Back causing trouble in the Bren.

The No. 2-ranked University of Hawai’i men’s volleyball team outlasted No. 5 UC Irvine (15-4, 3-2 Big West) in an intense five-set battle on Friday night inside the Bren Events Center, seeing setter Tread Rosenthal do a little bit of everything to help lead the way to another road victory, (25-22, 19-25, 23-25, 25-23, 18-16).

Rosenthal tallied 53 assists, 10 digs, nine kills and six blocks in the win as the Rainbow Warriors improved to 8-0 on the road this year, notching his second double-double of the season while eclipsing the half-century mark of assists in a single match for the third time this campaign.

Kristian Titriyski was on the receiving end of 16 of those dishes, leading Hawai’i (22-3, 5-0 Big West) in kills for the sixth time this year while adding eight digs and two of UH’s four total service aces.

Three other Rainbow Warriors finished with double digit kills alongside Titriyski, seeing Louis Sakanoko rack up 14 kills on 30 swings to go with seven digs while Trevell Jordan and Adrien Roure each tacked on 12 kills apiece.

Errors did haunt Hawai’i for a majority of the match, committing 20 on the attack, 19 from the service box and another four on serve-receive. When looking at the razor-thin finish between the teams on the first night, Rosenthal pointed to the lack of sharpness that the Rainbow Warrior unit typically shows.

“I think we all kind of had our own mental lapses,” the junior setter reflected. “At the end of the day, we all brought it back together, we all relied on each other, and we got it done … I think our execution was bad. We’ve just got to execute better [on Saturday].”

Sakanoko struggled from the service line, sending out eight unplayable rally-starters and handing out a trio of faulty attacking swings. Adrien Roure had an up-and-down showing with seven attack errors and three service miscues himself while Kristian Titriyski added six attack errors in his 40 attempts with another three mistakes from the service box.

Rosenthal also had his fair share of faulty moments, committing three attack errors and picking up a red card in the second set for kicking the ball out of frustration after he sent a strike into the net. It was one of two point-scoring infractions called against the Rainbow Warriors throughout the night as Roure picked up his own red card in the third frame after hitting the antenna and smashing the volleyball into the floor out of frustration afterwards.

Hawai’i did take the night’s opening stanza, hitting .517 as a group as Roure got off to a quick start with six kills to pace the visitors. Titriyski tacked on four of his own putdowns, but a net violation was what ultimately secured the first frame for the Rainbow Warriors.

Hawai’i OPP Kristian Titriyski detonates a swing during the Rainbow Warriors’ five-set victory at UC Irvine. | Photo Credit: Brock Jones, HSRN

After a scorching hot first, the encore set saw Hawai’i embark on a rollercoaster ride offensively with as many attack errors as kills midway through the frame. UC Irvine carried over a hot-hitting first set performance, hitting .419 while capitalizing on the free points from UH to knot the match up at one.

The Anteaters took the third frame as well, stunning the Rainbow Warriors with a late rally by scoring four of the final five points in the swing set to go up 2-1 and put UH on the brink of the team’s first Big West loss and road loss at the same time.

Hawai’i answered the bell in the fourth set, forcing eight faulty swings and holding UCI to .152 on the attack in the stanza go to a fifth frame for the just the second time all season.

The Rainbow Warriors raced out to an 8-5 advantage by the flip in the fifth, but the Anteaters would swap the momentum with a 5-0 run to snap themselves ahead by a pair in the decisive set, 13-11.

Hawai’i again had a response, rattling off three in a row to suddenly set up aloha ball on the road before a service error from Kainoa Wade allowed for UC Irvine to take a momentary breath.

The Anteaters fended off two more match points from the Rainbow Warriors behind the heavy swings of Andrej Jokanovic and Trevor Clark, but a service error by UCI’s Micah Goss and a putdown try that skewed wide by Clark helped Hawai’i finally outlast their Big West rivals on the first night of the two-match series, 18-16.

Jokanovic led all players with a game-high 22 kills on 51 swings in the loss for UC Irvine and William D’Arcy tacked on 14 putdowns for the hosts. Goss also finished in double figures, adding 12 kills on 20 swings with seven errors (three service, four attacking) for the Anteaters.

“Every game is a big game now, so honestly we have to keep the momentum,” said UH’s Louis Sakanoko after the hard-fought and – at times – ugly victory. “It’s the Big West now, it’s some big boy things so we just need to win every single game as we can.”

Hawai’i and UC Irvine will rumble for round two on Saturday afternoon with first serve scheduled for 3 p.m. HT / 6 p.m. PT. The Rainbow Warriors are looking to finish the regular season unbeaten on the road for the first time since 2023 when the team went 10-0 away from the Stan Sheriff Center.