Hawaii men's volleyball going to championship match again as UH advances
The University of Hawaii is championship match bound, for the fourth straight NCAA men’s volleyball tournament.
Hawaii prevailed with an intense 25-20, 25-23, 16-25, 23-25, 15-10 victory over Penn State, advancing to Saturday’s national championship match against UCLA. It was the first time UH went five sets for the entire 2023 season.
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UH improves to 29-2, while Penn State’s season ends at 27-4.
Back in March, the Nittany Lions handed the Rainbow Warriors their first loss of the season at the Stan Sheriff Center on March 10, downing the ‘Bows in four sets.
On Thursday, Hawaii responded by taking a 2-0 set lead. After Penn State jumped out to an early 14-10 advantage in the first set, Hawaii stormed back with a 15-6 run to take the opening set.
Jakob Thelle seals the deal on #HawaiiMVB's thrilling 5 set semifinal win over Penn St. as the 2X defending champs advance into Saturday's National Championship vs. UCLA https://t.co/52SMZwiNLp Stay w/ @c_shimabuku + @AHoshidaSports for a report from Fairfax, VA 🤙🏽 @HawaiiMensVB pic.twitter.com/LtdjQdalKm — Rob DeMello (@RobDeMelloKHON) May 5, 2023
With the second set tied at 18, Hawaii seized control of the match by winning the race to 25, or so it seemed at the time.
Penn State cruised to a Set 3 victory before battling UH to the end, forcing a decisive fifth set.
Recently crowned AVCA National Player of the Year Jakob Thelle, as usual, was UH’s facilitator on offense all night with 42 assists. Dimitrios Mouchlias led Hawaii with a season-high 25 kills, while Chaz Galloway had a double-double of 11 kills and 12 digs. Defensively, libero Brett Sheward also added 10 digs.
Penn State setter Cole Bogner matched Thelle with 42 assists, with Brett Wildman putting down a team-high 15 kills.
Hawaii will take on UCLA in the national championship match, which swept Long Beach State in Thursday’s other national semifinal.
First serve between the Bruins and ‘Bows/Nittany Lions is set for 11 a.m. HST on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN Honolulu.
Source: KHON2
