How to compare the NCAA's No. 9 men's volleyball team to that of No. 3 in the NAIA?

Think surfing Pipeline vs. snorkeling in Hanauma Bay. Different speed, different way to enjoy the water. But the differences are obvious, as were the differences when Hawaii hosted Hope International in the first of two matches last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

In an atmosphere resembling that of a state high school championship final—with many of the 1,400 turning out to see the return of five island prep products playing for the Royals—the Warriors (7-5) simply showed they were at another level.

Freshman opposite Jonas Umlauft put down 20 kills and senior middle Matt Rawson was nearly untouchable with 14 while hitting .600 in Hawaii's 30-13, 30-23, 30-21 win over Hope.

Kaimi Guerreiro, the 2000 Oahu Interscholastic Association East player of the year out of Kalaheo, led the Royals (5-4) with 11 kills and the number of signs in the arena.

The teams meet again at 7 tonight. Hana hou sounded good to Guerreiro.

“;It brought back a lot of memories, was a bit of shock coming back in to play here and it took a while to get used to the atmosphere,”; Guerreiro said. “;We had a great turnout, tried to get the word out, and that was nice.

“;Hawaii is stronger, but we had our chances. We'll see what happens tomorrow. We basically have nothing to lose.”;

The Warriors were loose from the outset, with senior hitter Ernie Vidinha making his first start in place of sophomore Steven Hunt (illness).

“;It was really fun out there, had played with some of their guys before in club and on the weekends,”; said Vidinha, who was in on three of Hawaii's 11 blocks. “;The environment was really good.

“;Tomorrow, we want to clean up our errors and do a little better defensively.”;

Vidinha and senior libero Ric Cervantes each had 11 digs as Hawaii won that battle 48-29. Senior libero Noah Casaquit (Moanalua 2000) had seven digs for Hope.

The Warriors hit .374 for the match to the Royals' .130.

“;They were really scrappy,”; Rawson said. “;But we were able to run transition, their middles couldn't keep up with ours.

“;You can't take any team lightly. We have to stay focused on what we need to do and keep getting better.”;

Set 1 was simply no contest, with Umlauft having as many kills (eight) as did the entire Hope team. Warriors setter Nejc Zemljak had one of those magical serving runs, seemingly spending half the set on the backline as Hawaii stretched its 13-8 lead to 22-8.

The Royals broke into double digits on a kill by Alex Figueiredo, but by then the gap was 26-10. Consecutive points were few and far between for Hope, which picked up two in a row in closing to 28-13. Hawaii answered with Umlauft, who finished it off with a kill and an ace.

Rawson, hitting 1.000 in Set 1 with no errors on seven swings, came back down to earth early in Set 2 with one attempt going long and two others dug. Still, Rawson took a .643 hitting percentage—and Hawaii a 2-0 lead—into the locker room.

The teams substituted freely in Set 3, but the Warriors were never in trouble. The Royals, who never led during the 97 minutes, made things interesting late by holding off three match points. But Hope couldn't extend it to a fourth when Bernard Luna couldn't put down his attempt.

Note

Hawaii senior hitter Joseph Strotman is out indefinitely with an injury to his right foot suffered Tuesday in practice. He wore a protective boot last night.