Hawaii throws changeup
at UCSD

The team is ‘happy again’ after
a road volleyball win

Change is good.

In the case of the Hawaii men's volleyball team last night, it was very good.

Hawaii 3 UCSD 0 Next Up at UCSD tomorrow

The sixth-ranked Warriors ended a four-match conference skid against UC San Diego, thanks in part to a "tweaking" in the starting lineup. Senior opposite Pedro Azenha moved to left-side hitter and responded with a match-high 17 kills in a 30-22, 30-23, 30-22 victory at the RIMAC Arena in San Diego.

Azenha also had three of the team's four aces as Hawaii moved back into fourth place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Warriors outblocked the Tritons 10.5-2.5 in improving to 14-6 overall, 10-3 in the MPSF; UCSD fell to 1-18 and 0-15.

Hawaii will go for its 33rd straight victory over UCSD when the teams meet again tomorrow at 5 p.m. Hawaii time.

"It was great to win; we needed it mentally," UH setter Brian Beckwith said. "We wanted to get back on track, get that confidence back in ourselves."

The Warriors stumbled out of Provo last week after being swept twice by Brigham Young. The struggles led UH coach Mike Wilton to base last night's lineup on the team's practices earlier in the week.

Azenha and Lauri Hakala earned the left-side roles, with Jose Delgado moving to opposite. The middle spots also changed, with freshmen Jake Schkud and Kyle Klinger beating out veterans Mauli'a LaBarre and Dio Dante.

Azenha hit an outrageous .609, while Klinger and Hakala each had eight kills with just one hitting error. Klinger was also in on five of the team's blocks, with three solo stuffs.

"We have just good athletes that nothing really changes for me (setting-wise)," Beckwith said. "I was happy that our blocking and serving was back. And we were scoring real points (on serving runs).

"Now we have to come out with the same focus Friday."

Adam Toren led the Tritons with 13 kills. UCSD's leading hitter, Luke Hornette, had five kills and was hitting .071 when he was pulled early in Game 2.

Azenha's serving set the tone for the match and gave Hawaii its first separation in Game 1. He served for four points, including his first ace, as the Warriors took a 5-3 lead and never looked back.

Four team blocks and six kills by Azenha helped Hawaii pull away in Game 2 at 20-14. Azenha accounted for the final two points, on a kill and an ace.

In Game 3, LaBarre was perfect on all five swings, including the match-ending kill. Hawaii hit .680 for Game 3, .506 for the match to the Tritons' .220.

"It was pleasing to see the team happy again," Wilton said. "And I'm quite fond of having a left-side hitter who can hit .609 (Azenha). The little tweaking boosted our left-side hitting and I thought everybody played well.

"UCSD is a pretty good team. They can play, and they're going to play a lot better Friday. That's our intent, too."

The only Warrior who didn't play was junior hitter Matt Bender, who hasn't fully recovered from his bout with the flu.

"Bender is not very strong right now," Wilton said. "We've got to get him healthy. We didn't need him tonight, but we're going to need him down the stretch."

Hawaii has six conference matches remaining after tomorrow's match. The Warriors host UC Santa Barbara next Friday and Saturday, are at Long Beach State April 7-8 and finish the regular season at home with Pacific April 15-16.

Hawaii def. UC San Diego

30-22, 30-23, 30-22

Warriors (14-6, 10-5 mpsf)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Klinger	3	8	1	12	.583	3	2	2
Delgado	2	6	3	16	.188	0	2	1
Hakala	3	8	1	14	.500	0	3	3
Beckwith	3	1	0	1	1.000	0	3	3
Azenha	3	17	3	23	.609	0	1	2
Schkud	2	3	1	6	.333	0	3	0
Carere	2	3	1	5	.400	0	0	1
Reft	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	10
La Barre	1	5	0	5	1.000	0	1	0
Rasay	1	1	0	1	1.000	0	0	0
Dante	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	3	52	10	83	.506	3	15	22
Tritons (1-18, 0-15 MPSF)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Reuter	3	7	4	17	.176	0	1	2
Rusch	3	2	1	7	.143	0	2	0
Toren	3	13	5	21	.381	0	1	2
Honnette	2	5	4	14	.071	0	0	2
Dierdorff	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	4
Smith	3	7	3	14	.286	0	0	0
Hardy	3	3	2	9	.111	0	1	0
Tai	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	4
Sexton	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	3	37	19	82	.220	0	5	14

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (4): Azenha 3, Klinger. UCSD (3): Toren 3. Assists -- Hawaii (48): Beckwith 39, Rasay 6, Reft, Hakala, Klinger. UCSD (36): Dierdorff 34, Tai 2.
T -- 1:15. Officials -- Kevin Cull, Jesse Martinez. A -- 262.

MPSF standings

	Conference			Overall
	W	L	Pct.	W	L
Pepperdine	16	1	.941	16	1
UCLA	13	3	.813	20	3
UCSB	11	5	.688	13	8
Hawaii	10	5	.667	14	6
BYU	9	5	.643	14	7
Long Beach State	8	6	.571	14	7
Stanford	7	7	.500	8	9
CS Northridge	7	9	.438	11	10
Pacific	6	10	.375	12	12
UC Irvine	4	12	.250	6	17
USC	3	14	.176	6	18
UC San Diego	0	15	.000	1	18

Yesterday
Hawaii def. UC San Diego, 30-22, 30-23, 30-22
Tomorrow
Hawaii at UC San Diego
Long Beach State at Brigham Young
Stanford at Pepperdine
Cal Baptist at UC Santa Barbara
CS Northridge at IPFW
Saturday
Long Beach State at Brigham Young
Stanford at USC
CS Northridge at IPFW