Columbus, Ohio – Back on the site of a national championship race, the men’s volleyball team at the University of Hawaii continued its quest for a third title with a four -set victory against Penn State in the quarter -final of the National Men’s Collegiate Championship collegial on Thursday at Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio.
After following eight at the start of the opening, the Rainbow Warriors, the second seeded, then Rugi then retained the Nittany Lions n ° 7 on the way to a victory of 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23.
The Rainbow Warriors (27-5) advanced to face the UCLA (21-6) in the semi-finals on Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern time (2 p.m. Hawai’i time). The Bruins swept the Belmont Abbey in the first quarter -final match on Thursday. UH and UCLA will add another chapter to their legendary rivalry during their first meeting since the 3-1 victory of Bruins in the final of the NCAA 2023 championship in Fairfax, Virginia.
Uh Freshman Finn Kearney led the Warriors with 16 striking attacks and pulled a top of four aces, three, three in the first set. Intermediate blockers Justin Todd And Kurt Nuster Combined for 17 striking attacks on 0.667 strikes and were on seven of the 10 UH blocks.
Todd finished eight victims out of 10 attempts without error, including Match Point, and also contributed two aces and four blocks. Nuster, a senior of Indianapolis, added nine striking attacks on 14 swings while hitting 0.571 and had three blocks in his return to the Midwest.
Outdoor Louis Sakanoko Also has succeeded in nine striking attacks and delivered three ASs, two coming to the fourth set to help the Warriors close the match. All-America Setter Rosenthal Distributed 38 assists and stored five victims of its own victims.
It’s official … We are in the semi-finals‼ ️# Warriorball25 X #Gobows pic.twitter.com/rpuiwc5d4s
– Hawai’i Male Volleyball (@hawaimensvb) May 8, 2025
Uh captured the Crown NCAA 2021 in the center of Covelli and opened the program 10 of the programth Appearance in the national championship tournament with his second victory against Penn State this season. The Warriors swept the Nittany Lions in the Invitational Standard on March 14 and managed to postpone the upset offer in Thursday’s revenge match.
Penn State scored the first six points of the match before Nusterrer obtained UH on the board. The Nittany Lions attack began 7 for 8 without error and their advance increased to 11-3. Kearney turned the momentum with three aces in a 9-0 UH race to propel the Warriors to their first advance of the day. After Uh opened a three-point cushion, Penn State again equalized the whole at 17-17. But Uh made a wave of 8-2 to withdraw and closed the set by hitting .367 to .148 from Penn State.
Penn State took an advance from 16-14 to half the second set and built a margin of 21-16. The Nittany Lions led 23-18 after the UH attack error in the whole. Uh fought two section points on the eliminations of Nusterre and Kearney, but Penn State finished the set for the same match.
Penn State again took an advance at the beginning of the third set before Uh took ahead of 15-13 with a 5-1 race before technical dead time. The Warriors advanced and took an advance of 21-18 when Sakanoko won an ace before the defense of Penn State. The Nittany Lions responded in return to equalize the whole at 22-22. After a Penn State attack has sailed for a long time, Rosenthal fired another AS to give a point of order. Penn State remained alive for a point, but Nasterre divided the block for its sixth murder to finish the set.
2 sets ✅✅ pic.twitter.com/juve2dcnq5
– Hawai’i Male Volleyball (@hawaimensvb) May 8, 2025
The fourth set was tight again and Sakanoko pushed Uh in front at 18-17 with consecutive aces. There were five links before Uh took an advance of 23-22 on a Penn State error. Todd and Sakanoko then combined on a block that was confirmed after a review to give a UH match point. After a killing of Penn State and a waiting period, Todd hammered his last murder to close the match.
Todd called the game! 😤# Warriorball25 X #Gobows pic.twitter.com/sdq0rrl59m
– Hawai’i Male Volleyball (@hawaimensvb) May 8, 2025
Matthew Luoma de Penn State led the Nittany Lions with a summit of 17 striking attacks and Will Kuhns added 11 striking attacks.
#Hawaiimvb
