MĀNOA — The No. 2 University of Hawai‘i men's volleyball team was not going to miss the same opportunity twice.
With a 25-20, 25-16, 25-16 sweep over CSUN on Friday night, the Rainbow Warriors clinched the Big West regular season title and top seed in next week's conference tournament. The 'Bows had an opportunity to gain both conference distinctions in their series at UC San Diego last week, but suffered a disappointing loss on Saturday.
In front of a Stan Sheriff Center turnstile crowd of 6,765 on Friday night, the 'Bows left no doubt in improving to 25-4 overall and 8-1 in Big West Conference play. Immediately after the match, the Rainbow Warriors took off their jerseys in favor of Big West regular season champion shirts.
"You win the Big West regular season, you absolutely are in the running to win a national championship, and that's certainly our goal every year," Hawai‘i head coach Charlie Wade said following the match. "Winning league championships in this league is hard to do, no question. So, super stoked. But again, we got bigger goals than just the league title but certainly want to enjoy the fact that we've gotten this far and will be the 1 seed in the tournament and putting together a nice resume going forward."
The 'Bows dominated the Matadors (12-13, 0-9 Big West) with 12.5 team blocks and 29 total digs. With Kristian Titriyski sidelined with what Wade described as arm fatigue, sophomore Kainoa Wade got the start at opposite for the Rainbow Warriors and registered a team-high 10 kills.
"It was good to see us bounce back this week in practice and just be engaged the whole time," said Kainoa Wade, Charlie's son. "That's a good CSUN team, and we took care of business tonight."
Reserve setter Vladimir Kubr, the team's lone senior, entered at the end of the second and third sets as the 'Bows built commanding leads in each. Kubr served once in each set as the Matadors were able to side-out each time.
"Vlad is the most rock solid dude you'll ever meet," Kainoa Wade says of his teammate. "He is just on everything. He gets on all of us when we're goofing off. He gets us back engaged, and he's like an older brother to me, honestly. He's such a great guy, and I'm so stoked for him. He got an opportunity to be in this environment and helped us win the championship, honestly. So, yeah, it was awesome. I love Vlad to death, and he knows that."
Before the 'Bows head to Irvine, Calif., for next week's Big West Tournament, they'll wrap up their regular season with another match against CSUN on Saturday at 7 p.m. With Kubr the lone senior on senior night, he's expected to get a prolonged celebration and ovation on Saturday.
Charlie Wade said he has something special planned for Kubr on Saturday but wasn't willing to divulge what it was on Friday night.
"I don't think I can tell you before I tell him," Wade said.
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
