Hawaii Men’s Volleyball Team Defeats Harvard In 5 Sets

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARADVERTISER.COM

Hawaii Warriors Alex Parks looked to score against Harvard Crimson Owen Fanning during a men’s NCAA volleyball match on Frida at the SimpliFi Arena, Stan Sheriff Center.

No. 4 Hawaii fought off three match points in the fifth set and closed on a 5-0 run with Justin Todd recording the game-clinching solo block to lead the Rainbow Warriors to a thrilling 25-17, 25-27, 25-15, 21-25, 16-14 win over Harvard tonight at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

UH trailed 14-11 after calling its final timeout. Todd, thrust into the starting lineup with freshman Ofeck Hazan out, put down a kill on the Crimson’s first match point. Freshman Finn Kearney entered the match and served four straight tough balls that allowed Hawaii (4-0) to pull out the win in a front of a crowd of 4,876.

UH avoided losing to a EIVA team other than Penn State for the first time in 16 matches.

Logan Shepherd and Owen Fanning had 17 kills apiece to lead Harvard (0-2). Kristian Titriyski had a match-high 18 kills for Hawaii and Adrien Roure added 14.

Middle Kurt Nusterer hit .667 with nine kills in 12 swings.

Rosenthal, who finished with a match-high 47 assists, also had six kills in eight swings, seven digs and four blocks.

Hawaii hit .395 while Harvard finishing at a .246 hitting percentage. UH also outblocked the Crimson 15.5 to 5.5.

Up next for Hawaii are matches on Wednesday and next Friday against No. 19 Princeton.

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