Stijn van Tilburg doesn’t have to say anything to Joe Worsley. The senior-to-senior connection is unspoken, the look in van Tilburg’s eyes telling Worsley all he needs to know.
“Set me the ball.”
“Late in sets, everyone wants the ball,” said Worsley, Hawaii’s senior setter. “But Stijn has a special look in his eyes. I know he’s the guy to get the ball to.
“Everyone is playing so well right now but he’s such a smart player, makes the right decisions late. I have full trust in him.”
That trust was rewarded Saturday on Hawaii’s second match point against No. 6 Pepperdine, van Tilburg’s 16th kill giving the second-ranked Rainbow Warriors the championship of the 25th Outrigger Hotels &Resorts Invitational men’s volleyball tournament. The 25-18, 25-20, 25-23 win also gave Hawaii (15-0) its 11th consecutive victory over the Waves in Honolulu as well as extended the Warriors’ NCAA record sets-won to 45 with their 15th consecutive sweep.
A season-high crowd of 4,997 saw van Tilburg become just the second Warrior named to the all-tournament team four years in a row in the event’s history — joining Costas Theocharidis (2000-03) — and watched the Dutch national move into a tie for ninth on the all-time kill list with Dejan Miladinovic at 1,198.
“It was so amazing, this environment with so many people,” said van Tilburg, named the MOP in 2016 and 2017. “This tournament has been special from my first year. Unfortunately we couldn’t win it last year but we did this year.”
Coming along with Hawaii’s ninth Outrigger title were three other Warriors joining van Tilburg on the all-tournament squad. Also named were Joe Worsley, brother Gage, the sophomore libero, and junior opposite Rado Parapunov, named the most outstanding player.
Rado Parapunov, the reigning AVCA player of the week, added 13 kills with three of the team’s five aces. Junior hitter Colton Cowell finished with 11 kills, Gage Worsley 15 of the team’s 29 digs, and Joe Worsley had the Warrors hitting .523 for the night.
“It’s been a great week,” Parapunov said. “We wanted to bring (the trophy) back home. Pepperdine was an amazing team, the best we’ve played so far.
“We knew we’d have to do something extra to win and we were throwing our bodies out there. I think that was the difference.”
Parapunov also pointed to the solo block by 6-foot-6 senior middle Dalton Solbrig on the Waves’ 6-6 middle Kevin Vaz. It was Hawaii’s eighth block, Vaz’s first hitting error and gave the Warriors their first match point at 24-22.
“I think he won the game on that,” Parapunov said.
“We had a blast,” said Solbrig, in on six of Hawaii’s eight blocks. “All weekend, Rado was unreal, Joe’s been running the offense great, Gage and Colton had ridiculous digs and Stijn is Stijn.
“This one checked off a couple of boxes for us. Last year, we lost to BYU in this match, and we lost to Pepperdine at their place last year, the end of a not-so-good road trip (the third of a three-game losing streak).”
The Waves were led by all-tournament picks Kaleb Denmark (nine kills) and Michael Wexter (eight kills, nine digs).
“I think the difference tonight was their ability to transition,” Pepperdine coach David Hunt said. “They dug balls, transitioned and got great swings.”
In the de facto third-place match, No. 15 Ball State swept King 25-22, 25-19, 26-24. Junior hitter Matt Szews, also named to the all-tournament team, led the Cardinals (10-10) with 20 kills and seven digs, and senior hitter David Siebum added 11 kills and two aces.
Sophomore opposite Joshua Kim had 15 kills for the Tornado (10-8).
Hawaii returns to Big West play when hosting Cal State Northridge Friday and Saturday in 7 p.m. matches.
