The fifth-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team held a lengthy team meeting prior to Saturday’s serve-and-pass session.
The Rainbow Warriors used it to refocus and get locked in and ultimately take care of business later in the day with a 25-18, 25-21, 29-27 sweep of No. 9 Cal State Northridge at Premier America Credit Union Arena in Northridge, Calif.
Hawaii (22-3, 5-1) rebounded from its first three-set loss of the season on Friday to the Matadors (16-8, 1-5) to move into a first-place tie with No. 1 Long Beach State in the Big West standings.
UH will play its final two regular-season home matches on Friday and Saturday against the Beach.
“We were better across the board,” Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said. “There were a number of things we pointed to that we could be better at and we were better, straight up.”
The one area UH has continued to struggle at is serving. Hawaii finished with eight aces, including the walk-off winner in the third set by middle blocker Kurt Nusterer after the Matadors had three chances to send it to a fourth set.
The Warriors also had 20 service errors. Outside hitters Louis Sakanoko and Adrien Roure combined for 10 of those with no aces in 22 attempts.
Opposite Kristian Titriyski, who led the team with 12 kills, had two aces and three service errors in 11 serves.
“We won those matches, literally, with three guys serving inbounds,” Wade said. “I think we will be better at home, but it was good enough. Adrien played better offensively, but both of them passed way better and then you’re in it.”
Titriyski, who was briefly shaken up earlier in the match, was substituted out after UH’s first match point in the third set when he came down awkwardly after a jump.
Hawaii led 24-21 before giving up four straight points.
Jalen Phillips, who had a match-high 16 kills for CSUN, committed a service error ahead 27-26 to tie the set in the third. Hawaii setter Tread Rosenthal put down a kill on an assist from Nusterer before CSUN called timeout. Nusterer than served the ace to end it, but the concern was for Titriyski, who leads UH in kills and aces.
“I think he’s hurt. I think he’s done for a bit,” Wade said. “We’ll see what it looks like tomorrow. Early reports were no swelling, no discoloration, but that doesn’t mean it won’t swell up tonight or tomorrow on the plane. I think it’s more significant, but that’s just me.”
Hawaii hit .342 for the match while holding CSUN to a .164 hitting percentage after the Matadors hit .507 in Friday’s win.
Roure added nine kills and three blocks for UH and Sakanoko had five kills and two aces.
Nusterer hit .500 with eight kills in 12 swings and freshman Justin Todd added four kills in six swings from the middle with three blocks.
Rosenthal finished with a match-high 29 assists and four kills in four swings. He also had an ace.
Freshman Finn Kearney came off the bench and had two aces in the first set, helping UH close on an 11-3 run to take a 1-0 lead.
“He won the set. He went on a nice, long run and put it in play,” Wade said.
No Matadors player had more than five kills other than Phillips, who hit .357.
UH held Joao Avila to one kill in six swings after he hit .692 with 10 kills on Friday.
CSUN had three aces and 13 service errors but outblocked UH 10-6.
Four of the top five teams in the AVCA rankings lost once this weekend, including UC Irvine.
Hawaii and Long Beach State are two games up on UC San Diego with four matches remaining in league play.
The fourth-ranked Anteaters are 2-4 after splitting with the Tritons.
