Hawaii beats Penn State in 5, goes for 3-peat against UCLA

FAIRFAX, Va. >> Hawaii reverse Dimitrios Mouchlias put away a season-high 25 kills, setter Jakob Thelle delivered the ultimate kill of the evening and the Rainbow Warrior volleyball workforce’s quest for a three-peat survived a five-set duel with Penn State within the semifinals of the Nationwide Collegiate Males’s Volleyball Championship at present at EagleBank Enviornment.

The Warriors (29-2) will face top-seeded UCLA for the nationwide championship on Saturday. The Bruins rolled to a 25-16, 25-14, 25-19 sweep of Lengthy Seaside State in at present’s first semifinal match.

Mouchlias hit. 364 in his 44 makes an attempt, exterior hitter Chaz Galloway posted a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs, and UH weathered a Penn State bombardment from the service line to advance with the 25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 23-25, 15-10 win.

Penn State exterior hitter Brett Wildman fired seven of the Nittany Lions’ 12 aces and Penn State’s 5 within the third set turned the momentum of the match till UH jumped out to an early lead within the fifth.

After a fair begin, Wildman fired back-to-back aces in a four-point service flip that gave the Nittany Lions a 13-9 lead in Set 1.

>> PHOTOS: Hawaii vs. Penn State

Penn State maintained a four-point cushion at 15-11 when the Warriors flipped the momentum with a 12-2 surge highlighted by 4 blocks and led 23-17 when Voss and Mouchlias denied Fisher. The run additionally included Kana’i Akana’s ace off the tape that tied the set at 16-16, and Thelle went on a seven-point service flip.

Penn State held off two set factors, the second on Wildman’s third ace, however Galloway closed out the set together with his third kill in 4 swings.

A decent second set was tied 15-15 on a Fisher ace and UH took a 19-18 lead when Galloway scored. After Mouchlias ended a rally to push UH forward 21-19, he went again to the service line and compelled an overpass that Cole Hogland hammered.

After Hawaii went up 23-20, Penn State closed to 23-22, however the Warriors traded sideouts and took a two-set lead when Fisher’s serve landed past the top line.

Mouchlias had three extra kills within the first 4 factors of the third set, giving him 15 for the match. However Wildman went wild from the service line, with three aces in a five-point run and the Nittany Lions led 9-5 when Toby Ezeonu’s serve hit the online wire and fell.

Ezeonu’s second ace of the set gave Penn State 10 for the match and the Nittany Lions, who haven’t been swept this season, pulled away to ship the match to the fourth.

Mouchlias put away 4 extra kills and UH jumped out to an 8-3 lead. A UH service error and three assault errors aided a 6-1 Penn State run and the Nittany Lions pulled forward 14-11 when Fisher delivered one other Penn State ace off the tape.

UH rallied to tie the set at 15-15 when Voss and Mouchlias teamed up on UH’s seventh block. Mouchlias tied the set at 20-20 and a block by Thelle and Voss pushed UH forward 21-20. Penn State answered with a tying block adopted by Mouchlias’ twenty fifth kill. However Fisher then put away three kills in a 4-1 Penn State run to shut out the set and ship the match to the fifth.

Spyros Chakas delivered UH’s second ace of the match and scored out of the again row on a scramble to present the Warriors a 4-1 lead within the race to fifteen. The lead stretched to 8-3 when Mouchlias curled in one other ace and UH went up 10-5 on Penn State’s fourth service error of the set.

A Chakas kill out of the again row gave UH match level and Thelle scored off a contact to set off the UH celebration.