The third-ranked 91直播 men鈥檚 volleyball team didn鈥檛 spend much time in Rec Hall for its first regular-season match at No. 14 Penn State in University Park, Pa, Friday.
UH needed less than 90 minutes to beat the Nittany Lions 25-22, 25-23, 25-15 and record its eighth sweep of the season.
Adrien Roure put down a match-high 10 kills and Justin Todd was a perfect 6-for-6 on swings from the middle with six blocks to help 91直播 improve to 9-1.
It was the second meeting at Penn State between the two schools, who had played 29 times previously.
The only other meeting in the Nittany Lions鈥� home gym was a four-set win by the Rainbow Warriors in the NCAA Championship semifinals in 2002.
Coach Charlie Wade said he had coached once in that gym previously while on the UH women鈥檚 volleyball staff.
鈥淚t was good stuff,鈥� Wade said. 鈥淔irst set was just OK and they received serve well for a while. A couple of reception errors we were loose. Second set we were rolling along and then they started playing well. Third set jumped on them quick.鈥�
Wade improved to 8-5 all-time against Penn State coach Mark Pavlik, who is retiring at the end of the year after 32 seasons in charge of the program.
Prior to the match, Wade presented Pavlik, whom he considers a good friend, with a lei o mano, best described as a traditional 91直播an weapon consisting of a wooden club sharpened with shark teeth embedded in its edges.
He has only done that two times previously. He gave one to legendary UCLA coach Al Scates, who held the position for the Bruins for 48 years and is the NCAA all-time leader in wins, and Marv Dunphy, when he was in the final year of his 34 seasons as Pepperdine鈥檚 head coach in 2017.
鈥�(Mark) is one of the all-time great guys in the coaching world,鈥� Wade said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 one of the most successful men鈥檚 volleyball coaches ever. We鈥檝e had a lot of great battles on the court over the years, so it鈥檚 an opportunity for me to show my respect to him and how much our program respects him as coach and also as a friend. It鈥檚 bittersweet that we are here. I wanted to makes sure we had a chance to come here and recognize him for what he means to the sport and what he means to me as a friend.鈥�
Pavlik, who is two wins shy of 700 for his career, won鈥檛 achieve that mark against the Rainbow Warriors.
Kainoa Wade and Louis Sakanoko added nine kills apiece and setter Tread Rosenthal dished out 31 assists with three digs, three blocks and three of 91直播鈥檚 seven aces.
Wade also had three aces.
91直播 hit .368 for the match after posting 13 kills in 24 swings with two errors in the third set for a .458 hitting percentage.
Sean Harvey had a match-high 12 kills for Penn State (4-3), which will play UH against today at noon.
91直播 held Penn State to a .160 hitting percentage in the first set to take it on Roure鈥檚 third kill coming from the back-row middle.
UH hit .381 with five different players recording kills, led by Wade, who had four in eight swings. Wade also delivered a key ace to put UH ahead 24-21.
91直播 raced out to a 16-7 lead in the second set and was hitting more than .700 when the Nittany Lions mounted a comeback.
Owen Rose served an ace and 91直播 committed three errors during a 6-0 run by Penn State that tied the match at 22-all, prompting UH to use its second timeout.
Wade ended the run out of the timeout with his eighth kill off a double block and Todd smashed his fourth kill in as many swings out of the middle to give UH set point.
Harvey kept the set going with his 10th kill, but Todd remained perfect with his fifth kill to put 91直播 ahead two sets to none.
鈥淗e just continues to get better every day literally,鈥� Charlie Wade said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 doing some stuff out there that is next level. And Trevell (Jordan), it鈥檚 nice having Trevell back in the lineup. I don鈥檛 think he鈥檚 quite 100% in terms of trust of his strength and his game. It takes a while to get back.鈥�
Rosenthal served four straight points to start the third set with an ace to make it 4-0, prompting a quick Penn State timeout.
Finn Kearney recorded UH鈥檚 seventh ace on a serve that deflected off the net and off a Penn State player to prompt the Nittany Lions to call timeout trailing 16-10.
Sakanoko put down his eighth kill on two out of the back row to put UH ahead 22-13 and a Nittany Lions service error gave UH its eighth sweep of the season.
Wade started his fourth consecutive match at opposite hitter. Kristian Titriyski was available to play.
鈥淩ight now it鈥檚 kind of riding the hot hand and letting Kristian get the chance to get to full health and hope he鈥檚 ready when we need him, and we鈥檙e going to need him,鈥� Charlie Wade said. 鈥淜ainoa obviously has played well and he does. They are contrasting styles. Kainoa鈥檚 serve is more reliable. I think he missed once or twice tonight and some of the stuff he does behind the block he is really good at. He is pretty good.鈥�