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Hawai’i players joked during the prematch news conference that freshman outside attacker Finn Kearney is so fearless he wouldn’t be intimidated going up against players from one of the top European volleyball leagues.
With that type of on-court confidence, Kearney was just the player Hawai’i needed at the service line trailing by eight points in the opening game.
Kearney had three aces and a kill during a 9-0 run as the No. 2 seed Hawai’i overcame a 11-3 deficit to win the opening game and then defeated the No. 7 seed Penn State 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23 in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio.
Kearney in his NCAA Tournament debut finished with both a team-high four aces and 16 kills.
The freshman led all players with six kills in the third game. Kearney also had a kill to end a Penn State 6-2 run at the start of the fourth game and jump started a rally that helped complete the win.
Hawai’i out-hit Penn State .238 to .211, but the Nittany Lions held the Rainbow Warriors to almost .100 percentage points below their season average.
Kearney was the only Hawai’i pin-hitter to have double-digit kills. In addition, all three Rainbow Warrior pin-hitters were held to less than a .200 attack percentage.
Middle attacker Kurt Nusterer had nine kills on a .571 attack percentage, while middle attacker Justin Todd had eight kills and zero errors on an .800 attack percentage.
Penn State opposite Matthew Luoma in the loss had a match-high 17 kills. Outside attacker Will Kuhns added 11 kills on a .421 attack percentage.
Hawai’i finished the match with 10 aces – six more aces than Penn State.
Kearney was one of three Rainbow Warriors with multiple aces.
Louis Sakanoko had three aces, including back-to-back aces in the fourth game. Tood added two aces against the EIVA champions.
Hawai’i trailed 22-21 in the fourth game but rallied to close out the match and prevent a decisive fifth game.
Nusterer had two kills during the match-ending run, including the match-winning kill. The middle attacker also was serving when the Nittany Lions committed back-to-back attack errors to set up the match-point
Penn State in the third game rallied from a late three-point deficit to tie the game at 22-22. Hawai’i, though, capitalized on a Penn State attack error and then a Rosenthal ace as part of a 3-1 run to close out the game.
Kuhns led the Nittany Lions with five kills in their second-game victory. In addition, Kuhns with Penn State trailing 14-12 had three kills on a 4-0 run to give the Nittany Lions the lead.
This was the first time a NCAA Tournament quarterfinals match went beyond the minimum three games since the tournament expanded from seven teams in 2024.
Hawai’i with this victory will advance to play the No. 3 seed UCLA in the semifinals on Saturday.
UCLA swept the No. 6 seed Belmont Abbey in its quarterfinals match on Thursday morning.
Penn State finished the season reaching the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, despite having a losing record. The Nittany Lions won eight of their last 10 matches and as a No. 3 seed swept all three of their matches in the EIVA Tournament to earn the conference’s automatic bid.