A lot of Hawaii Rainbow Warrior volleyball fans on the Big Island feel a special connection to Austin Tatautia, from Moanalua High, who used to do his best work against BIIF teams.
Last year as a senior, Matautia crushed 29 kills on 47 swings with a .468 hitting clip as Na Menehune defeated Kamehameha-Hawaii in the HHSAA tournament semifinals in four sets.
The UH freshman served the fifth set’s final seven points in a 23-25, 27-25, 17-25, 25-14, 15-4 win over Penn State in the NCAA Championship’s opening round Tuesday at Columbus, Ohio.
In the other play-in, first-round match, BYU swept Barton College 25-19, 25-11, 25-15.
Barton sophomore Justice Lord, a 2015 Hilo graduate, had two kills on four swings for a .250 hitting percentage. He added two digs and had a block assist.
The Bulldogs, from the Conference Carolinas, were making the six-year-old program’s first appearance at the NCAA Championship.
On Thursday in the semifinals, it’s Long Beach State (27-3) vs. BYU (25-4), followed by Hawaii (27-5) vs. Ohio State (30-2), the national defending champion.
Sophomore outside hitter Stijn van Tilburg led the Rainbow Warriors with 20 kills and added seven digs and six blocks. Fellow sophomore Brett Rosenmeier had 13 kills, nine digs, and a career-high six roofs.
UH outblocked the Nittany Lions, 17.5-11 and tied the school’s single-season record for most wins.
Matautia came off the bench in the second set and provided a boost. He had a career-high .778 hitting clip with seven kills and nine swings on nine swings.
In the fifth set, UH hit .583 to Penn State’s negative .190. The Nittany Lions finished with 35 attack errors, compared to Hawaii’s 24.
The Rainbow Warriors played without 6-foot-6 senior middle blocker Hendrick Mol, who injured his ankle against the Beach in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship loss.
“We are one of the best teams in the country and we get to prove it,” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “We got into some rhythm in the fourth and fifth sets and played at a pretty high level.
“Austin came in off the bench and have us a big lift. We’ve been a pretty veteran team. I look out there all of a sudden it’s a couple freshman, there to four sophomores and they did a great job so I couldn’t be more proud of the performance they put in.”