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Coach Charlie Wade said in his postmatch interview that he recently inserted Chaz Galloway into the starting lineup primarily because of the outside attacker’s passing ability.
Consider a big offensive performance from the freshman just an added plus to the nation’s top-rated offense.
Galloway had a perfect 1.000 percent attack percentage with eight kills on eight attempts as No. 1/1 Hawai’i swept No. 3/2 UC Santa Barbara 25-18, 25-21, 25-20 on Friday in Santa Barbara, California, for its second consecutive win in the three-match series.
Wade said he has been impressed with how well the undefeated Rainbow Warriors (6-0, 2-0 Big West) have passed the Gauchos’ serving during the two conference matches. That passing contributed to Hawai’i having a sideout success rate of 82 percent in the recent win — almost 20 percentage points better than UC Santa Barbara (4-2, 0-2 Big West).
The Rainbow Warriors out-hit the Gauchos .388 to .172 and along with Galloway had two other players with more than both five kills and a .400 attack percentage.
All-American opposite Rado Parapunov finished with a match-high 16 kills while hitting .407. This was the third time in the last five matches the 2020 Big West Player of the Year had at least 15 kills, and the fourth consecutive match he hit more than .400.
All-American middle attacker Partick Gasman contributed eight kills and zero errors on a .889 attack percentage. Gasman, who entered the weekend second in the nation for attack percentage, has now committed zero errors in three of the Rainbow Warriors’ six matches this season.
Gasman also had a match-high four blocks against UC Santa Barbara.
Despite starting the series with the nation’s second-best rated offense, the Gauchos were held to a new season-low attack percentage for the second straight match.
Hawai’i out-blocked UC Santa Barbara 7 to 3 and limited the Gauchos to less than a .200 attack percentage in two of the three games during the sweep.
Middle attacker Keenan Sanders in the loss had nine kills on a .438 attacker percentage. Sanders, though, was the only Gaucho to have more than five kills and hit above .100.
Hawai’i and UC Santa Barbara will play again on Saturday afternoon in the series finale. Unlike the first two matches that counted as Big West matches, the finale will be considered a non-conference match.