#1 HAWAI'I VS UC IRVINE (04.16.21)

and with that we welcome you inside simplify arena at stan sheriff center kanoa leahey along with lisa strand lisa take us through the kaiser permanente keys to the match and for irvine tonight they're going to focus on serve receive because they know they have to take care of that first ball to stay in system against hawaii and for hawaii their entire week has been focusing on the big d defense they're blocking and bringing up balls and playing the out of system balls so that's what coach charlie is really focusing on tonight so hawaii comes in number one 13-0 overall on the year 8-0 in the big west conference already having wrapped up the outright regular season conference crown and how about that for living up to your key as pat gassman uncle pat who will be celebrated along with the rest of this senior group this weekend gets the scoring started with the roof a great way to start off but that all started from the service line with that very difficult aggressive serve by acatella jasmine's second in the country in blocks as well as kill percentage the serve by tella outside [Applause] is able to parlay that into a smoke shot by colton cowell hawaiian financial fcu starting lineup scrolling at the bottom of your screen you will notice for the first time philip humlair in the starting rotation for hawaii in place of chaz galloway the freshman who has played phenomenally this season out with a non-covet illness tonight so um getting his first start of the year as cowell was able to get a good piece of that swing on the opposite side by joel schneidmiller he is the guy as far as the pin hitting is concerned for uc irvine 6-6 senior from saratoga california 3.75 kills per set hitting over 300 this year he has been their go-to guy that is for sure and serves that one down the line wide so a point for the rainbow warriors anteaters two in 11 overall this year two and six in the big west conference these two teams played one another to start the year up in california as you take a look at head coach david niffen for the anteaters hawaii won both those matches the first one was a four-setter and then the second night hawaii was able to pull off the sweep high ball outside the swing by seconda rattled around and radopatapunov will get a swing out of it and he's able to put it through and down and there is another look at nipping in his ninth season always a wonderful guy to talk to and has such a tremendous amount of respect for this hawaii team this facility and in fact it is fortuitous because the conference tournament is being held in this building next week and irvine is going to stay the duration between this weekend and next weekend that's right they're here for 10 days total and that one is hit long no touch up front so sakanda sends it long and charlie wade looking on as his rainbow warriors quickly up five serving one weighed in his 12th season atop the program third straight year that hawaii has gotten off to a 13-0 start there's a heater there by colton cowell 67 on the gun and then the two hands saved there by cowell chased down by gage worsely on the second touch free chance here though for the anteaters and it is second blasting it off the block and down alexander 6'4 redshirt jr from ottawa canada averaging a little over one and a half kills per set the lefty hitting in that opposite position very physical at 6'4 mixing things up a little bit for the offensive side and the anteaters there's scott static the seven footer with the serve for uc irvine rado wasn't able to put it down and then the swing on the outside goes off the block and out for a point that is credited to cole gillis 6'5 redshirt freshman from san jose california and you talk about mixing it up this irvine lineup and roster in general they have swapped positions left and right you have setters playing middle blocker you have libero's playing outside hitter gillis a case in point that's right gill has played libero the last few matches and he started the season as an outside hitter played libero now he's back being an outside here tonight that swing by zakonda misses wide and so a point for hawaii and irvine here in the early goings hitting a buck 11 compared to hawaii hitting 500 only two kills so far for hawaii on four swings as pat gassman gets ready to serve for the rainbow warriors 11 aces on the season he has put up gaudy numbers in just about every regard [Applause] and second is stuffed philip next to guillermo voss and that had to feel good for um this has been a tumultuous ride over the last year incredibly challenging but you know what he's worked very hard and coach charlie wade had said i've got to figure out a way to get him back into the lineup he's worked hard he's got himself back in and some opportunity with chad chad galloway being out served by gasman popped up on the first touch by schneidermiller highball goes to gillis on the outside and the roll shot drops in front of gassman for an irvine point yeah getting back to philip boom there this is a guy who dealt with some health issues in the off season non covet related but he lost a ton of weight because of it and it was a pretty lengthy process for him to get back into the practice gym at full capacity and here getting the start that it has not been an easy ride it really hasn't it just goes to show you he has so much international experience he just had to get the opportunity to get on the court again and get healthy his boss wipes at that one and misses wide so another point for irvine charlie wade describes um when he's right as one of their better out of system hitters and when you pair that along with what radopatapunov has established as far as his ability in the out of system high ball that's a pretty dangerous combo attella quick middle set to voss and he snaps it home boss a 6-7 freshman really doing a nice job and last week up on the mainland had an excellent week i think he's one of those underrated players he just gets up he's so quick and wiry and he connects very well in the middle with stella career high eight blocks in the opening night win versus csun last week was also seven for seven offensively seven kills on seven attempts as francesco sunny inserted into the match 6-8 freshman highly touted recruit out of the prep ranks and he gets his first lash at it and it's popped up by cowell how about the cross court bump set by rado whom they've tried to dink it over chance here for irvine and it is gillis going cross court for the anteater point and gillis just way off the net seeing high hands aimed high and deep into that far corner a very smart shot by the redshirt freshman there's brian garcia 6'5 junior from madera california another listed setter on the squad here's the d set total and he's able to split the uprights of that proposed double block and it's hawaii up nine serving six greg garcia started this season as a setter against hawaii and then ended up he's been out for quite a long time actually and so we thought we might see him later but we're he must be better obviously he's back in the match it was kind of a freaky accident that caused his injury in that early season match up with hawaii as that one has just blasted off of the palm of schneidermiller but yeah garcia actually in the midst of a play on the floor got stepped on really on his head and he suffered a concussion and so yeah that obviously set him back a bit here this season so good to see him back out there and i'm sure david niffen happy about that as well as boss was able to slam it home 1.36 kills per set he's hitting 522 coming into this season and how about that set up from tella you gotta love it he goes behind he's audibilizing calling for that back quick set and you don't see that as often but it's nice to see the sets being mixed up in the middle [Applause] right side that's gillis and he's able to go off the block and out so gillis providing for irvine here and the good set up there by brian garcia so here is francesco sani he was the number two recruit in the 2020 class according to volleyballmag.com charlie wade actually looked upon him and his opinion was that he was the top recruit and so he expects this guy to have a fantastic career over the course of time high ball bump set goes to cowell layout save by the libero aj phaley and then that one is just torched [Applause] on that opposite side and what you're gonna notice is that the sets are a little bit further off of the net they're not as tight of course coming out of the back court there but they're spreading it out nicely not too tight to hawaii's big block you see a little bit of that ability from sani it's a 6-3 run here for irvine the jump serve misses for a hawaii point [Applause] [Music] the anteaters unranked in the latest abca poll it's actually the first time that they have been knocked out of the rankings since the last two weeks of 2016 so a rarity certainly for them and really they've been in every match so far they've taken a set from every team in the big west so far but they just have not been able to beat consistent according to coach niffen middle set and that is static off of the setup from dylan jai 6-1 freshman from california who was able to put that one right there for the seven footer doing a nice job coming in in the back court what you're noticing is you see irvine changing things up again they're going with two setters now so dylan john will come in and set only from that back court goes quick middle to gasman and he lays into that one uncle pat who is hitting 494 on the season 2.27 kills per set and as mentioned he's also among the nation's leaders averaging 1.52 blocks per set i mean just huge numbers [Applause] his numbers have been scary actually and what's nice to see is the connection that him and tella have created how about that battle atop the tape as sakanda tried to challenge that hawaii block and sakanda was able to outwit it just got the last contact on that ball second from the canadian junior national team he's started the last three matches and it looks like he's created himself a starting spot and that's an ace from static and so all of a sudden we're tied for the first time hawaii led by as many as four [Applause] scott statics been around the game for a long time a senior going he's a graduate student going for his master's in finance three-time all-american passed by gage worsley they go to that back row set and it's cowl flying in getting the hawaii point another one of the group of seniors who will be bidding a symbolic aloha here this weekend but it is symbolic only because they will be playing next week in the big west conference tournament there is more work to be done it's going to be a weird senior weekend because there are no fans here in the arena it's going to be very weird because you know these senior parents are wanting to be here and and wishing that they could come inside and be here for their kids gillis able to find that deep corner the diving attempt there by gasman comes up empty right now gillis leading the way for irvine four kills on six swings error free and all of a sudden irvine is starting to climb up in terms of hitting percentage 368 now compared to 462 for the rainbow warriors but the serve from sakanda goes into the twine and now it will be radopatapunov back to serve patapunov who has two kills so he is now five kills away from creeping into the top ten in the all-time career kills category at uh he's named national player of the week last week for his efforts up on the mainland trip second goes hard off the block and it goes out beyond the end line yeah radopatapunov who you would probably have to say if the season ended right now would be the favorite to be the national player of the year he'd definitely be my vote in what we've seen you know we haven't seen a lot in the mpsf because we're only doing conference play of course but he has elevated his game his numbers just blow your mind when you start looking at the numbers that this young man has done and his six rotation play it's pretty phenomenal yeah he's third in the country in kills per set 19 straight matches in which he has reached double figures in kills that one tried to go wrist away though and misses wide so a point to irvine they get to 15 first and we got a set here in the first [Music] welcome back the jack fact it's been a while in fact since 1980 that's the last time hawaii won an outright conference championship the president at the time was jimmy carter top movie the empire strikes back top song call me by blondie and the dow jones had just surpassed a thousand so uh it's been a minute as able to go off the block and out to tie this opening frame up at 15 piece so hawaii wrapping up the outright big west conference regular season title they're looking to finish the regular season unblemished and then of course they're looking to add a conference tournament title next week now back in 1980 hawaii was competing in the wcbc and the head coach was one dave shoji as tella was able to smack that one southpaw style and get another point for the rainbow warriors i love that option play by tella when he's in the front court there he can turn and swing on it when he's in the back court obviously he cannot but charlie wade has said all season he's given him the green light go ahead and swing if and when you can so here is phillip boom layer playing in just his third set of the year and that set goes to schneidermiller and he knows what to do with it and schneidermiller is hits the ball with so much heat and he's so smart and so confident he's created he is their go-to guy he's got 191 kills plus whatever he's done tonight and the next person on the team is at like 90 kills just to give you an example he's led irvine in kills in every match but two here this season high ball outside it's cowell and he's able to light that one up al just hanging up there long enough to see the block double block up on him so smooth he sees two hitters and he just sees the empty area 6-1 senior from makawao on the island of maui out of king kekaulike high school they go back row oh and that one was crushed by cole gillis and some high cheddar for the back row defenders for hawaii yeah with only one block up jacob was the only solo blocker rado just sitting right in the pocket took one some serious heat on that ball so irvine competing here as they tend to do the the two and 11 overall record not quite the accurate indicator of how competitive some of their matches have been and they match up you know they mix things around but they match up well with white let's remember hawaii played them early on and irvine took that first set and the fourth set hawaii got out of there 28-26 so these two teams match up nicely the roll shot there kyle pulling the string he has four kills on five swings and here's tele to serve good heat on that good pass though by gillis and schneidmiller is roofed solo stuff courtesy again colton cal hanging up there showing line and then dropping in with his right hand here you see and closing it down at the last minute one-on-one blocks are just they just get you going yeah that would be an interesting debate and players have had different views on it right it's what gets you pumped up more what feels better that solo stuff or when you lay into one off of a nectar set and you just bounce it off of the terraflex i think colton cowell would say he's got a love for both time out on the floor hawaii up three [Music] rainbow warrior volleyball on spectrum sports is sponsored by bank of hawaii welcome back so hawaii led by four in the first early irvine was able to take the lead in fact they got to the 15 point plateau first hawaii has switched it around again here on the scoreboard they're up 20 serving 17 out of the timeout [Applause] pass there by phaley but it's a little tight to the net and it allowed pat gasman to actually get in on it and he puts it down that pass off of the platform of bailey just kind of kept drifting towards big pat gasman in the middle you don't put it up anywhere near pat gasman in the middle there but again that play completely created by this great powerful serve by jacob teller 21 serving 17 again going right at the libero aj phaley so out of system schneidemiller goes off the triple block kept alive by gage warsley here's kyle against a double block and good cover there by sakanda he gets it back and he pounds it through that hawaii block attempt and gets the point for the anteaters the lefty hitting from the left side there a little unexpected just found the hole in that block and snuck it through [Music] had some success against hawaii in the second match of the season both these teams starting out the year playing one another in a back-to-back sakonda had 15 kills in what was a sweep defeat at the hands of the warriors as schneidermiller goes long on the serve hawaii's starting to close in here in the first again you see irvine really trying to put pressure from the service line on the on the warriors put them out of system [Music] little set static didn't get all of it but up there by tella worsley bump sets rado who gets roofed scott static the irvine career leader in solo blocks block assists and total blocks chalks up another well at seven feet his span is enormous he covers a lot of area but also in on that cole gillis who's having a phenomenal night again he was libero last week now he's back to outside hitter leading his team and killed with five kills in seven attempts gillis actually getting the most of that block here's a kill tango tour 6-2 sophomore from pacific palisades california he serves it into the net tough stage of the set to pull one of those off very difficult put him in at a tough time player of the year in california highly recruited but definitely a tough time to put them in another one of those guys for david niffen's squad he was a big west all freshman team selection last year as an outside hitter but has been used primarily as a libero and serving specialist this year speaking of serving specialists here sparrows hakkas to serve for hawaii outside goes to gillis and gillis adds to his kill collection he now has a half dozen still without an error leading all hitters with what almost all hitters with at 7.50 jacotel is at a thousand but he's only hit one yeah i don't think he reaches quite the minimum to be included there 20 serving 23 seconda into the twine so we have seen that here in this home stretch of the first frame a multitude of times from the anteaters i believe that's three service errors in the last four serves [Music] and so here is on aloha ball in set one and he serves it long 58 miles an hour on the radar gun [Applause] and these serves get up to like charlie wade was telling us what 70 miles an hour it's going pretty fast but it remains aloha ball for hawaii gillis with the serve pass by cowell is on the money and then he comes flying in from the back row but misses wide and that is his first hitting error of the match and that one an unforced variety very unfortunate because it's a beautiful set he came in he had one blocker on him he had the opportunity just going a little too sharp also stuck that pass serve goes long though so all's well that ends well for hawaii as they take the opening set 25-22 here against the anteaters [Music] ilh volleyball continues next week as the maryknoll boys take on punahou then the les jardin girls face punahou tune in tuesday at 5 p.m only on spectrum x cast channel 17 and 10 17. some big west volleyball action the scoreboard from wednesday on and i think the score of most interest here this evening is the upset csun in five over seventh ranked long beach state and look they went to extra points in the last three sets and how about csun bouncing back from losing the opening frame 25 to 12 so a big win for the matadors here tonight that's a huge win and that four set amazing and so as it currently stands hawaii the top seed in the big west conference tournament next week but look all the rest of those slots still technically up for grabs and we will finalize the brackets for you at the end of action tomorrow and then of course we will be bringing you that tournament in its entirety right here on spectrum sports so rest those pipes lisa i'm telling you there's some great volleyball still ahead when csun pulls that off that's a pretty big upset truly uh but anything can happen and teams get hot and you know we see it we've seen it for years now david niffen himself when we had a conference call with him earlier in the week said hey look don't sleep on irvine you know it hasn't necessarily the reality uh of this season in terms of our win loss record has been somewhat bleak he says but we have seen some flashes and i think the fact that they're going to be in hawaii all week long they're going to get acclimated i think this is a team that coach niffen feels has the potential to come together in any given night right in the big west any given night he says it's a unique experience being able to finally be together on a road trip we finally get to bond a little bit every time we go somewhere we drive right back here's schneidermiller to open set number two and he lays into that one schneidermiller with his fourth kill but set one went to hawaii 25-22 and a lot of the damage done from irvine's perspective self-inflicted you pointed out seven service errors lisa definitely they were they were neck and neck with hawaii but they continued to go for the serve but they had that's an excessive amount well there's a service service errors and that's the thing about rally scoring you got to serve over to get the point otherwise you're giving it away irvine actually out hitting hawaii in that first set 393 to 364. [Applause] well the service errors especially down the stretch very ill-timed here is jacob tella served the ball very well in the first frame and as i say that he serves it long it might be getting a little contagious let's hope not so 2-1 here early on in set two in favor of the anteaters and one of the the main people missing off irvine's team as well as a few graduates is mark prescho who coached there for 16 years mark preschool former university of hawaii volleyball all-american you mentioned 16 years just retired prior to this season to focus on his career away from volleyball he's what's still second all time i think in career kills yeah he's up here he's an all-american he's got a son who plays at stanford he's a huge part of uc irvine's coaching staff i know they're really missing mark preshow oh that was a heavy-handed swing there by cole gillis who continues to do some damage here seven kills on ten swings for gillis a beautiful set push high outside three blockers on him and he still powers through the only thing i don't miss about mark preschool hanging around is he would mess with us the announcers on the pronunciation of some of these irvine players names he would mess with ben kia aina the pa announcer as well uh a case in point would be aj phaley the libero for the anteaters mark preschool one year before hawaii played irvine in this building he said oh yeah no it's it's a very italian pronunciation it's fairy and it's actually phaley and mark was laughing all the way oh yeah of course i mean he's so trustworthy oh yeah but that was a quick lesson learned yeah don't trust mark there's schneidermiller and didn't get a good piece of that one so hits it awkwardly wide and so a point for hawaii they jump in front a little ill time from the coming out of the back court hitting that quick [Applause] no but we do want to send our best aloha to mark interesting you know what irvine does is on because it was 16 years they do a social media shout out to mark on the 16th of the month i'm not sure what it was today i looked but it wasn't posted yet so just a reminder you want to follow him and what he's done for the program the 16th of every month they shout out to mark yeah that's cool to see yeah [Applause] [Music] four serving four seconds took a little something off there um there the first touch gets the set on the outside rattles it off the fingertips of the block and a net violation will go against irvine looks like that might have been patrick vorenkamp who came into the net born camp getting back in the mix of things he had missed the last seven matches due to an injury and so wearing number four he's a guy who is playing middle blocker who played center last season super competitive very athletic obviously you don't go from setter to middle blocker uh he's been out with a leg injury like you said kanoa but it's just time to switch things up a little bit garcia also came back into the match how about that one francesco sunny going off of the dome it looked like a philip there literally you know he raises his hand and he says hey sorry about that i'm really sorry about that it hit homer right on the noggin sunny is six six eight true freshman [Applause] good reaction there by born camp as tella tried to dump it over on that second touch but warren camp was waiting looks like you see irvine's getting a little healthier by the minute what do you think and tella ends up getting that one ricocheted into his grill as well so hawaii contested here with some of the physicality in this second set backside set and it is sunny and that one goes off the tape and wide so a point for hawaii and we're neck and neck here early on in the second gage worsley just passing nails tonight he's been spot on if i was irvine i wouldn't be serving gage orsley gage worsley who is still a junior in standing but we've referenced it a few times he is also going to be part of this senior group aloha send off tomorrow night sani the over-the-shoulder swing against three hawaii blockers and it doesn't matter this is a very good-looking freshman swinger i'll tell you what his mom played professional as well and was his his uh look at that set amazing was his coach 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th whatever for years she coached him and he was born in in europe and came to the was spotted in a pe class and they said you should really you know a scout came in and said you should really play volleyball so they moved to the mainland when he was in seventh grade and he's been playing ever since great story yeah that's a heck of a story is vos is able to apply the hammer and we're tied again giliami voss 6-7 frosh from rio de janeiro brazil big west conference all-freshman selection a year ago and that one fell off of a table somehow phaley was still able to get the pass now hawaii playing it back here's cowell off of the double block and just sheer force from the haleakala hammer howell doing a great job again just using the block off of the high hands recognizing the big solid block and you know his experience has really just magnified through this year [Applause] eyeballs set sani three blockers waiting and he still torches it goes off of oomler now that has some serious heat and speed on it [Music] i'm sure his his dad who's by the way italian the dad's italian the mom's american uh you know are at home and probably watching and loving this he's got some us national team experience as well with the men's junior squad as well as the us boys youth under 19 squad and he was the number two recruit like you said earlier but do you know who he was after clark godbold of long beach who was here last week he was the number one i guess and this one was the number two middle said that static didn't get all of it so chance here for hawaii after the worsley dig and then how about that pinball action it goes off the block off of cowell and then back over the net for a hawaii point you know i'm curious if that actually counts as a kill i believe it does because it came off of his head and it dropped so colton cal using his noggin there on that play well i don't know about kill but it was cool that's our king windward nissan cool play [Music] [Applause] we've seen a lot of how do we frame it header action for hawaii you had bloomberg take one off of the dome you had teletake one off of the face cowl getting the forehead kill right there and it's still very early in this match which is a little scary actually nine serving 10 schneidermiller about the layout pass by cowell just to keep this sequence going but irvine with the advantage back row schneidermiller just dropping fawns so explosive and so quick hawaii caught a little bit off guard as he rips that ball down the middle schneidermiller with his fifth kill out of nine hitting at 222 right now officially part of the 1000 career kill club at irvine surpassed a thousand in his last match as part of also climbing the hawaii charts in career kills is dug up by sani but then sani didn't get it above the tape hawaii's block very well formed there you see patrick jasmine waving his hands no touch didn't it clear making sure sometimes you got to be a little bit boisterous to make sure that is the most imposing block combo that hawaii has to offer in 610 pat gasman and 6'9 radopatapunav and how about that heat [Music] ripping that ball from the back court very aggressive attack i didn't get to see the speed on that thing but i'm telling you it was close to higher than 65. [Applause] 12 serving 10 here it comes from the two-time mil player of the year decides to pull the string on that effort and speaking of effort cole gillis has been efforting throughout this match very effectively eight kills now for him he is still without an error [Applause] and he's actually carrying the load for his team in the past it has been except for like you said two matches schnein miller static with the serve pass by worsley is a good one here's um he's stuffed right back at you it was brian garcia next to warren camp possibly a little tight on that set but garcia again the setter who's been out with that concussion posting a huge block at the net there so 12 serving 12. telego's middle it's gassman and gasman four kills on four swings and that's just how it's been for him right he's not necessarily always going to be a volume guy in terms of his offensive production but he is so efficient that's exactly it very efficient in the middle and again the consistency in the middle with him and tele has been really improving throughout the season akana in to serve and it's a good one pass tight to the net it'll be played over the up by um there here's rado through a double block popped up in the air by schneid miller sunny three blockers up and he's still able to plug it through [Applause] that's unfortunate he just powered through that block snuck it just barely between hawaii's blockers [Applause] sani could keep in his high efficient hitting record for the evening yeah he just kind of made that face a few times first time when he served up the unintended facial on um and then that time saying i'm not sure how that got through but i'll take it backside set rado tried to go wrist away and sent it wide the block hadn't quite formed looked like one of those that rattle could have just gone hulk smash on but instead it's a point for irvine he really likes to go for that sharp angle and i'll tell you what what a beautiful set by tella who went sliding and then reversed that set backwards he went away from where the most common set would have been pretty uncommon number right now being posted by rado two kills on ten swings three hitting errors so he's in negative numbers negative 100 to be exact and this team really can't afford him to be in that situation he has been carrying the load for a long time trust me when i say he will pull himself out of this real soon [Applause] served by garcia patella goes middle to boss so the middles right now for hawaii hitting at a high clip you have patrick gassman four for four you have voss now with four kills on five swings and just one error and earlier in the year we didn't see as much activity in the middle and i think hawaii's really been trying to work on that to establish their middles and take some of the pressure off of the opposites and the outside hitters [Music] looking to recalibrate a bit as irvine gets to 15 first kavika hikes the rocky shoreline and into waimanu valley during a friday the 13th full moon on everything hawaii sunday night at 7 30 exclusively on spectrum oc 16. [Music] well as expected joel schneidermiller one of the go-to guys offensively for irvine five kills hitting 222 but he also has three digs and has been drawing much of the attention from that hawaii blocking scheme now speaking of friday the 13th as we mentioned in that promo thing's a little eerie from the radopatapunov point as he on cue comes in with the swing but is unable to put it down he is still hitting negative numbers at the moment is not however he has a handful of kills on six swings in just one error he's hitting 667 but a very unrattle-like performance thus far in this match we haven't seen it really this year so far maybe a little uh he's just not quite in system if you will here's um with the serve we're tied at 15 outside and a good dig there on the swing by schneider miller by rado boom there from the back row unable to get it down sani the roll shot could save worsely and swinging on two it's jacob and that play was masterminded by gage worsley he came in took that ball with his hands he said it and he purposely sets that ball up knowing exactly where tele is in the front court giving teller the option set it or hit it so quite the tug of war here bruin in this second stanza we've already seen five lead changes tickles the tape on the serve backside and when sani sends it long no touch up front so hawaii now up a deuce doing a little bit of a duck on that play getting out of the way you know i did have radopatapunov on my podcast as the guest interview here this week so the let's talk sports with kanoa leahey and jordan helly podcast jinx possibly i love being a boy not yeah no don't put that on yourself he's gotta own this here's stella high and away it goes to colton cowell and he's able to find that deep corner i think colton cowell just went up and over the block i mean he just elevated for that attack so time out irvine hawaii by three and all smiles for cowell welcome back let's check out the first hawaiian bank top three and this is kind of crazy career big west player of the week awards and you have the two top guys playing in this match radopatapunov though with 14 leading schneidermiller who has five patapunov getting his fourth this season alone last week also getting his fourth career abca national player of the week honor but uh yeah that's that's kind of wild to think just how prolific rado has been when it comes to that particular achievement he has pretty much separated himself and dominated that [Applause] attila goes outside cowell up on boosters unable to put it down though and we have a whistle [Applause] a net violation a violation called against irvine i think he pointed to himself and said i got the net [Music] and looks like david niffen trying to get an explanation maybe a confirmation from his players and i think you saw sonny you pointed out he was likely the player who got stuck in the twine and he actually admitted to coach niffini i got a piece of it overpass cowell catches in colton cowell with nine kills to lead everybody and you know you can just feel the energy from colton cal literally when you look at him he lights up he's having fun he's leading his team that play though completely again made from the service line by spyros hawkins coming in as a serving specialist tonight a 6-1 run for the warriors making a 6-2 run with that serve into the net that was momentarily the largest lead of this second frame for hawaii and hakus back to the bench long exhale there from sunny here it comes irvine trailing by three tela tried to go over on two again but the blocker was waiting for him it was schneidermiller denying access and then a little miscommunication there as umlair and worsley came into each other and you see them trying to work it out verbally the communication for a guy in umlair who's making his first start of the season that's right and it was right in his lap and gage wersley is so used to controlling and taking all the balls that he possibly can he wants to handle that first contact remember this now is just the fourth set that he's played in all season here's rado rattled around can irvine return it yes they can great effort there on the anteater side telego's middle to gasman and that one will not be returned and that's the exact play that charlie wade has been wanting his team to work on a transition play where they're digging it and then they're running what they call the offense pat gassman has been clutch in the middle driving hard and his connection really nice [Music] great scramble by irvine just trying to get that ball back over the net again worsley taking that first contact [Applause] gasman perfect so far five kills five attempts no errors as tella goes into the net again we talked about critical times in a match when serving becomes more and more critical when you hit that 20 mark it really does become more important if you will both teams hitting pretty well here 300 for irvine in this second set 375 for hawaii as their right on cue is another one of those ill-timed service errors for the anteaters it it has hampered them particularly around this final turn if you will of each frame it really has in game one seven missed serves in one set is is a lot 22 serving 19 cowell with it passed by phaley was able to stick that and then seconda finds that corner right in front of where charlie wade was doing the match second the lefty doing a nice job on that right side his fifth kill on the evening the fourth straight start for seconda was a big west conference all freshman team selection back in 2019 static the serve overpass by worsley dunked down by gillis and so a rare receiving error by gage worsley and all of a sudden irvine within a point very rare error by worsley i think he may have been trying to push it up a little too far forward on that one handles it with two open hands this time and he set to gasman paying dividends once more smooth very smooth still batting a thousand right now for patrick gassman whose mom jean flew in hoping that she would be able to come into the arena like the worsleys who also flew in they were told that they had a great possibility of getting in so they just they still came anyways eyeball outside and it is sent wide by gillis and gillis that's actually his first hitting air on the evening got nine kills one error and it is aloha ball for hawaii in the second set [Music] i believe there's a challenge being called right now possibly by coach niffen for a touch off of that last play all right so ernie ho is the official on the floor here the r2 tom saunders is the r1 up atop the ladder kevin chun mark nakashima the two line judges and so ernie's going to take a look at the review you mentioned some of the family members traversing to the islands and there was some discussion i think some certain hope that fans in some capacity would be allowed in the arena but as you may have seen in some of the news reports throughout the week that is something that is likely not going to happen because there hasn't been the county-wide or even really statewide agreement on that right and as we take a look at the replay here they're looking for some in or out actually not a touch on this ah that is very tough on that angle what do you see kanoa the line judge is right there and that is awfully close and and one of those that's it'll be hard perhaps to overturn but who knows the call will stand [Music] i think that was a fair challenge from from niffen's angle i could see how you would think that would be in i mean why not that's right you're trying to prevent your self from going down 0-2 here on the road against the top-ranked team in the country coach schniffen talking to davis lau there on his right a local boy out of punahou started the year as libero for the team aloha ball for hawaii in the second gillis off the triple block and out [Applause] garcia going back to to gillis on that play gillis just hitting that last ball like maybe two millimeters out [Music] [Applause] so here is seconda credit dylan jai with that assist on that play but still aloha ball here for hawaii and that's an ace well-timed delivery that time by alexander sakanda and that will prompt a hawaii timeout so things getting a bit uncomfortable for the rainbow warriors after the service ace you know the service errors have really been such a detrimental aspect of this match so far for uc irvine 11 surface errors to this point so the rare flipping of the script if you will where they have the ace that puts them within a point that's right and i think it's a perfect timeout by coach charlie wade and his staff to slow things down you got a lefty that just bombed an ace on you let's see if irvine when they come back from this time out if they take a little something off of that serve all right well colton cowell leading the way offensively for hawaii nine kills hitting 6-15 also has a pair of blocks as an ace and a dig to his stat line yeah he's having a a nice night he's in system he's celebrating leading the way for irvine in fact leading all hitters right now cole gillis you know it's interesting because he's been getting perhaps the majority of his sets from dylan jai the 6-1 freshman who david niffen says reminds him a little of joe wursley because of the way the ball sits in his palms just that extra nano second almost maybe crossing the line in some instances but uh we have not seen anything but pretty good sets from jai here so far in this match let's send it over to ryan thanks gonna well coach niffen reminding his team the gameplan which is to serve aggressively he recognizes that the only way to keep hawaii out of system and to stay with hawaii is to be aggressive from the service line he said hawaii has got great auto system hitters but the only way that any team is really able to compete with them is by keeping them out of system from the get-go from the service line so the service pressure from irvine will continue to be strong moving into this a lot of part of this set back over to you guys thanks a lot ryan easier said than done for sure but you got to give irvine some credit because they've been able to do just that and hitting for a pretty good percentage as well actually out blocking hawaii to this point in the match although it remains aloha ball here in the second in favor of the warriors here it comes from seconda pass by worsley forces telda to track it down backset rado through the block and down and prior to that hitting negative numbers is able to get his third kill of the match that should put him at the flatline level and so rado hoping that his knight might turn just a little bit although despite para puna of not having his typical offensive flurry it is hawaii with an opportunity to crack open the broom closet at simplify arena at stan sheriff's center [Music] welcome back let's take a look at the mcdonald's match statistics lisa what do you think well you look at the numbers they look pretty close the thing that jumps out to me obviously is going to be those service aces to errors irvine struggling 11 service errors the numbers close you got a five-point game when you look at the matchups 25-22 25 23. those are very close and that's why i think the numbers are pretty similar as well yeah i think the timing of some of those service errors particularly egregious for uc irvine but that does not take away from the fact that hawaii's middles have been performing at a very efficient level jimmy voss five kills on six swings just one error hitting 667 also has a block to his stat line and pat gassman six kills on six swings he is still error free so an unblemished offensive performance thus far for pat gasman and i i just love that the middles have gotten more offensively involved and are holding their own truly still out in front as an outside hitter leading all the attackers for hawaii with nine kills at 6 15. who is black still not totally on sync tonight just yet what do you think kind of like that three bucks yeah not certainly up to statistically what they've established this season averaging three blocks per set they have three blocks for the entire match here tonight as patapunov who was able to put down that last point and set number two gets the first point here in set number three and patapunov now with four kills remember [Applause] coming into this match we had an opportunity to crack the top ten needed seven kills to surpass deon milidinovic for tenth all-time in program history that one is blasted off of the patapunov block attempt by sakanda for a point milodinovic sitting at 1198 career kills so patapunov three away from surpassing that he's gonna get there and i'll bet i'll put money on it kanoa it will be tonight passed by cowell in the middle set it's gassman like clockwork and that's something that you know we talk about colton cowell and his incredible ability and certainly his journey has been something remarkable in manoa but what he does in serv receive i mean that pass makes that middle attack possible this is a guy whose reception percentage is 965 coming into this match that's just seven errors on 202 service reception attempts and there it is again those numbers it is phenomenal the numbers that this these players are putting out there they just continue to amaze when you really do the math two serving two and they go tit-for-tat on service errors cowell and static and so here's gassman now behind the line and static really a little silent tonight we haven't seen a lot from him he's hitting he's got two kills so far on the match in five attempts usually he's putting up higher numbers and bigger blocks high toss here gasman middle set and that's warren camp again making his return after missing seven matches with a leg injury one of several players being moved around like chess pieces by david niffen the guy who was previously a setter before transitioning the middle blocker here this year that's right and niffen has really had to move them around like chess players he has started four freshmen in the last five matches but tonight he's not doing that he's bringing back those injured reserve players and giving them opportunities in this match boss sort of paint brushed that one and it goes long for an irvine point just the second hitting error for voss not a great connection there [Applause] second about to bring it and that one hit a little fat right it was like a knuckle ball that sailed over the net and long yeah i'll use your turn the wrist away he kind of didn't have any wrist away on it and it just sailed it just kept going bulgaria says that volleyball was just in his family from a young age that everyone in my family played volleyball not necessarily professionally or anything like that but just everybody played it and so he was introduced to the game at a very young age and it wasn't very long after that he started realizing growing into that frame and applying some of the skills that he has exhibited throughout his career that it was something he should take seriously and so he said in his early teen years that's when he thought all right i think i need to make this volleyball thing a significant part of my life and you know he's the typical i mean he's an amazing at six nine and left-handed i think it's a perfect sport to line him up with truly good pass by worsely in the middle set to voss there was a time this season where charlie wade said that they had to almost beg yakuptella to set the middle more frequently and a lot of that was actually a reflection of what he felt like they could exploit more against uc irvine the first time around to open the season and so tella obviously obliging since yeah and i think with the time he's gained a lot more confidence with his hitters there's been a few different players in the middle there we had max rosenfield earlier in the season filling in and then gasman struggled one night and then boss was in so every hitter has a different set in a different reach and approach and style you got to get familiar with those players warren camp sending that one out so here's um what do you think about the way philip has played here in his first start of the season and a good time to ask perhaps coming off of the ace dealt out of the deck you know what he's like the steady eddie he does the little things he's not going to make a lot of errors he's the emotional guy when things go right but he is just he does the little things and he does the little things well and i'm happy for him i'm happy to see him get this opportunity to to get back out on the court and contribute yeah he's been through some stuff over the last calendar year so great to see him out there and certainly he has placed a bit of a foundation down tonight something that he can perhaps build upon going further into this season and beyond again chas galloway out sick here tonight [Applause] philadelphia getting the start as that second outside hitter he's able to lay off of that one he had a notion they say if you have to jump and take it over here chances are really good that it's out it's almost like you're going fishing you know like hey bad about i like her grab this boss hawaii up two in the third [Music] floats it into the back row and sani comes swooping in and goes off the block and out bonnie tooling the block hitting hard into it colton cowell and gassman posting a nice block but not a lot you can do when the angle of that hit the trajectory is set comes the jumps from sony oh boy that was 72 miles an hour um they're out of system from the back row chance here for irvine to tie it they go outside schneidmiller and how about that thin slice [Applause] cross court and down and we're knotted at eight well i'll tell you what the hustle schneidermiller a great angle but the hustle by patrick gasman on that play into the stands he comes back and he gets he actually got up on the block pretty pretty uh impressive [Applause] another impressive serve that one hits 68 in miles per hour schneidmiller the roll shot and all of a sudden irvine in front i know they're doing a great job blasting away on that last one and then just taking that same approach and doing he's got all the defense on hold you don't see that shot working at a very high frequency in the men's game that one was surgical from joel schneidermiller [Applause] first touched by um there again hawaii out of system so high ball goes to cowell off the block pancake layout saves sani schneidmiller the save but now they will blow the whistle and they will rule that that hit the terraflex at least that appears to be the call from the officiating crew and david niffen is up along the sideline seeking clarification take a look on the replay and see if they get it looks like he got under that a pancake dig is what they call that he's screaming at his lungs up maybe it just got down beside that hand i thought maybe they were calling the set actually but i don't think that was it i think you're right it was whether it hit the ground nine serving nine here's sonny from the back row three blockers up and you can tell this guy is going to be a headache for the rest of the big west conference [Applause] he really is he's going to only get better a true freshman number two recruit in the country for men's volleyball he now has nine kills hitting 400. schneidermill of the serve rattled the tape cowell from the opposite pin handcuffs the libero failey and colton cowell with his 11th kill after he applies the perfect pass colton cal loves it when he gets to serve receive and then the setter sets him it's like he is completely dialed in when he takes that first ball and they set him you see it often on the bit and you see it when he's in right front sani he is starting to unload he's into double figures and kills he has 10. [Applause] irvine passing a little more consistently this set allowing them to distribute the ball better [Music] static pass by sets up rado through the double block and down that is kill number five for patapunov so one away from tying deon milidinovic for 10th on the all-time career kills list at uh and two away from claiming the tenth spot to himself 11 up and gasman a little too much gas goes long for an irvine point getting a little bit underneath that ball [Applause] [Music] very interesting serve receive here look at how hawaii has really crept in very shallow on that jump float serve received back said rado off the block and out well you wanted to put your money on the fact that uh rado would perhaps surpass milodinovich for number 10 on the all-time kills list and he now has six put downs so he's tied 1198 career kills for patapunov the numbers keep adding up and you know what he's just too good of a player he's going to self-correct no matter what [Applause] so the team's trading blows this has kind of been the trend here so far this evening hawaii has been able to pull away at the end of sets winning the first 25-22 the second 25-23 service errors have hampered uc irvine that is now 15 service errors on the night yeah they have really they're trying to go for it but they're making a lot of unforced errors you talked about it earlier kanoa near the end of the game but trying to keep hawaii [Applause] [Music] and turning it back in hawaii with their fourth block on the evening here we take a quick look at that complete penetration over the net by both rockers vos and colton cowell did you see where colton cowell was [Applause] in comparison to the top of the net i mean that is incredible as you see the service error from um you think he's worked just a little bit hard in the weight room from when he came into this program to where he is now it's a complete almost metamorphosis he's a beast 14 serving 14. tella goes behind the head to voss who gets blocked and denied himself so irvine for the third time first of 15. be a part of the game get your fan cut out for all games at simplify arena at stan sheriff center visit hawaiiathletics.com and click on fanzone for details on how to purchase [Music] oh if you could purchase some stocks on some of the freshmen contributors for uc irvine this would be a good one to support francesco sunny 10 kills 353 just a frosh and he has shown some of that upside that made him one of the top prospects in all the land coming out of the prep ranks but colton cowell i mean just an explosion on the outside pin coming out of that timeout 12 kills and 16 attempts hitting at 688 [Applause] during that break they that last little break there they played our house that's becoming a common theme around this place that's right that one goes off the tape and an unfortunate ricochet there for sparrows hakkas as irvine jumps in front again bob's coming back excuse me not coming back into the match so dangerous rotation here you have sonny behind the service line and we saw him put together a little run the last time he was back there hawaii they're able to quite literally dodge that bb 71 mile an hour serve goes long ever notice that every time you talk about somebody doing something from behind the service line they miss or do you watch it or what's going on there nope superheroes have all kinds of different powers right aquaman could talk to the fish and i have the ability to bounce these servers sunny the whippy swing misses long and so hawaii by virtue of the sunny out serve and the sani out hit jumps in front speaking about superheroes the anteater were named from a superhero from a from a long time ago by a comic strip years ago i did a little research on why they were named the anteaters and it was a student vote back in 1965 schneidermiller clobbering that set on the outside clobbering it and then yelling you know he's getting the team behind him he's trying to get some energy behind his team here so we're tied at 17. neck and neck third set [Applause] out of the pass there by worsley middle sent gasman into the twine his first hitting error of the match and you gotta love the uh the set actually in the past gage worsley passing on the dime and a great set selection by tella just an unforced air and it's very rare tonight gasman's been on spot on oh but again the ill-timed service error just when irvine maybe has hawaii on its heels a bit and has an opportunity to create some separation the out serve has once again reared its head and that's what coach different was talking about when we spoke with him earlier in the week is the consistency we just can't seem to to be more consistent in the longer rallies and in the match-ups here's cowell passed by phaley a perfect one good diving effort there by worsley but unable to save the static swat and static from watertown wisconsin [Music] his third kill on the evening all-time block leader at uc irvine he's got his his name and number in their record books as well yeah just about every blocking category whether it's career single match single season it's all scott static schneidermiller off of one foot he's able to slice it down those are the the broken plays that kind of they're out of system and a scramble dig a scramble set and he comes off of one leg for backcourt again his expression he's got this energy that he's just putting his team on his back and carrying them right now we've got 16 ties seven lead changes in this third frame as patapounov lays into that set and for patapunov that is kill number seven and so props torado as he officially takes over 10th place in the all-time hawaii career kills list he continues to climb that ladder remember the game has changed right it's evolved scoring is different the rules are different and covet has created such a unique situation where they played last year and now they're all playing again this year and now rattle rolling a little bit that is kill number eight remember he was hitting negative for a good portion of this match he is well into the positive numbers now percentage-wise [Applause] but do you think about what a guy like patapunov could have done prior to the rally scoring era right where they were racking up in those long marathon matches all kinds of opportunities i mean this is a guy i believe is career high for single matches 30. i mean we would see that number eclipsed regularly back in the day oh yeah [Applause] so hawaii jumps in front timeout irvine hawaii hoping to close the deal [Music] catcher marinelle face off against punahou and kamehameha take on mid-pacific in an ilh baseball doubleheader tomorrow starting at 3 45 p.m only on spectrum oc 16 hawaii up one out of the timeout up two sets to none but irvine isn't ready to pack it in as alexander sakanda crushes one to knock things up at 21 a piece irvine really right in this game and and feeling the energy shift to their side of the net you can see their confidence slowly building throughout this match yeah i would agree they've had a pretty formidable body language for what that's worth here throughout this match even though they trailed two sets to none middlesex popped up by phaley high ball set goes to second by the triple blocking down the conda taking a little something off of that seeing identifying that triple block a nice dig there an off play out of system again attack from the back court hawaii scrambling on defense maybe the advantage of having an outside hitter like cole gillis who's also a libero and skilled with the hands setting it cross court second of the serve pass by cowell is a good one backside rado off the block and out and we're tied again [Applause] has turned his evening around from hitting negative numbers now he has nine kills hitting 316. [Applause] the u-turn that's what good athletes do i mean you know you knew he wouldn't stay there can't keep him down for long 22 all but he does serve it into the twine [Applause] sometimes you go back there and you don't stay as focused as you should not concentrating as much as you should [Music] so here's gillis oh and it's an ace just touched the top of that tape and changed the angle enough to throw gage worsley a little offbeat and so aloha ball for irvine in the third looking to extend this match and those let serves really do get you gage worsley was on his way he's so quick footed he's there he actually almost beat the ball and then it tickled the tape and there you saw it hawaii just trying to tone tone things down get a little bit more uh time this third set has been back and forth to say the least we've had 19 ties coming up on it's a hawaii thing brooke and lanai talk with eric e panda hernandez brother and session tour drummer for bruno mars monday night at 6 30 exclusively on spectrum oc 16. and david niffen i think has to be pleased with the fact that his team continues to put up a fight in a match they were down 0-2 they're going to be here for a long period of time right they're obviously trying to calibrate themselves for next week they could have easily packed it in tonight and thought all right let's try to get back on pace tomorrow but instead they're looking to make a match of this and they're one point away from pushing it to at least a fourth this is really where hawaii has to dig deep and you see a lot of character they do these drills non-stop where they start at 20 24 a team versus b team and see how they fare so they're very used to this competition and the risk that comes involved with this next point david niffen loves coming out to hawaii always makes leonard's a stop every time he's out here now i don't know if those plans are altered because of the kovitz scenario all i know is when i'm driving down kapahulu avenue and i drive by leonard's the line is still down the block it's always down the block at leonard's here's rado cross court diving save played off the net pela able to crush it through the block and down that was it was a courageous decision there by jacob and you'll tell us six and a lefty playing big at the net taking an opportunity of a broken play [Applause] and so it is still aloha ball irvine here in the third boom there making sure that one got in outside schneidmiller dug up by um boss bump set to cowell off the top of the tape and tightrope walks its way out of bounds point irvine and we aren't yet at simplify arena at stan sheriff's center the anteaters able to push it to a fourth welcome back we are headed to a fourth year at simplify arena at stan sheriff center the anteater is able to take a very competitive third set 25-23 so we play on as we take a look at some scores from around the manoa athletic program women's water polo with a win over irvine bakersfield defeating the rainbow warrior baseball team aaron davenport taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning would end up actually getting the loss in that game so hard luck continues for aaron davenport as you take a look at the single game final riverside over the rainbow wahine softball team 2-1 and beach volleyball rainbow wahine ranked 15th going 5-0 over the oregon ducks [Music] and then backing that up with another perfect performance against portland and then going 4-1 over the huskies of washington so solid day for the rainbow wahine beach volleyball squad the indoor men's team hoping to cut this thing off in four but irvine with some other plans and they have a certain energy about them that we saw exhibited in that third frame into the fourth we go here's colton cowell and he exerts some energy on that set 13 kills now for cowell he leads everybody is [Applause] now at 13 kills in a match for the seventh time this season he's gone for 13 or more six previous matches [Applause] [Music] and this just feels like this could be one of those sprints to the finish line type of matches here i agree it is because with that with irvine taking that third set they've regained this confidence and they feel like they can come in here and play their type of volleyball [Applause] serving one worsely with the pass backside here's cowell and we've seen that a couple of times kyle from the opposite pin providing the lightning bolt he's just as effective in my mind from the right side as he is from the left but he hits more common two rotations on that left side and as a primary passer 14 kills now for colton two serving one he serves [Applause] middle set static able to pop it down [Music] it's got static four kills zero zero errors but again offensively a little quiet that's one kill a game so far for scott static just so rangy at seven feet yes very rangy he was also a number one recruit according to volleyball mag coming out of high school yeah back in 2016. he's been around a while he's been across the net from you know all these guys colton cal they've seen each other through the years that's what kobe did again gave them an opportunity to play one more full season shortened season but cool there's barn camp getting it down for irvine yeah this is interesting because you're right we're celebrating senior weekend for hawaii and they have guys who have been part of the program for six years you have the same thing in some instances on the opposite side for irvine and these are also players who saw the transition through from the mpsf days to the newly established big west conference for men's volleyball so this is kind of an interesting collection of seniors not just that transition but then going through the covet season i mean these are a bunch of players who have seen it all they really have and the big west conference really i do believe this year is one of the most difficult conferences in the nation coach niffen actually said you know our record really doesn't show a true reflection of it because we're only playing in conference matches usually at this time of the year we've played many other teams and we've got a lot more wins sonny cracks it off the block and out [Music] johnny with 11 put downs [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and that's an ace right down the line cole gillis and gillis serving from that far left back on the court a very interesting spot going to the right of gage worsely going right at parapoon off who has to jump out of the way yeah not a very large window to target but he did so perfectly there took something off that second serve here's rado and that is some thunder into double figures so [Applause] remember when we were lamenting how unrado like his performance was well now he has hit double figures and kills in 20 straight matches going back to last season he's hitting 333 and we're tied at five good serve there by um their great pass however and then schneidermiller putting everything he had into that one miller just flying out of that left front he's got this look in his eye right now that is a little dangerous [Applause] i mean we have some cannons on either side of the net i mean schneidermiller when you see him swing he just swings so hard it is such a violent type of swinging motion high bump set from warsley goes dorado unable to put it down here's schneidermiller by the double block and down was able to put some finesse on that one [Applause] [Music] three-time all-american you know coach niffen talked about him coming in out of northern california as one of the top recruits but he said he wasn't a real confident guy like in the classroom but since then he's been on the honor roll numerous years and just the development he's seen in this young man has been amazing this time they go the other side to sani off the block the up by rado tella running out of room was able to center it three chance here for the anteaters middle set static bounces it off of the teraflex and what came into play there was this new partition that's been set up between where our broadcast booth is and the playing surface as you see right there that partition implemented in anticipation of the conference tournament next week and basically what it does is it creates the same amount of space on the far side opposite us as there is now on the near side so it's just to create a little more balance on the playing surface as schneidermiller avoids the triple block short arms it to the near side and it is uc irvine up by four timeout hawaii and the tables are turning take your internet with you spectrum internet customers get free unlimited access to over 4 000 wi-fi hotspots across the islands well hawaii meanwhile experiencing a cold spot right now a four nothing run in favor of the anteaters as irvine up by four in the fourth leading two sets to one tele the difficult back set block was the errato attempt good cover there by umler and the sequence continues middlesex static just placing it down so the seven foot frame of scott static right now serving him well as he is just guiding the ball into very particular spots in that hawaii defense irvine definitely making some huge adjustments trying to get their middles more involved in the offense they've been heavily relying on their outsides so far in this match we have a change out there for hawaii as max rosenveld is put into the match pass boom there tella and he pumps it long point for irvine and that is now six straight scored by the anteaters and hawaii reeling here a bit why are you trying to change things up just a little bit you're going to have replaced as kanai akana comes in and we've seen kanai akana earlier tonight as a serving specialist primarily but coach charlie wade said he's one of the hardest working guys in the gym and he he knew put him in against csun when they were on the mainland he had a really nice match speaking of violent swings he put everything into that one and just punches it through that irvine block to end the 6-0 run but hawaii's got some catching up to do max rosenfeld who always seems to answer the call when he's put in there to try to apply some energy he certainly does that can he do so from the service line first one goes in but then schneidmiller puts a quick end to that rotation that's a tough role you know you're sitting for three games and all of a sudden you're thrown in and you've got to you know come in and block run the middle and serve so tough but we'll see if charlie wade and staff keep him in that slot sunny into the net so a break for hawaii what are you seeing though out of irvine why are they making life so difficult in this fourth set for the rainbows well i think really they've cut down on their services earlier in the match that was huge but they're getting more confident on their offense they've made some kills they've had a couple little blocks that have changed the momentum of this game good up there by akana outside colton cowell two hands it deep but too deep he's trying to pinpoint it to that far corner and what you're gonna see is gage worsely is trying to take control of the team a little bit more he's talking with everybody walking around saying hey you guys let's slow this down come on we can do this schneidermiller who comes into this match third all time for irvine in service aces is denied by the tape there and the hitting percentage for irvine just in this current set is at 8 33. that's one of the hugest differences hawaii in this match is at 270. that's remarkable 10 kills 12 attempts no errors for irvine in this fourth set and cowell goes into the twine and hawaii now making some of those unforced errors a little flustered i think [Applause] there you see the service static into the twine yeah it's almost as if hawaii went up two sets to none kind of put it in simmer mode and now they're trying to see if they can bring themselves back to a boil which is what is gonna be required to get back into this fourth set certainly as irvine they've found a certain rhythm absolutely and just any team in this big west as long beach state figured out tonight when they lost to cal state northridge you cannot put yourself in cruise control there's too much competition well that helps perhaps serve as a bit of a sparky of gas man forcing the overpass and then patapunov doing patapunov things [Applause] yakutella will continue to set rado on that outlet set 10 serving 14. crassman upping the velo on that attempt and then with the two-hand save fall into his wallet the set goes to o'connor was there a touch no touch it goes long and irvine gets to 15 first for the fourth time well joel schneidermiller living up to his reputation as quite simply one of the best outside hitters in college volleyball he has done it for a multitude of years and tonight 15 kills hitting 571 and the vibe in this building again a fan free atmosphere but the vibe nonetheless has started to favor uc irvine it really has he's taken on the energy you could see it slowly erupting in him and it continued to go with each kill that he got he was we talked about him early three-time all-american he didn't get there because of his performance he's gotten there because of his performances and then he stuffs rado i mean the two meeting at the apex and schneidermiller shutting the door and rado not used to getting shut down very often [Applause] so 16 serving tim here's rodol the set not quite on target but who's been superb out of system able to make the adjustment and still get the kill down so he has 12 put downs on 27 swings he does have five errors hasn't quite been locked in from the service line either they could use errato run right here down a handful tickles the tape the pass by philly a nice one schneidermiller rolls it off the fingertips of the block one hand save warsling the setup rosenfeld to akana has to just touch it over chance here for the anteaters high ball schneidermiller by a triple block gets it home knight miller is just taking over in the front court right now literally moving that ball around three blockers a nice tight block and somehow he gets it through them he has been incredible over the course of the last two sets irvine having to make a rotation adjustment there colorado questioning the breath tom saunders schneidermiller who was actually setting up back behind the service line and now i think charlie wade is going to try to get an explanation from ernie ho can you check it out you know it sure is nice these coaches before the match were actually talking with one another joking around catching up you know through the years kind of a thing and just the calmness of both of them right now is after last weekend really nice to see it is quite the contrast from some of the imagery we witnessed the last time we brought you a hawaii home match here on spectrum sports charlie wade and alan knight were certainly in a much more confrontational mode now that said charlie is vehemently arguing his point as it relates to perhaps the rotational error would be rotational error for uc irvine andrado wants in on it as well that's what the challenge is in the presence of the officiating crew so if [Applause] i'm really not sure if he went back there and grabbed the ball and then they switched afterwards if that's illegal or not for 19. so 19 is the correct service [Music] [Applause] [Applause] gesturing gesturing to sort of back away a little bit okay but she didn't need she didn't give me a round of applause all right let's check in with ryan what do you got for us ryan so the question right now is the lineup for and the difference between where snide middle schneidermiller is and gillis schneidmiller just went three rotations to the front row and so he was supposed to go back to serve but they were out of rotation and so they essentially put schneidermiller back at the left front and gillis went back to the where he's at right now the service line meaning that schneidmiller gets another three rotations through the front line so hawaii is saying that that should not be allowed they should have checked the lineup before to make sure that the players were in the right positioning and uci just went through three rotations in the wrong rotation before being identified back over to you guys oh that sounds awfully messy from the officiating standpoint right i mean how far back do you go to first recognize a rotation error [Applause] and how do you then even attempt to correct that as it pertains to the status of the match well the score keeper over there is supposed to be the one identifying making sure that it's the right server every time you go back if that wasn't caught by the scores person then it's really hard to say that you can go back three rotations and play through the front row again he's either challenging suddenly we got to move on you can't just stand on top [Applause] back and forth with tom saunders now talking or at least joining in the discussion between charlie wade and ernie ho and ernie's going to go back across the floor now i mean we saw these kinds of pauses a couple weekends back for a whole different set of circumstances let's see if we can listen [Music] and we can't go to the video and look at that's not happening so if he wants to challenge something that's challengeable you can do that otherwise we're moving on you got about five seconds before i blow the whistle what's your decision i already told you if you want to challenge something i'm not pulling anything on something me and i didn't see so if you have a challengeable challenge you do it otherwise you gotta go back so you gotta like that this up breath is taking control of the match and he's saying if i didn't see it then we can't go back and ask the media to play it over again for us we need to move forward with this match because that doesn't fall into the category of a challengeable offense so that's what you heard tom saunders saying if it's not something that can legally be challenged then we have no choice but to play on and it basically becomes a an error that is missed and that is allowed to slip by by this officiating crew absolutely the officiating crew and the scoring crew because the scoring crew are the people that actually mark it down and the rotations and all the substitutions they have a paper trail of this so he said five seconds it's been about another 15 and i'm sure i am positive that tom saunders saw the delay in game last weekend two weekends ago in this arena okay so it appears as though charlie wade is issuing a challenge or at least ernie ho is taking a look at some element of a previous play so so now we are getting word that charlie is challenging a an illegal back row attacker on the last play so that is something that he can challenge [Applause] [Music] attacking the ball and i do not believe that he's back row because he's standing in the front row right now he went back to serve and then switched places and came back into the front court [Music] assistant coach aaron johnson talking to the team a little bit okay so schneidermiller the one hitting was supposed to be a back row player in that rotation let's check in with ryan for the exercise so technically the only way that charlie could challenge that is by saying that there was a back row attacker because of the fact that the way that they were lining up technically schneidermiller was supposed to be left back and so when he hit that ball he was in right front which means he was a back row attacker illegally attacking even though the bottom ref through that first three rotations did not recognize that uci was out of rotation for that entire sequence and so it becomes a very small sort of band-aid applied to a much more egregious series of offenses because of how long they were out of rotation yeah so hawaii gets that one point back but you see i was out of rotation for at least three rotations and meanwhile schneidermiller wherever he is on the floor continues to just rain thunder on the rainbow warriors well we appreciate ryan's explanation uh on that because uh yeah that was that was a pretty messy one that was and that's exactly where you might be missing of the mark a little bit the mark preshow where he's keeping track of where the players should be and and hawaii's scores table should be keeping track of that as well meanwhile colton cowell unleashing again so after all the dust clears a four-point differential and akana with the serve forces the overpass rosenfeld plops it down and hawaii within three and here we go game on in the fourth right back into it [Applause] punahou graduate transferred over from byu putting some serious heat on that ball from the back court that's a good serve right there and ace dealt out of the deck you gotta love his expressions he almost looks surprised that that he had such a great serve he runs in and starts bouncing around but making things happen from the service line [Applause] 15 serving 17. outside schneidmiller popped up by worsley cowell able to chase it down it stays outside of the pin and so a chance to play on in the sequence back set and it is sunny goes off of cowl and out for an irvine point great effort by colton just to keep that one alive cold and scrambling that's an interesting rule where you can go out and bring that ball back to your side of the net as long as it stays outside of the pin exactly and you can play on yeah 18 serving 15 here it comes now from born camp pass by akana on the money outside off the fingertips of the block good save along the back line by sani and here schneidermiller goes wide was there a touch they're gonna say there was well you must have heard it because she couldn't see it from here 19 serving 15 tele high balls it two verado off the block and down lotta poon off now with 13 kills and hawaii's keeping close here [Music] [Applause] it is rosenfeld setting up to serve hawaii hitting 300 as a team in this fourth set you see irvine lisa hitting 6 32 just one hitting error as a team and the service error by rosenfeld once again gives uc irvine some significant breathing room here up by four as they hit the 20-point mark but the serve goes long and it has definitely been a lot of service errors on both sides of the net this evening [Applause] in an evening where hawaii bit short-handed because of chaz galloway not being part of the festivities due to an illness and his offense from just the back row alone is a huge uh loss in my personal opinion to hawaii's offense tonight well the one hand set and gasman able to turn it back on static it was a bit of a lighthearted patty cake moment above the tape between the two big fellas and gasman actually getting that on his way down it's a big point for hawaii closing the gap hawaii within two tella passed by phaley outside oh the setup was a little off time here's rado tight to the net the joust knocked back over to hawaii's side tele backside patapunov off the block and out point for the rainbow warriors and they have come back to close it to one trailed by as many as six in this fourth set and hawaii just battling you gotta love it they've been challenged and they are they gotta look in their eye as well right now 19 serving 20. middle set static block out a chunk so warsley sets up rado through the double block pinballed around it will be returned for each chance for hawaii tella back to padaponov and again he delivers 15 kills for rado and this set is tied for the fourth time time out uc irvine [Applause] it's a beautiful back set rado just plummeting that ball down the line hawaii completely in system right now in a game to five so you had that long pause to try to address what was perhaps a series of points where uc irvine played out of rotation then after the long discussion the challenge by charlie wade which got hawaii the point but they still trailed by four back the warriors have come and you know the momentum really truly shifted to hawaii's side after that little delay in game trying to fit that was very confusing trying to figure out who was where and why schneidermiller hid out of the right front and actually he was supposed to be left back or whatnot super confusing but hawaii ended up with the advantage on that break and so now we effectively start over here in the fourth rainbow warriors up two sets to one these two teams will do it again tomorrow night tomorrow night will be the official senior night for a group that will include pat gassman colton cowell radopatapunov gage warsley jacksonvan ekren and our own james anastasiadis who's been grouped in with the bunch even though he is technically serving as a student assistant this year [Music] that's a huge group of graduating seniors all right so james uh i mean are you taking part in all of that tomorrow i haven't been told anything yet actually so i'm not too sure but little does everyone know i'm actually saying one more year oh really so my master's is two years so this is trading news right here yeah i guess so that rattle rattle insisted though that i went out with him so i was like anything for you buddy okay i'll have my senior night with you and honestly i'm kind of glad it happened that way i'd love to not be the only one out of the 19 freshman i came in with to stay but what a game we are having today and i'm loving the senior brick wall we have in the front row right now oh yeah good point good observation there kyle gassman and patapunov but schneidemiller busts through that wall emphatically he almost took rado out he literally annihilated that ball here on the replay take a quick look rado coming in to play some defense and i don't know where that hit him i think in the shoulder but he took one so 21 serving 20. schneidermiller bought a piece of the tape telego's middle the gas men high hands and out and we're not it again gasping with eight kills having a really nice connection night in the middle with jacob [Applause] seconda we haven't really heard from him for a stretch but he is able to come up big for his ninth kill and irvine inches ahead once more [Applause] jai with the set selection again a freshman running the offense for uc irvine static here's bessette off the net pops straight up in the air by schneidmiller static cross court second is going to get a swing out of it the dig there by worsley tell a backside patapuno through the block and down [Applause] i mean tella knows where his bread is buttered the vast majority of times 34th swing of the match for rado and he's got 16 put downs he definitely does and he he's got him dialed up on speed dial literally [Applause] was able to evade the block and get it right down smack dab along that sideline kind of going away from verado [Music] on the right side there what do you think about the way irvine has been able to avoid this hawaii block in many instances well a lot of it is set location they're keeping it off just a little bit just enough to move around the block popped up nicely by sekonda he gets the high ball bump set rolls it by that block tried to be very precise but this time just missed that sideline and we're tied at 23. and that's the specialty of two left-handed players going at it seconda and rado parapoon off they're two lefties hitting across court ninth tie of set four and padapoon off with the toss and it is a beauty but a great pass second comes swooping in dug up by rado bum said tella the swing cowl from the back was dug up by secondary outside the touch shot there down the line by gillis is sniffed out here's akano pumps it long was there a touch no touch point irvine aloha ball and eaters in the four [Applause] that's a tough set for akana a little tight running in underneath it aiming for fingertips on that set so irvine thinking a fifth set here pass tight to the net middle set rosenfeld and we're gonna go to deuces here 24 all in the fourth and rosenfeld has just been so consistent when he is called on he performs [Applause] and he always brings that intensity it is overt akana with the jump serve [Applause] schneidermiller touches it off the block he tooled it to perfection and it's aloha ball again for irvine in the fourth this has been a typical type of match experience for irvine right we talk about just two wins all season but so many of their matches have looked like this where they have been competitive the majority of the time yeah their numbers don't really show the true team that they are cowell is blocked and roof static providing the static at the net and irvine takes it 26-20 and for the second time this season hawaii is forced to a fifth [Music] well there is your scenario we are going to a fifth here at simplify arena at stan sheriff center it's the second time hawaii's been pushed to a fifth you may recall the last time it was the last match in this building for hawaii against long beach state the warriors would win that one so they are 1-0 in five set matches this year as for uc irvine they are one and two they went to five sets twice against uc san diego on back-to-back nights in fact one time at home the next night at uc san diego's place they won the first one lost the second one and then lost in five at home to long beach state that was back on march 27th so like we talked about earlier this team really has been competing all season long even though their record truly is not a reflection of what they have done so far this season so now you have a situation hawaii won the first two sets competitive sets irvine takes a very competitive third set you have a strange scenario that transpired in set four that prompted a long pause with schneidmiller basically playing six rotations in the front row but he still did his thing 19 kills to lead everybody so far in this match but irvine would withstand a hawaii comeback in that fourth set so if you had to choose a team that had the advantage going into the fifth right and technically you throw all the stats out when you go into a fifth set but momentum is a thing who do you give the advantage to well right now uc irvine has the advantage because they came back and took that game and yeah it was only two points but they did even after that break and the advantage actually went to hawaii but really in the long run when you get to play six rotations in the front row and hit that's not an advantage to you i mean that's your advantage he has 16 about the way to kills this fifth set as jacob tella deals an ace out of the deck and hawaii really has to start strong in this fifth game that's what it almost always comes down to in a fifth right it gets off to the best start best start and the energy miller providing some energy again he has just been fantastic tonight and he's in the back row now let's let's make a note of that i am going to make a note of that see where he's at make sure he stays back there for three full rotations [Applause] [Music] just doing what he does best rocket rado delivering [Music] and this is among the times when this game this game of volleyball gets really fun you have two of the best hitters on opposite sides of the net and they're going to go at it here in a fifth set winner take all rato got his fingertips on that touch shot by gillis hawaii out of system akana sends it across irvine goes out to gillis again the block getting a chunk patella backside rado against the double block is blocked good cover by gassman back to patapunov he has to dink it over the advantage now the anteaters second off the block to save along the back line by cowell backside said rado yet again falls to the floor and gets the kill having to put it all forth on that sequence says colton cowell kept it alive on a number of occasions colton cal made that entire rally in my personal opinion he came from middle back and grabbed that ball he had three incredible defensive digs and cowell sends it into the net those are the tough ones it's like all for naught right for this great long rally and then oh it certainly can be deflating [Applause] in some high stakes situations like this static rolls it across good pass there kyle middle set gasman hits it wide no touch and we're tied at three [Applause] gasman with just his second hitting error of the match [Applause] so far 49 ties in this game so far that's unreal sets up rado just one blocker against them and he gobbles it up that was swing number 40 for patapunov and he doesn't look like he's slowing down much says when he came into this program he was a hitter he was always a talented hitter he says now at the tail end of my career i feel like i'm a volleyball player yeah he's a sixth rotation i mean his digs his defense alone has just risen so conda hits it long irvine wanted a touch no such call we may get a challenge here and yes it looks like david niffen is going to challenge the no touch call and that's a huge call i mean it's a benefit to have a challenge be able to call when you have this type of scenario in game five slowing things down a little bit yeah i mean it effectively at the at the very least serves as an opportunity for a de facto time out at best you get this overturn and it goes from your team being down two to we're tied at four that's right and not all the big west matches have this challenge system they don't have the capability to look at the replays [Applause] so let's see do you see a touch right there left hand akana maybe definitely out it looked a little bit like a field goal to me it looks like there may have been a touch again that left hand of akana let's see what the ruling is yes you're right so the challenge works and it goes from five serving three to four up another tie well this has been fun right back and forth and we got another one tomorrow and then we have a whole tournament's worth of possible matches like this next week i'm telling you they're gonna be just like this i think these teams are just finally getting into what you know it's nearing the end season but it's more the middle of their season truly and i think in particular for a team like irvine right we talk about all the chess pieces that were moved around players being switched in terms of their position their rotation all of that it seemed as though irvine all season long was just trying to find a combination something that represents their true identity and appears as though they've started to discover some of that at just the right time it sure does and it seems like coach schniffen knew that coming to hawaii getting the 10 days here in the islands getting his kids away and being together as a team about that shot by gillis well you know he was libero the last five matches so let's just let him hit this time around right pretty pretty amazing player you know has 11 kills and that one had some english and maybe several other languages on it from the back row busts it through the block and hawaii hops ahead [Applause] i'll tell you his athleticism on that play on the let's serve he got that ball up he could have very easily not played that ball but he did he rescued that point for his team yeah just the awareness to know that that was going to be in his neighborhood after the ricochet off the net so six serving five it has been rocket roddo time here in the late stretches of this match 21 kills hitting 381 here's akana again pass tight to the net set up schneidermiller popped up by worsley akana backstepping tries to bump set kowal from off the net he's blocked and roofed warren camp got the gist of that one it's a great set by akana just hiding outside colton cal getting a little bit under it i don't think he actually saw the blockers up on him i know he knows that there were blockers there [Applause] and so here is varncamp performer setter turn middle blocker 6-6 sophomore from los angeles to hand pass akana cross-court set cowell and someone came into the net and it's going to be cowell who did so a point for irvine and they jump in front in the mid section of this fifth set that set a little too tight for colton cal you can see him just following through and catching the top of the tape there [Applause] and that serve just misses that near sideline point for hawaii the rainbow warriors having already claimed the outright conference crown in the regular season now see their unblemished record being threatened here inside their home arena seven up in the fifth schneidermiller the pop up their rod over right to the net easy pickings for static and it is irvine in front yet again and usually in a traditional year this would be the moment where we would swap sides here in a fifth set but obviously not the case here as the team's remaining on their respective sides of the net [Music] lots of changes with kobe that's for sure passed by worsley teller goes middle it's gassman off the block and down they are trading haymakers right now in this pivotal winner take all fifth i feel like i'm on a teeter-totter back and forth up and down and i'm sure the teams do as well they're playing real consistent volleyball [Applause] patella good serve pass by gillis though on the money but then static sends it long no touch up front and hawaii once again leap frogs in front [Applause] and kenai akana playing that middle back being very aware staying deep and recognize that ball being long he could have very easily played that ball nine serving eight middle set static layout save akana for not and we are not ted again nine a piece [Applause] irvine changing things up again we've been tied just about every step of the way here in this fifth set how rare is it for hawaii to be threatened on its home floor well in this arena hawaii went nine and one last year 16-0 in 2019 as patapunov unleashes [Music] hawaii is 65 at the stand since 2017. those are some serious numbers and again we talk about the noise in the arena the seventh the fans not having the fans this team performs so well when they've got the fans they have had to build their own energy that's a really good point as seconda went up a few extra notches on that attempt and we're tied at 10. you're right i mean these are the kinds of matches right these thrilling moments high pressure situations these are the times where the fans would provide so much of that motor for hawaii backside rado one blocker up and that's usually not gonna be enough to get it done it's like the longer he plays the better he gets i mean there was a time where he was hitting negative triple digits and here he is now 23 kills and he's up in the 400 range in fact 409 to be exact he's leading all all hitters and kills high ball goes outside the gillis and he finds that deep corner [Music] my goodness that's like textbook that's about as deep as it gets from here it almost looked long but i'll tell you what that's very hard to defend that ball gillis with 11 kills one error excuse me 12 kills hitting it 500. we may have a substitution as doug dom 6-3 red shirt freshman from danville california wearing number nine comes in [Applause] served by second pass by cowell is a pretty one backside rado past the double block and down 24 kills for rocketrado and hawaii up one [Applause] [Music] are you not entertained [Music] a little something off of this [Music] 12 serving 11. he does got a good piece of the tape but it still went over gillis dug up over the net they play a little ping pong hawaii now with it here's rado from the back row through the double block the kick saved by bailey seconda puts it down what a sequence for irvine [Applause] unbelievable bailey with the dig of the night right there on the kick dig had a little longer leg than arm [Applause] and another kill for irvine irvine was a little looked a little discombobulated on serve received that last play [Applause] passed by worsley tella sets up rado two blockers against him it's dug up over the net and it finds its way out of play point for hawaii but going back to that kick save by bailey not bad for a guy who made his season debut in irvine's last match a couple of weekends ago on their senior night against uc santa barbara he's in grad school graduated in three years and so the educational load that he has had to carry that has that he has burdened himself with has made it very difficult for him to maintain a place in the rotation that's right and last year he was the starting libero and he basically lost that position and now he's back into the lineup hawaii up one joust at the net and a great play by dylan shy at 6-1 was able to beat the trees to the ball well coach schniffen said he does have flashes of brilliance and that was one of them right there well he said that he reminds him sometimes of joe worsley right because of his size because of the way he sets the ball and the way worsely would attack those balls that were 50 50 above the tape there were shades of joe right there for sure the out serve though gives hawaii aloha ball for the match lisa and an interesting you know joe worsley and dad roger actually helped to coach uh dylan jai so there's some significance there as well and again the ill-timed service error hurting irvine and one of the worst opportunities as paul hoaglin comes in aloha ball for the match in the fifth schneidermiller off the block could save their cow gasman sets up cowl off the block one hand save for not and hawaii closes the deal the senior to senior connection uncle pat to colton cowell and hawaii puts the finishing touches on a thriller here at simplify arena at stan sheriff center 15-13 in the fifth and i'll tell you what cole haaglin coming in doing a phenomenal job been sitting there for five games got a touch off of that and then colton cal putting it down from a set from uncle pat and what was great was the immediate display of respect between the two teams you see hawaii's celebrating here and certainly taking a moment to drink it in but then both teams on either side of the net turned and looked at each other and they recognized just how far they pushed each other here this evening bank of hawaii presents the players of the match [Music] and joel schneidermiller 20 kills to lead the way for irvine hit 516. radopatapunov completely turning his knight around he was in negative numbers for a time he finishes with 25 kills hitting 426 and also had six what should be digs to his stat line as well let's go over to scott hey thanks a lot canal coast congratulations that was about as close of five set matches you'll ever find yeah that certainly was and uh before we get too far into it i got a two housekeeping things one shout out to uh iolani sportswear for the fine aloha shirts they provide us and uh i want to say a shout out to kanoa's dad jim pops you know wish uh we could see more of you and uh hope you're feeling better all right and talk more about tonight because much different than the first few times you played each other yeah this is closer to the lineup when we played them before you know they had some guys back on the floor and i talked to dave niff and the coach quite a bit probably more so this year than most but um and he was hoping that by this week he'd get some of these guys back on the floor he saw 11 when he came in how impactful he was that was arguably the number one recruit in the country and and garcia six the other setter on the court they had bourne camp back in the lineup so a really talented set of pin hitters that they had on the floor out there tonight and uh you know we never really stopped them they are they they get blocked the least of any team in the league and uh they were really impressive tonight there's no doubt how much did you guys miss chaz galloway and what's the status for tomorrow night for him uh he should be good uh i'll find out a little more but uh jasmine miss you would like to have you out here tonight and uh hopefully he's with us again tomorrow all right coach enjoy this one we'll see you tomorrow thank you aloha all right canola back over to you thanks a lot scott and thanks a lot charlie i know pops is watching and so he if he was able to stay up through the whole thing uh he is certainly a happy camper that's for sure hawaii remains unbeaten here in this 2021 season 14-0 9-0 in the big west conference but they had to work to get this one earning a victory in five against uc irvine don't forget about the post-game show but for now for lisa strand i'm kanoa leahy until next time everybody aloha from manoa golden cow continuing on with his hot ways here as we look at the highlights closing call going up and over the block tonight the senior from maui finishing with five 17 kills hitting 393 really provided that offensive power for hawaii throughout the night and of course the national player of the year candidate showing why throughout he had a slow start to at the beginning of the match but really turned it on at the end of ending the night with 25 kills hitting 426 on the night was almost set exclusively in that fifth set pulls himself out of a hole to help hawaii win this match hawaii wins in five winning the first two 25 22 25 23 dropping the next two and coming back to win 15-13 in the fifth this is the post-game show on spectrum sports good job brian i guess now everybody can hear me and hawaii does win it in five to remain unbeaten on the season i'm scott you just heard ryan james he's joining us as well guys this was a real offensive night for both teams if you like defense there wasn't a lot yeah very incredible offensive knife for both teams we saw some of the biggest blocks in the country and somehow every hitter was able to go around their blocks it was incredible yeah a lot of just great story lines that happened tonight really shows the depth of hawaii's bench and the fact that charlie wade is not afraid to put players in at really any moment we saw of course kanai akana that came off the bench to help stabilize the passing in that fourth set uh we also of course saw on that very last play cole hogan being exerted you know we've heard about quahog being one of the best blockers in the gym and probably james can speak a little more to this uh in the practice gym but he gets inserted on match point gets a touch on the block no set around the court because he was in actually for jacob tella gassman ends up being the setter sets cowell and hawaii wins just an incredible way to end it yeah coal hoglin we kind of a nickname for him he's the pogo stick he just skies and how fast he can get off the ground and just reach over is incredible his blocking tonight showed to be very effective and that last play was crucial for the hawaii men's volleyball team to seal in that set and how about ronaldo parapoon off ryan you had the story about him in game on he was flatlining after the first two sets and then just was incredible the rest of the way hawaii really rolled that left arm with his in that fifth set and i think that just goes to speak of the type of caliber of player that radar power punic is the fact that he could be hitting in the negatives in the first two sets of this match and turn it around and end up hitting over 400 speaks a lot of his mental ability and his just physical prowess the fact that he could take as many swings as he did as well and be able to maintain that level shows what kind of leader he is and why many believe that he should be the player of the year for this uh ncaa men's volleyball season yeah eight kills in that fifth set for ronald's hawaii won the fifth set 15 of 13 and you know you look at hawaii blocking wise james you talked about you thought earlier in the match or before the match in hawaii would be more successful offensively how much do you think the fact that they faced each other twice was a factor maybe in that i think the fact that they faced each other three times earlier this year was a huge factor and like i said earlier i think irvine developed a very good scouting report and early on in the game did a good job shutting down rattle he didn't have the best start but as the game went along he kind of found a rhythm it was awesome to watch but irvine came out and they wanted to take down the number one team in the nation and they came to fight it was an awesome game to watch i i think the other thing too that was good for hawaii is expose some of the weaknesses that they have to work on in fact we just saw shot the team currently on the coach on the court right now still being coached by charlie he's talking to them about some of those things that were exploited one of the things that i thought that hawaii really did a poor job on was sealing that line block on the left side schneiderman was hitting a lot of balls crossbody down the line and the line blocker at the end was not making the adjustments and that's why maybe we saw kohlhoglin get inserted into the right front position for that last play because the right side blocking really looked weak for hawaii tonight they've got to step that up moving into the the postseason play well hawaii's able to find a way to win it in five and one of the guys he doesn't get all the limelight but he probably is the brightest guy on the team if you ask him gage worsley joins us now down on the floor gage congratulations that was a tough one tonight for you guys yeah i mean uh everyone came to play and we didn't but luckily some guys stepped up we needed to and took care of business well what did you see differently today as opposed to the beginning of the season against these guys i mean they're just playing better together uh they've gone through a lot of lineups and i think they found their one that's going to be working and just bombing high balls and we didn't do anything to stop them by the way gage with 11 digs tonight guys gage when you're playing against some of the the caliber of outside hitters like a player like schneidermiller defensively what are some of the adjustments that you folks are making and conversations that are happening between the block and defense to be able to stop uh and at least try to slow down somebody like that uh personally i don't think i made any good adjustments to be honest with you guys um i don't know a guy like that you know you just gotta kind of you know win some you're gonna lose some hopefully you win a lot more than you lose and uh you know just say hey take this space i'll try and take this space but uh did not do a great job with that tonight personally do you think that the past two games going to five has made hawaii team better or has it been something that can help you guys moving forward into the big west tournament i mean it's always good you know uh going to five with uh any team not me not good but it's definitely builds character especially when you come out and tight ones to win like that but at the same time when no disrespect to any other team but when we're at our best um they shouldn't go to five it shouldn't be anything like that anything like it was tonight you know all respect to irvine they were bombing and we were not and we weren't i mean i wasn't playing great and um to answer your question i think yeah i mean it makes you better but at the same time you know we look weak right now and i think that we need to do a better job of really asserting ourselves we think we're the number one team and another quick follow-up questions to the past two games we've seen that in both games there has been a lot of confusion in between set three yeah and you come out and you do a great job coaching the entire serve receive and the passing drill what's the mentality after something that stops the game for close to 10 minutes um i mean the momentum you know momentum we have a 10 minute 10 minute uh establish a player or plus like last time you know no matter what the score is momentum's even i mean obviously by five or six points you know you're gonna feel more confident but the same time you can grab the momentum like that you know and we did but uh which didn't execute what we needed to do at the end of that what the fourth set and uh you know just learn your lessons and then move on and try and win the match gage last question uh you're a fourth year junior you have decided that uh this is it for you even though you could come back next year how difficult a decision was that and has it kind of settled have you have you thought about that tomorrow night will be your final match granted next week the big west tournament is here but your final regular season match at home uh at first you know i was a little confused but it came clear talk to my family um i don't think i really relatively took very long to kind of decide uh i knew what i wanted and i decided what i decided and uh i mean i'm lucky we're the same thing like my brother you know we had a senior night but following week we had the following uh we had a hopefully two more matches here um so let's think and more there you know this is a i mean take care of business one and then kind of celebrate and really enjoy it and then the next two games the next match i think it'll really sink in hey congratulations we've been enjoying watching you and we look forward to seeing you out there again tomorrow guys all right gage worsley our guest here in the post-game show we'll take a break come back and have more as there you see gage's cutout as hawaii wins in five over uc irvine welcome back to the post game show on spectrum sports all right let's take a look at the final numbers from this slugfest tonight and i mean so many things are so close i mean irvine actually out hit hawaii as well as they uh out blocked the rainbow warriors guys yeah hard to believe that hawaii actually won that looking at the stat cheetah and you know hawaii again leading the nation in blocks only with five blocks tonight uh but hawaii still managing to get away of course hawaii out digging 33 digs but also an another interesting number look at those service areas 24 service errors from irvine a lot of that came in the beginning part of the match but you can certainly see how much service pressure they were trying to put on hawaii yeah i believe going into the third set they had 16 service editors so a lot of them were in the beginning but they got on a great rhythm there at the end and really pressured the hawaii serve received game getting them out of system and forcing them to set more high balls i think both sides did a great job irvine just had a little too many service errors but what a close game by both sides could have been any one game anyone's game tonight yeah definitely and it was it was pretty entertaining you know you look at the hawaii team though they've already clinched the number one seed in the big west they've won the regular season do you think maybe they came out with a little lack of motivation tonight james i think so and we heard it from gage earlier tonight he said that going to five and no like nothing against any other teams going to five just proves that hawaii is not at their greatest and they did come out a little relaxed i believe and could have done a little better but those sets going into the fifth and having it so close can only make you better as a team and it really is a good slap to the face to realize that hey the season is not over we haven't accomplished anything and they got to work harder so i think as rough as a night as rough of the night that they had it was kind of needed yeah and i also think it all provides an opportunity like we said earlier for those on the bench to have a significant play uh role on this team of course we know that chaz galloway was out because of that illness uh we'll see if we see him here tomorrow night but even without him who is you know someone that is in the starting lineup hawaii was able to manage and and be competitive and that says a lot to what this team has in terms of depth and the potential that's coming off the bench you know and also nobody in the country maybe has maybe just hawaiian byu has as big a home court advantage particularly when this place is full and you know covet has kind of eliminated that at least for this rainbow warrior men's volleyball team this year because you would imagine if they were fans this place would be full every night because they're the best team in the country you don't have that that kind of takes away one of their advantages yeah it's one thing that i was thinking about tonight is what a shame it is for the people at home watching from the screen that they don't get experienced these crazy games that we've been witnessing all year in the simplified stan sheriff arena and like you said yeah it kind of takes away from that home court advantage but they do get to practice in here every day hawaii comes in here practice for two three hours however long they practice and it gives you slight advantage but definitely takes away the crowd component of it yeah but at least we have the crowd noise the artificial noise the controversial artificial crowd noise yeah there is some crowd noise and there are some cutouts as well you know what the thing is hawaii won and that's the bottom line they won and they'll do it again tomorrow we'll take our final break we'll come back and talk about tomorrow night and wrap things up [Music] welcome back to the post game show on spectrum sports well it is an h day friday here in manoa let's take a look at the big west conference scoreboard on the second to final day of the regular season there you saw on wednesday uc santa barbara played uc san diego and the gauchos won in five that was a non-conference match from our understanding then they played last night and the gauchos won in three but the stutter was tonight earlier csun knocking off long beach stayed and so there are the scores from the big west conference this week and now you see the upcoming schedule of course tomorrow the finale of the regular season and then the big west tournament here in honolulu a reminder all five matches from thursday through saturday will be live on spectrum sports and so as we can tell you right now that's how it looks you see hawaii of course the number one seed you don't know who they'll face yet uc santa barbara has claimed the number two seed and we know long beach state is the number three seed and guys i think one thing we know also having watched tonight is that you know if you're not on your a game you can lose against anybody in this conference hawaii's gonna have to play well tomorrow night and they're definitely gonna have to play well next week if they're gonna win the tournament yeah like i said earlier tonight the big west tournament is that last chance to get a ticket into the ncaa final and every team is going to bring their a game if you slack off that could be your chance of making it to the national championship and we saw that tonight could be anyone's game yeah i think it's really going to come down to how hawaii can end the season oftentimes that target gets especially bigger once that number keeps racking up with that undefeated season and no losses every team's going to be coming for you and when you're in the position of being the number one team everyone's coming after you they're going to be playing their hearts out to try to not only knock off the number one team but also to advance and win a conference championship so hawaii no doubt a lot of pressure on them but it's a position i think they will thrive in what do you guys both think one give me one thing hawaii needs to do better tomorrow night so they don't have to go five i think serving although we had that hawaii had a great serving night for the most part they could do a better job and being a little more aggressive in the sense that it's not always about velocity but targeting a little more seams making players move on serve receive they have a lot of players coming in and now all the time so they're coming off the bench trying to receive and it could be very off-putting a lot of times so just being a little smarter from the back of the service line right i think it's going to come down to one of the big things we'll be blocking hawaii has have got to do a better job of trying to slow down these attackers and it might not necessarily have to mean a shutdown block where hawaii will have a block in on the statute but just slowing down and touching balls to allow the defense to play transition volleyball behind that i think that's going to be a key point the other thing would just be trying to control the emotion it is senior night and while this place will not be filled with fans as it normally is there's always a lot of emotion and oftentimes that can be distracting these seniors have really got to hone in and take care of business i also should note that we just got word that those who would like to give lay to a senior like james if you want to give james a delay you can drop it off here at the stan sheriff center at 2 pm tomorrow they'll be allowing people to drop off lays and then they will be presented at the end of the match darna you know james i was gonna bring you a lay but i'll be a baseball at two o'clock tomorrow so sorry i'll see you later tonight then you can bring it to the match you might not say that anyway guys another good job and uh why push to the limit but they found a way to win again i'll see you guys tomorrow now wrap thing up wrap things up for us here this evening is always special thanks for outstanding spectrum sports crew no question the best in the business so for james and for ryan i'm scott until tomorrow night at 6 30 with game on we've been to aloha and a good evening from simplify arena at stan sheriff center in manoa [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: UH VOLLEYBALL FAN

Views: 38,669

Keywords: University Of Hawaii Men's Volleyball, Rainbow Warrior Volleyball, Rainbow Volleyball, Warrior Volleyball

Id: 4VvWEbuLMCg

Length: 151min 37sec (9097 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 17 2021