Rosenthal’s all-around night helps No. 3 Hawaii sweep No. 6 BYU

HONOLULU – Championship contender in full bloom.

Donning floral print uniforms while celebrating the Lunar New Year inside Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, the third-ranked University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team made quick work of No. 6 BYU (13-4) on Friday night with a sweep over the rival Cougars, (25-18, 25-21, 25-16).

Louis Sakanoko’s 15 kills on 25 swings led the way in the 11th straight win for the Rainbow Warriors, but it was junior setter Tread Rosenthal’s balanced performance piloting the offense that had head coach Charlie Wade’s mind wondering mid-match.

“I’m continually impressed with Tread,” Wade emphasized after the match. “Like he does stuff that just doesn’t show in the stat sheet. I thought today, like – and this doesn’t really happen much in my career – when I start to miss you in your junior year, when you’re still playing … He just impacts the game in so many ways.”

Hawai’i (14-1) saw the junior dish out 32 assists and tie his career-high with four aces from the service line in the sweep, tacking on a block, three kills and five digs for good measure. It was the 11th time in 13 outings that Rosenthal eclipsed 30 assists and his seventh match with multiple service aces this season.

Quintin Greenidge helped Hawai’i put on a defensive display as well, sprawling all over for 11 of the 29 total digs tallied by the team. The UH serve-receive game also put on a clinic, going without a single receiving error for just the third time this season and first time since January 8.

The Rainbow Warriors picked up where they left off on Wednesday night, riding a balanced offensive attack to a .500 hitting percentage as a group in a 25-18 opening set win. Sophomore Kainoa Wade had five of his nine total kills in the first frame while the Flying Frenchmen, Louis Sakanoko and Adrien Roure, each had four kills to help power the hosts to begin the evening.

Louis Sakanoko jogs back to the service box after a point by Hawai’i. | Photo Credit: Michael Lasquero, HSRN

The second set saw sloppiness seep back into the Hawai’i service turns, dishing out seven errors behind the stripe in a much tighter frame. BYU took a 15-14 lead into the media timeout with the help of 10 different Rainbow Warrior miscues, but a slightly-more focused group returned after the break to help the hosts respond in turn.

Rosenthal dealt a pair of aces out of the deck to help Hawai’i flip the frame on its head, giving UH a 20-17 lead and forcing a timeout from BYU. The Cougars made one final push, but Roure rammed the door shut in the second set with his lone ace of the night for a 25-21 decision and commanding two-set advantage.

Adrien Roure leaps to smack a serve on Lunar New Year Night for Hawai’i. | Photo Credit: Michael Lasquero, HSRN

“One of the things I love about these guys, Adrien and Louis, and their evolution, their maturity is shown in so many ways,” Wade said of his dynamic French duo. “One is being able to go back to the service line and not feel like they got to pull driver and swing out of their shoes as the only way to score … They’re starting to learn and to trust that we can score in different ways and being able to modulate from the service line.”

The two squads traded blows to an 11-11 deadlock to begin the third set, but Sakanoko, Finn Kearney and Kainoa Wade took turns in the service box helping Hawai’i race out to a 21-13 advantage and force BYU to burn both timeouts.

Sakanoko put UH on the cusp of the sweep of their historic rivals with his 14th putdown of the evening and finished off the Cougars two rallies later with his 15th and final kill, sending home the season-high crowd of 6,493 fans buzzing for the weekend.

“It’s so much fun,” a smiling sophomore middle blocker Trevell Jordan said about playing in front of the growing home audience. “Never had anything like it before, it’s really an experience and it really adds something to your play.”

Jordan, in his first season with the Rainbow Warriors after transferring from Grand Canyon following the school’s decision to cut the men’s volleyball program, added four kills on eight swings and five total blocks (four assists, one solo) in the win. The sophomore had a season-high seven kills against the Cougars on Wednesday night and helped Hawai’i out-block BYU both evenings.

The Cougars hit .183 as a team over the three frames, their second-worst showing of the season, while committing 16 hitting errors in the Friday night loss to the Rainbow Warriors. Trevor Herget was the lone player to register double-digit kills for BYU, racking up 10 putdowns and committing seven attacking errors on 24 total swings.

With the first foot into the second-half season gauntlet, Hawai’i continues a seven-match homestand next week when No. 7-ranked Pepperdine visits the islands for a pair of games. The Rainbow Warriors will host “Dig Pink” night on Wednesday, March 4 for the first of the two meetings with the Waves with opening serve scheduled for 7 p.m. HT.