It was hard to tell the third-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team rested one of the top attackers in the country on Friday night.
Hawaii coach Charlie Wade gave Kristian Titriyski the night off and it never was a problem in a 25-13, 25-23, 25-12 sweep of No. 19 Penn State.
A SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,405 watched Hawaii (19-1) extended its winning streak to 10 matches and keep pace with No. 5 Southern California.
Both teams swept both of their matches in the Outrigger Invitational, setting up a heavyweight showdown in the championship match tonight at 7.
“It should be a lot of fun. I think they have been one of the best teams statistically all year,” said sophomore setter Tread Rosenthal, who had a match-high 29 assists, four blocks and three aces against the Nittany Lions. “We’ve been one of the best teams all year too, so clash of the titans. We feel confident.”
Freshman Adrien Roure hit a career-high .636 with a match-high 15 kills and Louis Sakanoko added nine kills, three blocks, three digs and an ace for Hawaii, which started freshman Kainoa Wade in Titriyski’s place.
Wade finished with five kills and a career-high eight digs as Hawaii was only threatened in the second set, when it made seven service errors. UH battled back to score the last four points, with Sakanoko delivering a kill off the bic to start the run. Penn State then made back-to-back errors before a Roure kill put UH ahead 2-0 in the match.
“Even the back half of the second set, you don’t want to be in that situation when you smash a team in the first set and then four hitting errors early and seven service errors,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “Came from behind, so you look at the positive part of it, played well down the stretch and then came back out in the third set and really jumped on them.”
The other two sets were double-digit wins for Hawaii, which has won five of the past seven Outrigger titles.
Penn State (5-12), which got a team-high 13 kills from Will Kuhns, is the last visiting team to win the tournament, in 2023.
“Both teams have been playing really well all season, so it should be some pretty high-level stuff,” Wade said of tonight’s matchup.
Roure had his most efficient game as a Rainbow Warrior after an impressive 11-kill effort in the tournament opener on Thursday against No. 12 Ball State.
He needed only 22 swings to get his 15 kills and was subbed out later in the third set with Hawaii well ahead.
“I feel amazing right now, but I’m pretty tired,” Roure said. “I’m really excited and there’s a lot of excitement (for Saturday).”
Titriyski, who started the week ranking in the top six in the country in points and kills per set, should be ready to go tonight with a day off.
“That was just, Kainoa hasn’t had much run with the ‘A’ side with Tread, and if we’re ever going to need him here late … it’s better to give him some minutes to be integrated in there,” Charlie Wade said. “I thought even the rhythm with Tread, knowing where he is and the timing with them, they haven’t had a lot of time together and I thought this was an opportunity that presented itself to give him some run in a meaningful match, and it was kind of an investment in the future.”
Rosenthal guided Hawaii to a .397 hitting clip, well above its season average for the second night in a row.
“We had a talk pregame. It was treat him like a normal oppo. He’s one of the best oppo’s in the nation coming into this year,” Rosenthal said of Kainoa. “We haven’t been together a lot, but he’s a really good player and I can trust him in a lot of situations.”
Sakanoko put the finishing touches on the sweep in the third set, chasing down a ball in front of the Hawaii bench that led to a Roure kill to make it 14-7. On the very next set, Sakanoko came flying in front the back row in the middle and faked a swing and back-set a ball to Roure for the kill to send the set into a media timeout with UH ahead by eight.
“He should have hit the ball,” Charlie Wade said.
“No, that was a good thing to do,” Roure countered. “I would not get blocked when I swing that. I played it safe.”
No. 5 Southern California 3, Ball State 0
Dillon Klein led three Trojans in double figures in kills with 16 and USC remained perfect in the tournament, going 6-0 in sets after a 25-22, 25-17, 25-19 sweep of the Cardinals.
Punahou alum Jack Deuchar added 13 kills and hit .400 and Sterling Foley had 11 kills for the Trojans (15-2).
USC hit .414 in the match, while Ball State (13-8) finished hitting .253. The Cardinals will play Penn State today at 4 p.m.
