HONOLULU — Louis Sakanoko called for the ball, and Tread Rosenthal obliged with a set to the left pin. But the French sophomore was oriented toward the Hawaii bench, not the net.

He improvised with a reverse swing behind his body, somehow connected and found an open spot between UC San Diego's defense.

"I was like, I need to do something. And so I just did that, and that works," said Sakanoko, who added that the move has French roots. "Pretty cool to do that in America."

Charlie Wade could only shake his head after the 25-21, 25-21, 25-18 outcome that gave him the seventh 20-win season of his 16-year UH career, and fourth in a row.

"I like the more traditional method, jump off two feet, land on two feet, spike it," the coach said. "You know, I've said this group almost on a daily basis. I see things and say to myself, 'well, I've never seen that before.'

"Some of them are good," he deadpanned.

A refreshed Hawaii (20-2, 3-0 Big West) dispatched visiting UC San Diego, and in conjunction with No. 5 UC Irvine's upset sweep win at previously unbeaten No. 1 Long Beach State, moved into sole possession of first place in the Big West Conference.

A crowd of 5,712 (6,801 tickets issued) saw UH get strong performances at the pins from Kristian Titriyski (16 kills, .387) and Sakanoko (13, .409).

Wade did not think his team played particularly well, despite hitting .326 to UCSD's .181, as he pointed out UH gave up a handful of unforced errors like playing an out ball or displayed overexuberance by hitting into a well-formed block.

He took a moment to explain the meaning of the word "stingy" to Sakanoko and the Bulgarian freshman Titriyski at the postgame interview table.

"(We should be) stingy with the points so we can get balls back on our side," Wade said. "But these guys are so talented, they always kind of seem to find a way to make up for it."

In the end, it was an effective response to a four-set loss to then-No. 5 USC in the team’s last game March 15. UH was coming off a bye week that included a North Shore stay and intrasquad scrimmage at BYU-Hawaii.

"That break was, I think, much needed for everyone with the loss with USC," Titriyski said. "I think everyone just needed to clear their heads, and just rethink about everything. We are prepared well for this game. I mean, we're looking for (that) tomorrow (in Saturday's 7 p.m. rematch). it's not going to be easy, for sure."

Rosenthal spread around 33 assists with six digs.

Meanwhile, No. 5 UC Irvine won in straight sets at top-ranked Long Beach State on Friday night. It was the first defeat of the season for LBSU (20-1, 2-1).

Freshman middle Justin Todd came down on Sakanoko’s foot in the first set and hobbled off the court with assistance. UH got to show some of its young depth as Ofeck Hazan, a freshman from Israel, came off the bench and played Todd’s rotation spot the rest of the way.

Sakanoko popped up a heater then hammered down a kill to clinch Set 2.

His back-flick for a kill with his back to the net got the loudest roars in Set 3 until Titriyski put down the deciding point on UH’s second attempt.

UCSD (16-5, 2-1) had its seven-match winning streak snapped. Anthony Cherfan led the Tritons with 13 kills on .212 hitting.

UH served up six aces from six different players to UCSD’s one.

Wade said he expects to get more resistance from the Tritons on Saturday.

"They win lots of rallies. They're unique in that all six starters are spin servers, and they served in bounds at a pretty good clip (87.1% Friday). They're always going to be able to put pressure on you."

Note: This story was updated with details and quotes.

Correction: A previous version of the story listed the wrong year classification for Hawaii's Louis Sakanoko.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.