Hawai’i rips through rematch against UC Irvine in straight sets

The Bulgarian Blaster is back at full strength.

The No. 2-ranked University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team continued a trend of tormenting teams on the second night of a series on Saturday, sweeping No. 5 UC Irvine in straight sets inside the Bren Events Center, (25-22, 25-22, 25-22).

Sophomore Kristian Titriyski belted down a team-high 20 kills for the Rainbow Warriors, including the final point of the night to keep the visitors unbeaten in Big West play. The Bulgarian opposite was in his usual boom-or-bust state, shining for the majority of his 29 swings while also tossing in seven hitting errors.

“He hits the ball harder than most humans and usually good things happen,” head coach Charlie Wade said of the cannon-armed high variance opposite. “But he’s got to be a little more cerebral in those long rallies and in transition situations.”

Titriyski missed nearly two months and 12 straight matches for Hawai’i (23-3, 6-0 Big West) before finally returning during the OUTRIGGER Invitational back on March 12. The 6-foot-8 opposite had tallied double figures in the kill department in all but one match since returning, but Saturday night was the closest he had looked to the All-American form he showed during his freshman campaign.

One night after posting a near-triple double, UH setter Tread Rosenthal dished out another 38 assists while adding four digs and four blocks in the victory. The offense hummed along all evening for Hawai’i, hitting .453 as a group over the three frames for the best hitting percentage by the team since February 25 against BYU.

Louis Sakanoko and Adrien Roure each tacked on eight kills for the Rainbow Warriors, who improved to 10-1 in the second game of a series this season with the victory.

After going the full five frames on Friday, one may have expected a similar sloppiness to the overall attack from both sides. The first night between squads saw a gnarly 41 combined attack errors, each tallying over 20 offensive miscues in a back-and-forth affair that needed extra points to be decided.

Hawai’i had no such plans, throwing the first punch by hitting .500 with just two total attack errors in Saturday’s opening set. Titriyski racked up eight kills on 10 swings by himself, helping hold off a late rally by the Anteaters with back-to-back putdowns that delivered the frame to UH.

UC Irvine was sound offensively themselves, only sending three swings on the attack out for a free point while hitting a very respectable .344 in the first set.

The Anteaters turned the dial up another level in the follow-up frame, going without a single error in 26 swings while hitting .423, but it still wasn’t enough as the Rainbow Warriors got a pair of late aces from Adrien Roure to pull away for a 2-0 set lead. Hawai’i also hit .500 for the second straight set with just three attacking errors.

With another tough road trip next week against No. 13 UC San Diego coming up, Wade acknowledged a desire to not allow the Anteaters to stick around in the third and extend the match further. Prior to Saturday night, UC Irvine had not been swept all season.

A red-hot start for Hawai’i helped change that.

The Rainbow Warriors raced out to a 7-1 lead in the third frame, never allowing UCI to get closer than four to set up match point, 24-16.

Andrej Jokanovic refused to let the Anteaters go down without any type of fight, rattling off five straight points from the service line with three aces to make it a two-point deficit and force Wade to burn both of his timeouts.

Calmed after the rapid rally by the hosts, Hawai’i finished off the Anteaters with Titriyski’s 20th kill of the night to remain unbeaten and record a second consecutive impressive road sweep against a Big West foe ranked in the nation’s top five.

“I don’t know if we’ve ever gone 4-0 on the road at those two places since the Big West started,” Wade said of the Rainbow Warriors sweeping through both UCI and Long Beach State on the continent. “It’s nice to get significant road wins in-league, you know? Those are really good teams that all have legitimate designs on winning not only a league championship but a national championship and [it’s] nice to be able to go into their place and come out on top.”

Quinten Greenidge was quietly incredible for Hawai’i, recording nine digs while helping spark a plethora of Rainbow Warrior runouts in transition after big UCI swings. Trevell Jordan was also strong in the middle, going a perfect 4-for-4 on his attack chances while adding a block and three digs himself from the middle blocker spot.

Andrej Jokanovic had nine kills on 26 swings for UC Irvine but totaled six service aces that helped keep the Anteaters within striking distance and alive late. William D’Arcy led UCI with 13 kills on 31 swings, committing four attacking errors in the loss as well.

Hawai’i will return to the islands before heading back to the continent next week for a two-match series in La Jolla, California against UC San Diego. The Rainbow Warriors sit atop the Big West standings with four matches left in the regular season.