{"id":171499,"date":"2023-01-17T13:51:15","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T23:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=171499"},"modified":"2023-01-17T13:51:15","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T23:51:15","slug":"volleyball-champs-sweep-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/01\/17\/volleyball-champs-sweep-season-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Volleyball champs raise national banner, sweep season opener"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

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The University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa men\u2019s volleyball<\/a> team started the 2023 season strong with two home wins in the January 12–13 season-opener series against Ball State University. The two-time defending national champions also unveiled their 2022 NCAA<\/abbr> Championship banner in a pre-match ceremony on January 13.<\/p>\n

In the first match, UH<\/abbr> kicked off the season with a four-set win over No. 6 Ball State in a rematch of last year’s NCAA<\/abbr> Championship semifinals. It was UH<\/abbr>\u2019s 10th straight season-opener win.<\/p>\n

For a full recap of the January 12 match, visit hawaiiathletics.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the second match of the series, the Rainbow Warriors claimed another four-set win against Ball State to extend their home win streak to 20 matches, dating back to 2021. UH<\/abbr> hitters were nearly unstoppable all night, hitting a combined .480 for the match.<\/p>\n

For a full recap of the January 13 match, visit hawaiiathletics.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Warriors earn conference top player awards<\/h2>\n

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Following the two matches, Spyros Chakas<\/strong> was named Big West Player of the Week and Brett Sheward<\/strong> was named Defensive Player of the Week. For both, the Big West weekly awards were the first of their career.<\/p>\n

Chakas led the team in kills in both matches against Ball State, with 19 in the opener and 22 in the rematch. He averaged 5.13 kills per set for the series and hit .485.<\/p>\n

Sheward averaged 3.00 digs per set in the series with a career-high 17 in Friday’s win. Additionally, he did not commit a reception error in 47 attempts.<\/p>\n

This week, UH<\/abbr> will host a two-match series against Saint Francis University<\/a> on Wednesday, January 18 and Friday, January 20 at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa men\u2019s volleyball team claimed its 10th straight season-opener win in a two-match series against Ball State University. <\/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":[660,714,9,550,80],"class_list":["post-171499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-student-recognition","tag-student-athlete","tag-uh-manoa","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