Hawaii’s command in the middle played a central role in ending Lincoln Memorial’s status as the nation’s last undefeated team.

UH middle blockers Guilherme Voss and Cole Hogland combined to put away 14 kills on .571 hitting to help lead the third-ranked Rainbow Warriors to a 25-21, 25-21, 25-21 sweep of the No. 15 Railsplitters in the opener of a three-match series at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Following a series sweep of Long Island last week, UH coach Charlie Wade spoke of wanting to get the Warriors middles more involved in the attack. After a full week of practice, Voss and Hogland played pivotal roles in handing Lincoln Memorial its first loss of the season before a crowd of 2,250.

“Both had a nice night,” Wade said. “Just trying to expand the playbook a little bit for them and try to have them be a little more dynamic and create their own separation and it was nice to see they both had a good night.”

UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias led the Warriors with 10 kills in 20 attempts with one error, and outside hitter Spyros Chakas added nine kills for a UH attack that hit .413 through the first two sets before finishing at .304 in their seventh straight win.

Voss finished with eight kills in 11 attempts, including match point, and Hogland added six kills in 10 swings.

“This past week we worked on stuff, got it all adjusted so it would work like a well-oiled machine, and I’m glad it showed in the game,” Voss said.

The Warriors (11-2) entered the week leading the nation in blocking, followed by Lincoln Memorial. UH extended its lead in the category with seven blocks, including five solo, to 3.5 for Lincoln Memorial (8-1).

Voss posted the first of his two solo blocks on the third point of the match and the Warriors held LMU middles Matthew Gentry and Dawson Walker to a combined three kills against four errors in 12 attempts.

“I feel like we did good in the blocking department, especially early on,” Voss said. “We had it in mind that we need to control their middles and not let them be productive.”

LMU did get ample production from the pins early on and Cole Campisano led the Railsplitters with 12 kills and one error while hitting .500. Justin Sharfenaker put away 10 of his first 14 attempts without an error until a solo block by Kana’i Akana helped spark a UH surge late in the second set. Sharfenaker added just one more kill over the remainder of the match.

“It takes a little while to get the timing down,” Wade said. “He definitely was hot early (until) Kana’i got in front of him. There’s no question they’ve got some guys who can score.”

Lincoln Memorial took a 7-5 lead in the opening set on back-to-back aces by Sharfenaker. But the Railsplitters also gave away eight points on service errors in the set and finished with 17 for the match.

Down 8-6, the Warriors surged ahead with a 6–0 run with Akana on the service line. UH ended the set hitting .435 to hand the Railsplitters just their fifth set loss of the season.

Lincoln Memorial opened the second set with its first block of the night and led 18-16 before a Chakas kill and consecutive solo blocks by Akana and Voss gave UH its first lead of the set at 19-18. UH closed the set with a 5-1 run capped by an Akana ace.

“We do a lot of mini-games in practice, 20-all, 18-all, and try to create a higher sense of urgency when you have to be really efficient at the end of sets,” Wade said. “So it’s nice to see we were able to stay aggressive and still be efficient.”

Chakas served two aces in a 6-0 run that gave UH a 7-3 lead in the third set. LMU closed to within a point at 19-18 before UH again took command with a 5-1 run highlighted by two Mouchlias kills. LMU fought off two match points before Voss ended it with his final kill.

The teams meet again today at 7 p.m. and close the series at 5 p.m. Sunday.

LMU entered the week as one of two undefeated teams left in the nation and was the last one standing when Concordia Irvine lost to UC Irvine earlier on Friday.

“They were the only undefeated team in the nation and we just handed them their first defeat, so they’re going to come back wanting it even more,” Voss said. “They’re going to play even better (today) and we need to be ready for that.”