NORTHRIDGE, Calif. >> The strategy is simple: Serve well and let the blocking take care of the rest. Team defense puts
Warriors in tournamentFrom staff and wire reports
The Hawaii volleyball team executed the game plan to perfection and clinched a spot in the eight-team conference playoffs when it swept Cal State Northridge 30-23, 30-23, 30-20 yesterday.
The second-ranked Warriors improved to 15-4 overall and 12-2 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Matadors dropped to 11-10.
Normally vulnerable after a win, the Warriors made it clear from the start that they would control the match. Hawaii grooved offensively and terrorized Northridge's hitters with scrappy defense.
"We took care of business tonight," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "We blocked a lot of balls and we dug a lot of balls. We did a pretty good job in transition. We kind of faded out a little bit every once in a while but then we got right back in it.
"We made some good decisions and we read well. We served tough, which made it hard for them to get into a good rhythm offensively. Both of our middles, Brian (Nordberg) and Dejan (Miladinovic) had real effective hitting nights."
The middle blockers also had one of their best blocking nights. Before a small crowd of 731 at the Matadome, Hawaii had a season-high 20 team blocks.
Miladinovic, the Hawaii career leader in total blocks and block assists, made sure the Matadors saw green with each swing. The senior notched a match-high 10 blocks and had seven kills in nine swings with no errors. Every Hawaii player that made it to the front row posted at least one block.
Costas Theocharidis roofed seven balls to go along with his match-high 17 kills and two aces. Nordberg finished with seven kills, four blocks and an ace.
"The coaches did a nice job of preparing us with scouting reports," Nordberg said. "Our good reading was also attributed to our tough serving.
"We were a little more mentally focused tonight. A big part of it was that we really regretted that second night against Santa Barbara. And there was no way that we wanted to have that feeling of winning the first night's match and then losing the second night's match again."
Hawaii targeted CSUN middle blocker Joe Nargi and limited him to six kills and a negative hitting percentage (-.125) after he hit .636 on Friday. The Warriors' defense also kept Eckhard Walter, the Matadors' top hitter, on the bench in Game 2. Walter finished with 12 kills to lead Northridge.
Hawaii returns home today. The Warriors leave Wednesday for two important conference matches against Pepperdine on Friday and Saturday.
30-23, 30-23, 30-20. Hawaii def. CSUN
WARRIORS (15-4, 12-2 MPSF) g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 3 7 0 9 .778 1 11 0 Tuyay 3 0 1 3 -.333 1 3 9 Zimet 3 5 4 12 .083 0 3 2 Podlewski 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Theocharidis 3 17 2 36 .417 0 7 5 Delgado 3 10 3 17 .412 0 5 3 Chala 1 0 0 1 .000 0 1 0 Ching 2 4 0 8 .500 0 2 6 Nordberg 3 7 1 11 .545 0 4 0 Totals 3 50 11 97 .402 2 36 28 MATADORS (11-10, 7-9 MPSF) g k e att pct. bs ba d Nielsen 3 8 4 19 .211 1 1 4 Nargi 3 6 9 24 -.125 0 3 2 Ozkaya 3 6 6 14 .000 0 2 4 Douglas 2 5 1 9 .444 0 1 0 Tramblie 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 2 5 Walter 2 12 6 27 .222 0 1 2 Boxaspen 1 2 1 3 .333 0 0 0 George 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 English 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Jandreau 2 3 1 10 .200 0 1 4 Allen 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Arneson 3 2 1 4 .250 0 2 1 Totals 3 45 29 111 .144 1 13 32 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (3): Theocharidis 2, Nordberg. CSUN (2): Douglas, Walter. Assists -- Hawaii (44): Tuyay 41, Podlewski , Miladinovic, Zimet. CSUN (44): Tramblie 37, Allen 7.
T -- 1:25. Officials -- Ron Stahl, Verna Klubikin. A -- 731.
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