It was like watching a cat - a bored cat - play with a ball of yarn. A swipe here, a swipe there - the ball was batted around until finally it came unraveled.Playing well when it wanted to, great when it needed to, the University of Hawaii unraveled a good Pacific team last night in front of 5,970 at the Special Events Arena. The top-ranked Rainbows toyed with the No. 7 Tigers for 88 minutes before prevailing in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match, 15-2, 15-7, 15-8.
Balance was the key for Hawaii in running its overall record to 18-1, 12-0 in the MPSF. With three players in double kill figures and Sivan Leoni amassing more blocks than the entire Pacific team, the Rainbows continued their march toward the top seeding in the postseason tournament with their fifth straight victory.
"I'm disappointed, like a proud father is when his kids don't do as well as they can," said Pacific coach Joe Wortmann, whose team fell to 12-7 overall, 8-6 in MPSF play.
"If there's a reason for it, it could be we had spring break, took eight days off and practiced twice. We played Tuesday (a 3-1 loss to No. 10 Ohio State) and didn't practice before we played tonight. Technically and physically, we weren't sharp."
Neither were the Rainbows, particularly after handing the Tigers their worst single-set defeat of the season in Game 1. Despite hitting .458, Hawaii appeared to lose interest during Game 2 until Pacific made it interesting with a run that closed it to 12-7.
Yuval Katz, still shaky after last week's illness, bowed out of the match with his 13th kill for a 13-7 lead. Leoni blocked Martin Berkenkamp for game point and Berkenkamp ended it with a hitting error.
With the Rainbows' concentration again fading in and out in Game 3, the Tigers took advantage. Greg Wakeham, second in the country in kill average behind Katz, finally got his game going to help Pacific close to 6-5 in Game 3.
Leoni and Aaron Wilton helped shut off the Tigers' middle attack with two blocks, and Leoni's stuff of an overpass put Hawaii ahead, 11-5. UOP did close to 12-8, but gave up the last three points of the match on hitting errors.
"I think we expected Pacific to do a lot more than they did tonight," said Hawaii blocker Jason Ring. "Maybe the crowd took them out of it (UOP averages 331 at home). Maybe we had something to do with it. I'm sure they'll make some adjustments and come out hard Saturday.
The teams meet again at 1 p.m. tomorrow. Since both are in the Pacific Division, tomorrow's match also will count in the MPSF standings.
Wilton led the Rainbows with 14 kills, hitting .456. Katz added 13 kills in two games and Naveh Milo 12 in three. Wakeham, who hit a negative .091 in Game 1, finished with 16 kills and a .104 average.
Leoni added two solo blocks and eight assists. As a team, Pacific had seven total blocks.
"We had seen a lot of tape on Hawaii and they're fun to watch," said Wortmann. "There were no surprises. They rip the jump serve and don't make a lot of mistakes, especially when it counts."
Hawaii coach Mike Wilton wasn't overly impressed by his team's performance, but liked the offensive balance by setter Erik Pichel and the Rainbows' defense.
"Pacific is capable of playing much better than they showed tonight," Wilton warned. "Saturday should be a tough match."
Rainbow blocker Rick Tune, still a little weak with the flu, didn't play last night.
Tune is leading the country in hitting percentage at .512.