WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL
Warriors beat Matadors in 5
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. » The good was really good. The bad was pretty bad.
And the ugly, well, it was just plain ugly.
Fortunately for the Hawaii men's volleyball team, last night's match against Cal State Northridge finished the way it began. On a very good note.
Led by Jose Delgado's 20 kills and 16 by Lauri Hakala, the No. 4 Warriors rallied past the No. 5 Matadors 30-25, 30-20, 29-31, 18-30, 15-11 at the Matadome. Hawaii needed 2 hours and 7 minutes to win its fourth straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match, improving to 8-4 overall and 6-3 in the conference.
Northridge lost its second consecutive five-game match and fell to 8-6 and 4-5.
The teams have a very short turnaround before meeting again. Because of a conflict with CSUN men's basketball, today's rematch is at 9 a.m., Hawaii time.
Hawaii coach Mike Wilton didn't expect to get much sleep, between going over film from last night's contest, this morning's 7 a.m. wake-up call and some concern over his team's collapse in Game 4. The Warriors were cruising in the first hour against the Matadors, easily winning Games 1 and 2 and enjoying a 13-8 lead in Game 3.
"Things were going well clear into Game 3 and then we squandered a bunch of points," Wilton said. "I didn't call a timeout because I felt we'd pull out of it. We had our chances in Game 3 and then we collapsed."
As quickly as one can say, "Bad rotation," the Matadors tied up Game 3 with five unanswered points. Dan Rhodes, who had 41 kills in last Saturday's 3-2 loss at Pepperdine, put down a kill and then was in on two of the team's blocks in the 5-0 run.
The game was tied 15 more times, the last at 29-29. Kills by freshman Eric Vance and senior Cary Hanson gave CSUN the win and some incredible momentum.
At 3-3, junior James Lischer started an 8-0 run with a kill and then served for the next seven points. The Warriors trailed by as many as 13 (24-11) as Wilton made wholesale substitutions, including freshman setter Sean Carney for junior Brian Beckwith.
"The plane wasn't flying," Wilton said of pulling his starters. "We got some of the other guys on the court and got (the starters) some time out.
"In Game 5, we served and passed, got our game back, got back into system."
CSUN took an early 4-2 lead only to have Hawaii respond with four straight points. At 8-8, the Warriors used a kill by Delgado and two blocks to go ahead for good at 11-8.
The Matadors closed to 12-10 on Rhodes' 18th kill but got no closer. Two more kills by Delgado gave the Warriors match point and CSUN was unable to return Hakala's serve to end it.
Matt Carere added 13 kills and 11 digs for Hawaii. Dio Dante was in on nine blocks and Alfred Reft had 12 digs.
Hanson finished with 12 kills and Lischer, playing in the final three games, had nine kills and no errors in 12 attempts. Vance had 12 digs.
"The key to tomorrow will be serving and passing, as basic and as uninteresting as it sounds," Wilton said of today's match. "I want us to play consistently well, something we didn't do tonight."
Hawaii plays at USC on Monday and Tuesday (5 p.m. Hawaii time).
MPSF Standings
|
Conference |
Overall
|
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
W |
L
|
Brigham Young |
10 |
2 |
.833 |
12 |
2
|
UC Irvine |
8 |
2 |
.800 |
13 |
3
|
Pepperdine |
9 |
3 |
.750 |
9 |
3
|
Hawaii |
6 |
3 |
.667 |
8 |
4
|
Long Beach State |
6 |
4 |
.600 |
11 |
5
|
UCLA |
5 |
4 |
.556 |
10 |
6
|
UC Santa Barbara |
6 |
6 |
.500 |
9 |
8
|
USC |
5 |
6 |
.454 |
8 |
8
|
CS Northridge |
4 |
5 |
.444 |
8 |
6
|
Pacific |
2 |
9 |
.181 |
4 |
11
|
Stanford |
2 |
9 |
.181 |
4 |
13
|
UC San Diego |
0 |
10 |
.000 |
1 |
13 |
Yesterday
Hawaii def. CS Northridge, 30-25, 30-20, 29-31, 18-30, 15-11
Pepperdine def. Pacific, 30-20, 30-23, 30-25
UCLA def. UC San Diego, 30-26, 30-22, 30-14
USC def. Stanford, 30-22, 30-17, 30-26
UC Irvine def. Long Beach State, 26-30, 30-27, 32-30, 30-26
UC Santa Barbara def. Cal Baptist, 30-24, 30-21, 27-30, 38-36
Today
Hawaii at CS Northridge, 9 a.m. Hawaii time
UC Irvine at UC San Diego
UCLA at Long Beach State
USC at Pacific
Hawaii def. CS Northridge
30-25, 30-20, 29-31, 18-30, 15-11
Warriors (8-4, 6-3 mpsf)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Delgado |
5 |
20 |
6 |
48 |
.292 |
0 |
3 |
6
|
Hakala |
5 |
16 |
9 |
32 |
.219 |
1 |
3 |
5
|
Carere |
5 |
13 |
6 |
33 |
.212 |
0 |
5 |
11
|
Beckwith |
5 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
.333 |
0 |
6 |
4
|
La Barre |
5 |
9 |
2 |
14 |
.500 |
0 |
7 |
5
|
Dante |
5 |
8 |
1 |
14 |
.500 |
1 |
8 |
1
|
Kalima |
4 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
Klinger |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Carney |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Reft |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
12
|
Schkud |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
.500 |
0 |
0 |
12
|
Totals |
5 |
71 |
26 |
152 |
.296 |
2 |
32 |
45 |
Matadors (8-6, 4-5 MPSF)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Kneubuhl |
4 |
1 |
4 |
10 |
-.300 |
0 |
0 |
3
|
Waite |
5 |
8 |
2 |
18 |
.333 |
1 |
5 |
1
|
Rhodes |
5 |
18 |
12 |
50 |
.120 |
0 |
4 |
4
|
Hanson |
5 |
12 |
4 |
32 |
.250 |
0 |
2 |
4
|
Bluemling |
5 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
1.000 |
1 |
3 |
7
|
Bellante |
2 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
.286 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Shaver |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Lischer |
3 |
9 |
0 |
12 |
.750 |
0 |
4 |
4
|
Fedrazza |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
9
|
Vance |
4 |
9 |
5 |
19 |
.211 |
0 |
3 |
12
|
Schneider |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Totals |
5 |
63 |
28 |
151 |
.232 |
2 |
21 |
44 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (4): Hakala 2, Delgado, Carere. CSN (5): Vance 2, Rhodes, Hanson, Bellante. Assists -- Hawaii(65):Beckwith 54, Carney 5, Carere 2, Reft 2, Delgado, Hakala. CSN (59): Bluemling 56, Hanson 2, Kneubuhl.
T -- 2:07. Officials -- Robert Oshita, John Martin. A -- 1,049.