Two days after returning from an extended road trip, Hawaii’s return home wasn’t all that comfortable right away.

Long Island, having also made a lengthy journey to Manoa, pounced on the Rainbow Warriors early in Tuesday’s match, leading the nation’s third-ranked team for most of the opening set.

But once the Warriors established their timing at the net, they rallied past the Sharks late in the first set, then rolled through the next two in a 26-24, 25-11, 25-15 sweep to open a three-match series at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawaii outside hitter Spyros Chakas helped spark the Warriors in the first set on his way to a team-high 10 kills and the Warriors posted 14 1/2 total blocks in their fourth straight victory.

The Warriors returned from their 12-day trip to Indiana and Texas on Sunday and struggled to a .111 hitting performance with six errors in the opening set on Tuesday. They hit .514 with just three errors over the next two sets as the UH block turned the momentum.

“During the first set we had to make adjustments for our block, our defense and pretty much everything in our game,” Chakas said. “I think as soon as we made them and everyone realized their own role and what they had to do, it got us into our game.”

UH middle blocker Guilherme Voss, the reigning Big West Defensive Player of the Week, led the Warriors with six blocks and opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias was in on four.

The Warriors also fired 10 aces, with setter Jakob Thelle serving up three and his backup, Jack Walmer, adding three more in an eight-point run to close the second set.

The Rainbow Warriors (8-2) and Sharks (3-8) meet again at 7 p.m. today and close the series on Friday.

Long Island, under coach Shawn Patchell, put up considerably more resistance than the previous two first-year programs Hawaii faced this season, and two early blocks helped the Sharks open up a 7-2 lead to open the match.

Luke Chandler’s seven kills helped LIU maintain a lead deep into the set before Chakas tied it at 17-17 with a kill and at 20-20 with a solo block. Long Island edged ahead again and earned a set point at 24-23 on Chandler’s eighth kill. His ensuing serve sailed into the tables beyond the endline to extend the set. Mouchlias fired an ace and, after a timeout, the Sharks sent a free ball into the net to end the set.

“(LIU was) playing well, they were passing well, siding out, taking some nice swings,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “The timing of the block took a little while. You can’t really tell on film how fast or how slow it was and we didn’t have the timing down well, so we weren’t very effective defensively in the first set.

“As it went along, we got the timing calibrated a little more and not only touched more balls but blocked balls for sure.”

The Sharks again jumped out to an early lead in the second set at 5-2. The Warriors responded with a 12-3 run and Walmer had three aces and the Warriors had three blocks in the 8-0 surge to close the set.

“(Walmer) got some real valuable time on the front end of the road trip and he’s been pretty good from the service line for a while now,” Wade said of the freshman, who started both matches at Ball State with Thelle out of action due to health and safety protocols.

“We see it every day in the practice gym, and that’s what gives us confidence to roll him out there, and he certainly had a nice turn there.

The teams traded sideouts early in the third set before UH took control on three consecutive kills by Alaka’i Todd and an ace by Thelle. Filip Humler added the last two of UH’s 10 aces and the Warriors closed the match with their final block.

Chakas led the UH attack with a .533 hitting performance, with his 10 kills coming on 15 attempts with two errors. Wade also noted his steady play in serve reception.

“There’s a lot of parts of his game that are really starting to evolve and it’s good to see,” Wade said. “I think he’s really working hard and improving.”