Hawai’i sweeps through Ball State in OUTRIGGER Invitational opener

HONOLULU – The beat rolls on. 

The University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team opened the 29th edition of the OUTRIGGER Invitational tournament with a clean sweep of No. 12 Ball State on Thursday, 25-19, 25-13, 29-27. Three Rainbow Warriors finished in double figures with kills while hitting over .400, led by Louis Sakanoko and Kristian Titriyski, who each had 14 putdowns. 

Adrien Roure added 11 kills on 22 attempts while spinning a pair of Hawai’i’s seven service aces in the straight set victory. Tread Rosenthal piloted the Rainbow Warrior offense towards a dominant showing through the first two sets before helping the hosts fight back in the final frame, dishing out 36 assists and matching Roure with a team-high six digs. 

The “Mānoa Roofing Company” made another late-night appearance, totaling 8.5 total team blocks as the Rainbow Warriors denied attempts after attempt from the Cardinals on the way to a dominant win. Kurt Nusterer had five kills and matched Sakanoko by getting involved in a team-high four blocks as Hawai’i got contributions from everywhere. 

The visitors from Indiana struggled early on to find a rhythm against the talented Rainbow Warriors, who worked through some early jitters of their own to take a 12-7 lead after Rosenthal recorded his lone ace of the match. Two more aces and a .360 hitting percentage as a team helped Hawai’i snatch the first the first frame, 25-19. 

Sakanoko gave a preview of what the rest of the match would hold as he turned in an efficient five kills on six swings while only committing a single attack error. Titriyski followed closely behind with four kills on seven mistake-free swings in the opening set as Hawai’i held Ball State to a .150 hitting percentage across 20 tries. 

The momentum continued to roll for Hawai’i, who scored the first five points of the next frame to force a quick Ball State timeout. The stoppage didn’t slow any of the Rainbow Warrior momentum as the lead grew as large as seven before the media timeout. 

Adrien Roure’s second ace of the match forced the Cardinals to call for their second timeout of the set, but UH did not relent. Roure’s service line run continued with a big block by the ‘Bows before the freshman Frenchman detonated on his seventh kill of the night to make it a double-digit advantage for UH. 

Ball State would fend off a pair of set points, but Justin Todd shut the door on any more as Hawai’i easily took the second stanza behind an insane .583 team attacking percentage, 25-13. Todd went 2-for-2 on his attacks in the frame after a frigid opening saw him commit an attacking error and fail to record a kill, defrosting as the match entered sweep territory. 

Back-to-back attack errors by Rosenthal and Titriyski helped Ball State take a 4-point advantage to lead off a must-have third frame for the Cardinals, but Hawai’i would lock back in to take 9 of the next 12 rallies and snag a 15-13 advantage by the set’s media timeout. 

Hawai’i would remain up two to a 19-17 advantage, but Ball State came back with six of the next seven points to race ahead by three and force Charlie Wade to signal for timeout. It looked like it wouldn’t much matter after the Cardinals got their first set point of the night by taking the next rally, but Hawai’i refused to let go of the rope. 

Down 24-21, Wade turned to freshman Kainoa Wade to try and pull back the Rainbow Warriors – the lanky 6-foot-10 opposite stepped to the service line and pulled Hawai’i back even as the hosts took the next three rallies. Ball State and Hawai’i continued to wrestle within a point of one another until Justin Todd ended the night with his 10th ace of the year.

The victory extended the Hawai’i winning streak to nine games, continuing the dominance by the Rainbow Warriors since the February 7 loss against Stanford. In more than a month’s worth of time, UH has dropped just three total sets across nine outings. 

Hawai’i is back in action on Friday night, taking on No. 19 Penn State for the second night of three in the 2025 OUTRIGGER Invitational. The Nittany Lions were victims of a straight-set sweep on the OUTRIGGER’s first day, falling to No. 5 USC in the first match of the entire tournament. 

First serve between PSU and UH is scheduled for 7 p.m. HT. The tournament will close out on Saturday when Hawai’i takes on USC in a top-5 clash.