{"id":141089,"date":"2021-05-08T16:09:34","date_gmt":"2021-05-09T02:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=141089"},"modified":"2021-05-08T16:12:47","modified_gmt":"2021-05-09T02:12:47","slug":"mens-vb-wins-national-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/08\/mens-vb-wins-national-title\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> men\u2019s VB<\/abbr> wins national title in three-set sweep"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"Â鶹´«Ã½volleyball<\/p>\n

The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa men\u2019s volleyball team<\/a> is the 2021 national champions! No<\/abbr>. 1 seed UH<\/abbr> (17-1) defeated No<\/abbr>. 2 seed Brigham Young University (20-4) in three sets 25-21, 25-19 and 25-16 in the NCAA<\/abbr> championship match at the Covelli Center on the campus of Ohio State University.<\/p>\n

Leading the way for the Rainbow Warriors was American Volleyball Coaches Association and Big West Player of the Year senior opposite hitter Rado Parapunov<\/strong> with 13 kills hitting .357 and three service aces. Senior outside hitter Colton Cowell<\/strong> contributed seven kills and three service aces, and senior middle blocker Patrick Gasman<\/strong> had seven kills and two blocks. Freshman outside hitter Chaz Galloway<\/strong> added six kills hitting .667, while sophomore setter Jakob Thelle<\/strong> contributed 36 assists and four service aces.<\/p>\n

Match details<\/h2>\n
\"three
Senior opposite Rado Parapunov led the way with 13 kills in the NCAA<\/abbr> championship match.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both teams went neck-and-neck to open the match, before kills by Cowell and Parapunov, and a hitting error by BYU<\/abbr>\u2019s Gabi Garcia Fernandez put the Rainbow Warriors up 8-5. Teams traded points before a pair of BYU<\/abbr> kills forced UH<\/abbr> to call its first timeout at 16-15. The Cougars took the lead on an error by Cowell, before UH<\/abbr> went on a five-point run to lead 23-19. A BYU<\/abbr> service error gave the Rainbow Warriors the first set win 25-21. Parapunov led the way with five kills, while Cowell and freshman middle blocker Guilherme Voss<\/strong> added four.<\/p>\n

UH<\/abbr> opened the second set with an early 2-0 lead before BYU<\/abbr> took three straight points of its own. Both teams stayed close until a six-point serving run by Thelle pushed the Rainbow Warriors ahead 16-8. BYU<\/abbr> went on a 6-2 run, but three consecutive service aces by Parapunov put the Rainbow Warriors up 23-14 and they never looked back. UH<\/abbr> closed out the second set 25-19.<\/p>\n

\"person
Senior outside hitter Colton Cowell added seven kills and three service aces.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Rainbow Warriors kept the momentum going, opening the third set on a 5-2 run. UH<\/abbr> jumped out to a 9-4 lead on two kills by Thelle, before BYU<\/abbr> got within two at 13-11 and 14-12. That was as close as the Cougars would get for the remainder of the set. UH<\/abbr> went on a pair of mini-runs and maintained the lead, taking the final set 25-16 on a kill by Gasman.<\/p>\n

Historic victory<\/h2>\n

This is UH<\/abbr>\u2019s first NCAA<\/abbr> team title in any sport since the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team defeated Stanford in the 1987 NCAA<\/abbr> championship match. This also marked the final match for Rainbow Warrior seniors Parapunov, Cowell and Gasman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UH<\/abbr> took down BYU<\/abbr> in three sets to win the NCAA<\/abbr> national championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1362],"tags":[58,714,550,80],"class_list":["post-141089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-athletics","tag-student-athlete","tag-manoa-athletics","tag-volleyball","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t