier in that game … and it was really good to see the way we bounced back and see that we have that type of depth and can deal with that kind of stuff.”

Hawaii hit .362 to the Bearcats’ .323 despite a combined 37 hitting and service errors.

Wieter, a transfer from Lindenwood, led Hawaii’s pin hitters with a .429 hitting percentage and only two errors. He also had one of Hawaii’s seven aces and was in on three blocks.

“I can’t even put into words how the whole being in the Stan is coming from a smaller school in the MIVA,” Wieter said. “I could just feel the energy radiating across the court.”

Eighteen-year-old Tread Rosenthal began Year 2 with the Rainbow Warriors with a match-high 54 assists, two kills, two block assists and an ace.

Titriyski’s three aces helped UH take a lead in the first set that was closed out with Roure finishing with six kills in seven swings. Hawaii held the Bearcats to only eight kills.

That changed in the second set, as McKendree hit .500 with only one error to even the match on a triple block of Roure, who despite the error was hitting .600 after two sets with 11 kills.

Hawaii was outblocked 5.5 to 1 in the first two sets and combined for 22 errors hitting and serving.

UH had six blocks over the final two sets, including a solo block from Todd that prompted McKendree to use a timeout early in the fourth set down 7-3. Senior libero ‘Eleu Choy had two incredible digs to a keep alive a point that was then ended with a Kearney kill to make it 10-4.

The Bearcats clawed back to take a 15-14 lead and were within a point at 22-21 before UH closed it out with a Kearney kill ending it.

“There were four starters out during the week with the stomach flu that’s going around, so we didn’t really get a good practice in all week,” Wade said. “With the lefts, on any given day, the guy who is first on the depth chart could be anywhere one through four. It’s a nice situation to be in and you hope they are all playing good, but if not, it’s nice to make a lateral substitution.”

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