In front of a buzzing sellout senior night crowd, the No. 1 University of Hawaii men’s volleyball team swept UC San Diego 25-19, 25-22, 25-21 in its last home match of the season at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on Saturday night.
Hawaii closes out the regular season 26-2 overall and 9-1 in Big West Conference play, while UC San Diego drops to 8-16 overall and 2-8 in Big West matches.
All the latest sports news from Hawaii’s sports station
After a hard-fought win on Friday, the most UH was challenged on Saturday was in the second set, as the ‘Bows needed to close with a 4-0 run to take a 2-0 lead.
Hawaii had 12 blocks as a team on Saturday, while Dimitrios Mouchlias led the team with 11 kills, the lone player to reach double figures.
For UC San Diego, Josh Schellinger had a match-high 12 kills, while Ryan Ka added 11.
Following the match, the turnstile crowd of 9,528 bid an emotional Aloha to six departing players as part of senior night festivities: Jakob Thelle, Dimitrios Mouchlias, Filip Humler, Devon Johnson, Cole Hogland and Kana’i Akana.
With the win, the Rainbow Warriors clinched the top seed in the upcoming Big West Conference tournament in Irvine, Calif. The ‘Bows will play in Friday’s semifinals against a team to be determined on Thursday.
