Tribune-Herald
Facing its first opponent outside the Top 10 this season, the University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team more than held serve.
The Warriors served a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation season-high 12 aces Friday night in Honolulu, rallying to beat USC 24-26, 21-25, 25-22, 26-24, 15-9 at Stan Sheriff Center.
Sinisa Zarkovic and Brook Sedore each smacked 16 kills as the No. 11 Warriors (5-13, 4-11 MPSF) broke a four-match losing streak.
It was UH’s 10th five-set match of the season, and it evened its record at 5-5 in such contests by fighting off four match points by the Trojans in the fourth set. Sedore capped the comeback with an ace.
Zarkovic hit .452, but it was his consecutive aces in the decisive set that helped Hawaii pull away for good and grab a 9-3 lead. The freshman outside hitter added 10 digs for his third double-double of the season. Sedore added three aces.
Tanner Jansen (20 kills) and Joey Booth (19) led the No. 13 Trojans (4-10, 4-10), who hit .288.
Hawaii, which hosts USC again at 5 p.m. Sunday, won the blocking battle 15.5-7.5 and hit .290, including at robust .700 in the fifth set.
Hawaii 7, Portland State 0: Kaia Parnaby threw a two-hit shutout in Honolulu, striking out a career-high 15 batters to tie a Hawaii single-game record as the Rainbow Wahine improved to 14-5.
Parnaby’s 15 strikeouts equaled the mark Brooke Wilkins set against UC-Santa Barbara on March 1, 1994 and later equaled three weeks later against Long Beach State. Parnaby, who walked just one batter, improved to 12-2. Crysta Conn ended her bit for a no-hitter with a one-out single in the top of the fifth.
The Warriors jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first, getting an RBI triple from Kayla Wartner, a two-run homer from Keiki Carlos and a run scoring double from Alyssa Vilalpando.
Leisha Liilii capped the scoring with a three-run homer in the second inning.
Karyn Wright (1-5) took the loss for Portland State (6-16) after pitching a complete game. She gave up nine hits and five walks, striking out three.
Gonzales (3-1) struck out five and walked one.
Brock Slavin, Cory Lebrun and Mitchell Gunsolus each had two hits and two RBIs for Gonzaga (7-4-1). Slavin’s two-run double to right field in the top of the second highlighted a three-run inning that gave the Bulldogs a 4-0 lead.
Connor Little (0-3), who gave up five runs on 10 hits over seven innings, took the loss for the Warriors (1-13).
Piikea Kitamura drove in Hawaii’s lone run with a run-scoring single in the fourth inning.
Stephens Media contributed to this report.