Hawaii 2023

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https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoqjPDcppHP

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UH hitter Dimitrios Mouchlias gets better second time around

By Jason Kaneshiro
2/15/23, Honolulu Star-Advertiser


JAMM AQUINO / [e-mail] / JAN. 20
Hawaii opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias put down a kill against Saint Francis last month.


Dimitrios Mouchlias seems to thrive with familiarity.

Overall, the University of Hawaii opposite already ranks among the most productive and efficient attackers in Big West men’s volleyball this season.

In the second match of a series, his numbers spike even higher.

Take, for example, the Rainbow Warriors’ road trip to then-No. 8 Stanford last week. Mouchlias started the weekend well enough, leading UH with 12 kills in 23 attempts in the top-ranked Warriors’ sweep of the Cardinal on Friday. He continued to elevate from there, going for 17 kills with just two errors on .517 hitting in another sweep on Saturday at cozy Burnham Pavilion.

“We were joking inside the team that I’m a second-night player,” Mouchlias said on Tuesday. “But to be honest, I want to fix that.”

Not that the first nights have exactly been lacking punch for the 6-foot-6 junior.

Since hitting .000 in UH’s season opener against Ball State, when he finished with seven kills and seven errors, Mouchlias has hit at least .385 in each of his past seven matches to move into the Big West lead at .420 for the season.

Mouchlias’ cumulative performance at Stanford (4.83 kills per set on .462 hitting) earned him the third Big West Offensive Player of the Week award of his UH career as the Warriors prepare for their return to SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

“To be honest, we don’t really look at these kinds of awards,” Mouchlias said. “We just want to win every game, and it takes more than one or two players to win a game. It takes someone to pass the ball and someone setting the ball and then you hit the ball, so it’s more of a team effort.”

After two road trips separated by the lone bye week of the regular season, the Warriors (9-0) will open a five-week homestand with a two-match series with Concordia University Irvine (4-5) of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Warriors play their first home match since Jan. 20 in Thursday’s opener, with the rematch set for Friday.

As a team, UH ranks third nationally with a .369 hitting percentage, and Mouchlias enters the week leading the Warriors with 4.70 points per set, fueled by 86 total kills and a team-high 14 aces. His 3.74 kills per set in eight matches this season ranks second on the team behind outside hitter and Big West leader Spyros Chakas (4.29).

In three matches this season when UH faced a team a second time, his production jumps to 4.4 kills per set with 44 kills against six errors in 78 total attempts for a .487 hitting percentage.

“One of the things he has done throughout his career is he goes back and looks at film,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “He really takes the time to analyze why he wasn’t performing and comes back and generally has a nice second night.”

Saturday’s match began with the Stanford block denying Mouchlias on his first swing of the night. The Cardinal could muster little resistance against him the rest of the evening on his way to his highest kill total of the season to date.

Along with his ascending offensive production against Stanford, Mouchlias assisted on nine blocks in the series, including match point in the finale when he teamed with middle blocker Guilherme Voss on UH’s season-high 12th roof of the night.

Voss finished the weekend with 10 blocks and also earned conference honors with his fourth Big West Defensive Player of the Week award.

“We have a great coaching staff that gives a great scouting report and we were prepared,” Mouchlias said of UH’s blocking performance.

[berry808]

Since Friday's match is not televised, I believe there's no review/challenge system. Well, at least that's how it was in the past, although there are house cameras.

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UH volleyball team mastering art of closing tight sets

By Jason Kaneshiro
2/16/23, Honolulu Star-Advertiser


JAMM AQUINO/[e-mail]
Hawaii opposite Cole Hogland (7) and setter Jakob Thelle (10) combine on the double block on Saint Francis outside hitter Brady Stump (17) during the first set of an NCAA volleyball game on Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, in Honolulu.


The lessons have endured.

Twice last season, Hawaii repeatedly saw tight sets tip across the net in losses to Long Beach State in a key Big West men’s volleyball road trip.

Since that weekend in Southern California, the Rainbow Warriors have won 18 consecutive matches in a streak fueled in part by a knack for performing in the pivotal moments. Along the way, the Warriors collected last year’s Big West and national championships and have rolled to a 9-0 start to this season.

After an extended, and productive, gap between home matches, No. 1 UH returns to SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center for tonight’s series opener with Concordia University Irvine (4-5) having won 24 consecutive sets and aiming to maintain the nation’s longest winning streak.

The set streak was tested twice last week at Stanford, but the Warriors managed to fend off or rally past the Cardinal to close out a sweep in the series opener last Friday then set up another in the rematch.

Upon the team’s return, UH coach Charlie Wade spoke of the Warriors’ penchant for playing well late in sets in contrast to last year’s series at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach.

In the opener, each set was tied at 21-21 before the Beach managed to pull out a 22-25, 25-23, 26-24, 27-25 win. In the rematch, Beach closed the first two sets with 4-0 and 4-1 runs on its way to a 25-23, 25-20, 21-25, 25-19 victory.

The Warriors responded by winning their final nine matches of 2022, flipping the late-set narrative on multiple occasions.

“We had leads, we were right there and we couldn’t close them out (in the regular season),” Wade recalled. “Then you fast forward to the Big West tournament and it’s the same situation and we were able to close them out. Again in the NCAA tournament, similar kind of thing where were able to finish.

“And that’s been a characteristic of this team so far this year. That there is this level of comfort, there is this level of confidence at the end where we can just keep performing at a really high level.”

Last week, UH traded points with Stanford deep into a third set that went to deuce before a Guilherme Voss kill and Jakob Thelle’s ace ended the match. In the first set last Saturday, the Warriors squandered two set points then survived a Cardinal serve for the set before ending it with a block followed by a kill off an overpass of Dimitrios Mouchlias’ serve.

“We are old enough to have experienced losing a set when you’re up four or five points,” Mouchlias said. “So we don’t give any second chances.”

Mouchlias and Wade credited “mini-games” the Warriors play in practice starting at 18-18.

“You don’t have much time for error,” Wade said. “You have to perform really well and it certainly helped us be able focus and compete in the moment.”

The Warriors will look to extend their streaks in their series with Concordia today and Friday.

The Golden Eagles of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation were swept in two losses to Big West member UC Irvine then knocked off then-No. 12 Loyola Chicago on Feb. 2. They’ve since dropped matches to Benedictine Mesa and The Master’s before making the trip to Hawaii.

“There’s some mixed results,” Wade said. “They’ve proven they have the talent to beat anybody.”

Concordia opposite Uriel Batista, a 6-foot-4 senior from Panama, ranks fifth in the nation with 4.35 kills per set and second with 10.46 attempts per set. Batista has 113 total kills with outside hitter Johnny Anselmo, who began his collegiate career as a libero at Cal State Northridge, is next with 68.

Middle blocker Gil Herold, a 6-6 senior, ranks ninth in the nation with a .450 hitting percentage with 58 kills and nine errors in 109 attempts.

CUI has three Hawaii high school graduates on the roster: sophomore libero Cruse Ae’a (Kamehameha), freshman setter Keegan Au Yuen (Punahou) and freshman middle blocker Dylan Friedl (Kamehameha).

Big West tourney tickets on sale

All-session ticket packages for the Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship are now available for purchase. The tournament will be held April 20-22 at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center.

Tickets are available at ucirvinetickets.evenue.net. Single-session tickets will go on sale in April.

Rainbow Warriors volleyball

At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center

Concordia Irvine (4-5) vs. No. 1 Hawaii (9-0)

>> When: Today and Friday, 7 p.m.

>> TV: Spectrum Sports (Today only)

>> Radio: 1420-AM/92.7-FM (Today), 1500-AM (Friday)

[aznsun90]

I bought tickets to the championship. Lord I hope I didn’t jynx/bachi the team.

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Feb 16, 2023 16:24:00 GMT -5 aznsun90 said:

I bought tickets to the championship. Lord I hope I didn’t jynx/bachi the team.

to the BW or NCAA championship? .... lol ...

(it's not bachi, imo ... it's just having a contingency plan in place ... even though there's still plenty of season left to play. )

[aznsun90]

Feb 16, 2023 18:23:27 GMT -5 Cubicle No More ... said:

Feb 16, 2023 16:24:00 GMT -5 aznsun90 said:

I bought tickets to the championship. Lord I hope I didn’t jynx/bachi the team.

to the BW or NCAA championship? .... lol ...

(it's not bachi, imo ... it's just having a contingency plan in place ... even though there's still plenty of season left to play. )

To NCAA

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Sheward gives Thelle a break and Hawaii runs its winning streak to 19

By Jason Kaneshiro
2/17/23, Honolulu Star-Advertiser


GEORGE F. LEE / [e-mail]
Hawaii’s Dimitrios Mouchlias went up for a kill against Concordia University Irvine’s Scott Montez on Thursday.


GEORGE F. LEE / [e-mail]
Hawaii’s Dimitrios Mouchlias (11) and Guilherme Voss watched as libero ‘Eleu Choy (5) backed them up on Thursday.


Brett Sheward spent the past two years focused on anchoring Hawaii’s defense.

On Thursday, the junior was given control of the offense and helped direct the top-ranked Rainbow Warriors to a four-set victory over Concordia University Irvine on Thursday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

With All-America setter Jakob Thelle sitting out the match to manage his workload, Sheward shifted over from libero and ran an attack that hit .402 and the Rainbow Warriors (10-0) held off the Golden Eagles 25-14, 22-25, 25-15, 25-23 before a crowd of 3,590.

In their first home match since Jan. 20, the Warriors saw their run of consecutive sets won snapped at 25 when Concordia (4-6) outdueled UH late in the second set to tie the match.

The Warriors restored order in the third set and held off a Golden Eagles rally in the fourth to extend their match win streak to 19 with their 23rd straight home win.

While UH coach Charlie Wade noted “a couple of loose plays” late in the second set when the Warriors dropped just their third set of the season, “we hit over .400 with our libero setting tonight against a team that plays good defense,” he said. “Hard to be too critical of what we’re doing out there.”

Sheward earned a spot on the Big West’s all-freshman team as a setter in 2020 before Thelle took over for UH’s national title runs in 2021 and ’22. Sheward emerged as a mainstay at libero last season and into this season, and eased back into setting during UH’s three-match North Carolina road trip in late January when Thelle stayed back to rest a sore knee.

While Wade said Thelle was available on Thursday, Sheward was given the starting assignment, with junior ‘Eleu Choy wearing the green jersey as the starting libero.

“It’s a different feel for sure being in the Stan again. It gets the emotions going a little more,” Sheward said of his first home start as a setter since UH’s series against BYU in March 2020 before the pandemic shut down the season.

Sheward distributed a career-high 55 assists and UH opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias put away a season-high 20 kills in 36 attacks. Outside hitter Spyros Chakas hammered his 16th kill on match point.

Sheward got the middles involved at a higher rate in the final two sets, Cole Hogland tied his career high with 10 kills and two aces and Guilherme Voss finished with eight kills in 10 attempts and was in on six of UH’s nine blocks.

“Cole and G did a great job of being available and being loud and talking to me, and our passing was really solid in sets three and four,” Sheward said.”

Choy had five digs and handled 16 serve receptions without an error.

“It really is what brought Brett back into the mix at the setting position, because he’s played at a really high level in our practice gym for quite a while,” Wade said of Choy.

“He’s got such incredible feet, he makes some of the really hard serves look easy and it’s impressive.”

After the match, Wade was coy on Thelle’s status for tonight’s rematch with the Golden Eagles.

“Guess you gotta show up and find out,” he said.

UH dominated the first set of Thursday’s match, hitting .550 while converting on 13 of 14 sideout opportunities.

Concordia, which knocked off No. 12 Loyola Chicago earlier this season, battled back in the second set behind seven kills from opposite Uriel Batista, who finished the match with 15, and stunned the Warriors with a three-point run to end the set.

Hogland helped the Warriors reclaim control in the third set with three kills and a six-point service turn that included his second ace of the night.

“The thought process was I’m just going to smash these balls if I get a good toss,” Hogland said. “Some of them were pretty bad tosses, so I just put them in. But the (overall) thought process was keep being on the line because that’s whats going to keep us in front.”

The Warriors never trailed in the fourth set, though Concordia fought off two match points in a 5-1 run to close to 24-23. But Chakas hammered a kill out of the back row to end any thoughts of a fifth set.

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No. 1 Hawai’i improves to 10-0 with hard-fought win over Concordia-Irvine

By Cindy Luis
February 16, 2023




Excerpt:

It was a Hang 10 night for No. 1 Hawai’i. The Warriors ran their record to 10-0 on Thursday night, holding off Concordia-Irvine, 25-14, 22-25, 25-15, 25-23 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Junior opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias had a season-high 20 kills and junior hitter Spyros Chakas added 16, including the match-ender, as Hawai’i won its 19th in a row dating to 2022. The Warriors got a combined 18 kills from their two junior middles with Cole Hogland putting down a career-tying 10 and Guilherme Voss eight.

It was the 250th career victory for UH coach Charlie Wade in 14-plus seasons. It took 2 hours and 16 minutes in front of a crowd of 3,590.

Hawai’i (10-0) was without its senior All-American setter Jakob Thelle, missing his fourth match while resting his knees. Junior libero Brett Sheward, who set the Warriors for much of the COVID-shortened 2020 season, finished with a career-high 55 assists. Sophomore libero ‘Eleu Choy made his second career start, finishing with five digs.

Full story: www.cindyluis.com/2023/02/16/no-1-hawaii-improves-to-10-0-with-hard-fought-win-over-concordia-irvine/

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http://instagram.com/p/CowY-PbuRf_

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Hawaii men's volleyball team shakes off lulls to turn back Concordia Irvine

By Brian McInnis
Feb. 17, 2023, Spectrum News





Excerpt:

HONOLULU — The Hawaii men’s volleyball team’s first home match in nearly a month served as a reminder that the two-time defending national champion is far from infallible.

The Rainbow Warriors were also far from concerned.

Playing without All-America setter Jakob Thelle, No. 1 UH faltered at times against an average opponent in Concordia Irvine – notably in Set 2 and late in Set 4 – but recovered for a 25-14, 22-25, 25-15, 25-23 victory at the Stan Sheriff Center on Thursday night.

“We hit over .400 tonight with our libero setting, against a team that plays good defense, so it’s hard to be too critical of what we’re doing out there,” UH coach Charlie Wade said.

A crowd of 3,590 (4,920 tickets issued) turned out for UH’s first home match since Jan. 20 after it recorded five straight sweeps on the road. It was the first of an 11-match homestand.

Full story:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CowXnLfowa9

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charlie shrugged it off when he was interviewed after the match ... but a nice milestone win for him ...

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last night's match with concordia is uploaded .... and added to the warriors' links page ...

mahalo to 808poipounder !!