‘Fired up’: ‘Bows advance to NCAA championship, avenge conference loss
LOS ANGELES (HawaiiNewsNow) – The University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors men’s volleyball dished out some sweet revenge on their way back to the NCAA championship.
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The ‘Bows downed Long Beach during the semifinals Saturday, a four-set slug fest inside UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, avenging their Big West Championship loss two weeks ago.
The ‘Bows came out swinging and won the first set 25 to 15.
Then the Beach rallied back and won the second set 25 to 18.
Manoa took the third set 25 to 21.
The ‘Bows were down in fourth and rallied back to take the match home, 25-22.
“It’s amazing, you know, it’s an amazing feeling. Really happy we got the revenge from the Big West, and really happy I can be able to go to the final because we lost in the semis last year, so a lot of excitement and we’re really fired up,” said outside hitter Adrien Roure.
It was all systems go for UH, with three pin hitters, Kristian Titriyski, Louis Sakanoko, and Adrien Roure reaching double-digit kills, while middle blocker Justin Todd had himself a night at the net with a career best 10 blocks.
Setter Tread Rosenthal, who went down with an injury in the third set, stayed in the match to deliver 36 assists.
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“Just want to say congratulations to (Long Beach), our lives are so intertwined,” said head coach Charlie Wade. “We’re always playing in these really meaningful matches, whether it’s in the league championship or the national championship tournament, and even our league games are always, you know, two top-ranked teams.”
Manoa will now face another Big West foe, the University of California, Irvine, which went through top-seeded UCLA and Ball State.
The ‘Bows will now try for their first national title since 2022 on Monday at Pauley Pavilion on ESPN 2 at 1 p.m. Hawaii time.
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