There was no Northridge letdown this time.
The top-ranked University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team earned a four-set victory over Cal State Northridge on Friday at the Matadome, 25-17, 25-20, 23-25, 25-19.
The Rainbow Warriors (12-0, 7-0 Big West) clinched at least a share of the Big West regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. UH extended its school-record road win streak to 14 matches and also won 13th its consecutive dating back to last season, which is the longest current streak in the NCAA.
Hawaii’s last two trips to Northridge had ended in disappointment, but opposite Rado Parapunov tied Pono Ma’a for No. 11 on the school’s all-time kills list with a match-high 17 on Friday. Outside hitter Colton Cowell hit .440 with 13 kills.
“Most of these guys were on the team in 2018, when we were pretty good, ended up going to Northridge and losing twice and really hurt our season, ” UH coach Charlie Wade told Tribune News Service earlier this week.
“That’s the only thing we can really point (as) to why we didn’t get into the NCAA tournament that year. Northridge is always a good team, tough gym to play in, everybody plays better at home. It’s hard to win on the road, so I can’t imagine that we’re going to overlook them.”
They didn’t.
Middle blockers Patrick Gasman and Guilherme Voss combined for 16 kills and 13 blocks. Gasman hit .571 with nine kills in 14 attempts along with five stuffs while Voss tallied a career-high eight blocks to go along with a perfect 7-for-7 in kill attempts.
The teams play again on Saturday at 1 p.m. HT at The Matadome.
The Warriors hit .429 behind near-flawless attack percentages in Sets 2 and 4, combining for a .652 clip. The nation’s No. 1 blocking team racked up 14 blocks and held CSUN to .221 hitting.
The Matadors (1-6, 1-6) were led by middle blocker Daniel Wetter’s 14 kills. Maciej Ptasynski added 10 kills.
