Rick Tune, the Rainbows' junior blocker, broke his left thumb in the middle of Game 2, which led to a break in Hawaii's rhythm against No. 7 Pepperdine. The Waves, behind 30 kills by Kevin Barnett, washed away the Rainbows' perfect record in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation with a 15-13, 8-15, 15-6, 17-16 win at Firestone Gym.
"After Rick went out, it became a game of musical chairs at that position," said Hawaii coach Mike Wilton. "Moving guys around affected our cohesiveness. Sometimes it's hard when you can't have the six guys on the floor we want. But that's our fault. We need to be able to make the adjustments. Our goal is to have eight to nine guys who can be interchangeable parts."
Hawaii (4-2 overall, 3-1 MPSF) began the night not playing on all cylinders. Rainbow junior hitter Naveh Milo was sidelined with a sore quadriceps muscle in his left leg.
Wilton hopes to have both Milo and Tune back in time for tomorrow's MPSF match at Brigham Young. The Cougars are 2-0 in nonconference play and haven't played since defeating Lewis on Jan. 21.
Sophomore reserve hitter Mason Kuo, who sparked Wednesday's win over Long Beach State, started in Milo's place. Kuo blocked and dug well, according to Wilton, but struggled on the outside, hitting .042.
Picking up the load for Hawaii was senior blocker/hitter Jason Ring, who finished with 41 kills in 80 swings in addition to eight blocks. Senior captain Aaron Wilton added 22 kills, hitting .425, while junior blocker Sivan Leoni added 10 kills, hitting .571.
"Aaron did well and Leoni did a real good job," said Mike Wilton, who had pulled Leoni against the 49ers Wednesday after he received a yellow card warning. "Jason Ring took a lot of swings. I think we set him way too much, but he did have 40 kills."
Also in double-kill figures for Pepperdine (3-2, 2-1) were George Roumain (26), Peter Kodacsy (17) and Chris Jacobson (13). The Waves outhit the Rainbows, .333-.301.
"We outblocked them (22-15) and outdug them (46-39), but they were more proficient at siding out," said Mike Wilton. "In Games 1 and 3 we were just horrible.
"We're 3-1 in conference now, so it's not the end of the world. It's a different year and there are a lot of teams that can beat each other. And Pepperdine is a very good team"
Tune was hitting .615, with nine kills and one error in 13 swings, when he went out of the match. He also had five block assists.
Pepperdine def. Hawaii, 15-6, 8-15, 15-6, 17-16
Rainbows (4-2 overall, 3-1 MPSF)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Wilton 4 22 5 40 .425 1 3 13 Vaughan 4 3 1 4 .500 0 1 4 Kuo 4 9 8 24 .042 0 9 8 Ring 4 41 18 80 .287 1 7 10 Tune 2 9 1 13 .615 0 5 2 Stanley 2 0 3 5 --.600 0 4 2 Lee 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Escobar 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Leoni 4 10 2 14 .571 0 6 5 Salmeri 3 1 1 6 .000 0 3 2 Totals 4 95 39 186 .301 2 38 46
Waves (3-2 overall, 2-1 MPSF)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Jacobson 4 13 2 20 .550 1 3 2 Beard 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Wellman 4 6 3 13 .231 0 11 3 Nelson 4 3 0 6 .500 1 1 4 Roumain 4 26 12 53 .264 0 5 3 Kodacsy 4 17 8 34 .265 1 2 13 Barnett 4 30 8 56 .393 0 4 12 Kalama 1 0 1 1 --1.00 0 0 1 Crosier 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 95 34 183 .333 3 26 39Key: g-games. k-kills. e-hitting errors. at-attempts. pct.-hitting percentage. bs-block solos. ba-block assists. d-digs.
Aces-UH (5): Vaughan 1, Kuo 1, Ring 1, Stanley 1, Leoni 1. Pepp (5): Barnett 3, Roumain 2. Assists-UH (86): Vaughan 86. Pepp (86): Nelson 82, Kodacsy 2, Wellman 1, Barnett 1.
A-1,050. T-2:40. Officials: Lee, Martin.