The No. 3 Hawaii men’s volleyball team used a balanced effort to open the 29th Outrigger Invitational in style.

All three starting pin hitters finished in double figures in kills and the Rainbow Warriors survived seven set points in the third set to sweep No. 12 Ball State 25-19, 25-13, 29-27 on Thursday night.

A SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,181 watched middle Justin Todd put down Hawaii’s seventh ace to end the match in straight sets after Ball State (13-6) had rattled off five straight points to take a 24-20 lead.

Kristian Titriyski and Louis Sakanoko had 14 kills apiece and Adrien Roure added 11 for Hawaii, which improved to 18-1 with its ninth consecutive win.

“I think we’re just kind of evolving, talking to (setter) Tread (Rosenthal) more about how every set should be deliberate,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “Nice that the pins got another gear and they know they do.”

All three pins hit .400 or better, with Sakanoko finishing with a .550 hitting percentage. It was the third time the sophomore from Paris hit over .500 and his seventh double-digit-kill performance this season.

He was coming off a killless performance in one set against Lindenwood six days earlier with three hitting errors.

“I was really not happy about my (two) games against Lindenwood,” Sakanoko said. “I want to play great now and I did, so, just like, push myself a little bit more. I was so mad at myself after Lindenwood. That was really pathetic from me. That was terrible.”

Roure hit .455 for the match and Titriyski ended at .400 after recording eight kills in the third set.

Sakanoko got the Rainbow Warriors going in the first set with a massive solo stuff of Raje Alleyne for an early 5-3 lead.

Rosenthal, who finished with a match-high 36 assists, six digs and a solo block, opened up the offense with back-to-back sets to middle Kurt Nusterer, who put down his first two swings, and then a Rosenthal ace prompted the first timeout of the match from Ball State coach Donan Cruz trailing 12-7.

Hawaii closed out the set on a Ball State net violation that credited Sakanoko with his fifth kill in six attempts.

Titriyski added four kills without an error for Hawaii, which hit .405 for the match.

Rosenthal served the first seven points of the second set to put UH ahead, and the Rainbow Warriors blew the Cardinals off the court to go up 2-0.

Hawaii hit .583 and had 4.5 blocks, with Nusterer making his presence felt in the middle. He was in on three of those UH blocks in the set and Roure had five kills in seven swings to boost UH’s overall hitting percentage to .469 for the match.

Sophomore Kai Taylor got in on the fun with an ace during a four-point scoring service turn near the end of the set to help UH take it by double figures.

Hawaii had 8.5 blocks for the match.

“A lot of it is we are playing teams that are hitting the ball,” Nusterer said. “You can’t block the ball if they are not really hitting. Big hits make big blocks, and as we play bigger hitters, we’re going to get better blocks.”

The Cardinals stuck with their lineup changes from the second set to start the third set and held a 12-8 lead when Sakanoko hammered a kill off a triple block that started a 7-1 run to put UH in front at the media timeout.

The Rainbow Warriors led 20-19 when the Cardinals silenced the crowd by scoring the next five points on three kills and two blocks of Sakanoko.

With freshman Kainoa Wade serving, a Titriyski kill staved off one set point and the Cardinals called timeout after a hitting error made it 24-22.

Ball State was called for an illegal 3-meter attack on the next point following the timeout and Sakanoko put down an overpass, forcing deuce.

The teams traded points three more times before Todd ended it with Hawaii’s seventh ace.

“We’ve got to be better earlier in that set because we were clearly controlling the match,” Wade said. “A couple loose points early in the set, and while at the time it didn’t seem like such a big thing, you get to the end and it’s like, man, we gave a few points away.”

Hawaii will continue the tournament tonight against No. 19 Penn State, which was swept by No. 5 Southern California to start the tournament on Thursday.

NO. 5 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 3, NO. 19 PENN STATE 0

Junior outside hitter Dillon Klein put down 10 kills and hit .417 to lead the Trojans to a 25-20, 25-18. 25-21 sweep of the Nittany Lions to begin the 29th Outrigger Invitational on Thursday.

Senior opposite Jack Deuchar, a Punahou alumnus, added six kills, three digs, two blocks and one of six aces by USC (14-2).

Will Kuhns had eight kills to lead Penn State (5-11), which finished the match hitting minus-.035.