No. 1 seed Hawaii had a better serving game than Lewis, 10-1 in aces, and brought a better block, 14-4 on Thursday.
No. 1 seed Hawaii had a better serving game than Lewis, 10-1 in aces, and brought a better block, 14-4 on Thursday.
As a result, the Warriors defeated the Flyers 25-15, 25-17, 30-32, 25-16 in the NCAA men’s volleyball semfinals at Long Beach State.
UH junior outside hitter Colton Cowell knocked down 15 kills, senior Stijn van Tilburg and junior opposite Rado Parapunov added 11 each for UH (28-2), which set a school record for wins in a season.
Junior middle Patrick Gasma accounted for eight of UH’s 14 blocks. He added eight kills and hit .583 with no errors.
Hawaii finished with a .368 hitting percentage and got past TJ Murray’s block. Murray had 5 1/2 blocks in a quarterfinal win over USC. He had one block against UH.
Ryan Coenen had 18 kills, Mitch Perinar 13, and Tyler Mitchem 12 for the Flyers (26-6), who hit .221.
In the third set, UH blew leads of 17-13 and 20-17 and six match points.
But in the fourth set, the Warriors bolted to a 6-0 run, found a rhythm, and won goiing away.
UH setter Joe Worsley had 38 assists and 10 digs.
Hawaii will face No. 2 seed Long Beach State in its first championshhip match since 2002.
