Warriors continue road success

Fourth-ranked Hawaii defeats No. 14 USC in four games to win its sixth straight match

LOS ANGELES » Hawaii's triple threat came through again last night. Outside hitters Jose Delgado, Matt Carere and Lauri Hakala all finished with double-figure kills to lead the No. 4 Warriors over No. 14 USC 30-18, 30-26, 27-30, 30-24 in their first appearance at the Lyon Center.

HAWAII AT USC When: Today, 5 p.m. HST Radio: Live, KKEA, 1420-AM Series: Hawaii leads 30-25

Delgado led Hawaii for the fourth straight match, putting down 20, followed by Carere's 18 and Hakala's 14. It was the Warriors' sixth victory in a row as they improved to 10-4 overall and 8-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation; the Trojans lost their second straight to fall to 8-10 and 5-8.

The teams meet again tonight (5 p.m. Hawaii time) in USC's smaller, older North Gym. The Warriors are looking to finish perfect on this four-match road trip with their 11th consecutive win over the Trojans, a streak that dates back to 2001.

Hawaii, however, needs to avoid thinking about tomorrow's plane trip back home and focus on not letting the much-improved Trojans gain momentum, as happened late in each of the last three games last night. The Warriors easily won Game 1, hitting .548, but lost some intensity while USC gained some.

"We got caught in a few mental errors," said UH junior setter Brian Beckwith, who was in on five of the team's 18-1/2 blocks. "We were a little anxious after a long, restful weekend. We can improve on that, as well as working harder on our serves."

It was Beckwith's 5-0 serving run in Game 4 that finally put away the Trojans. The see-saw game was tied six times, the last at 23-23 when USC's Juan Figueroa put down his 20th -- and final -- kill.

Mauli'a La Barre's seventh kill put Hawaii back in the lead and put Beckwith back on the service line. The Warriors scored five unanswered points, capped by Hakala's 14th kill, to gain match point at 29-23.

USC senior Joao Grangeiro's 12th kill staved off the inevitable for one play. La Barre ended it on his 15th swing of the night, putting down his eighth kill to end it after 2 hours and 5 minutes.

"I was just real focused on hitting the right (Trojan) players with my serve," Beckwith said. "It's been a long road trip, feels like we've been here forever."

For Beckwith, and sophomore Jake Schkud -- who played in Game 3 -- it feels like they never left. The two were teammates at Loyola High, about three blocks from the USC campus.

Adding to the feeling was having two former Loyola teammates across the net. Sophomore setter Jimmy Killian and freshman opposite C.J. Schellenberg play for the Trojans.

"I've known Jimmy for so long," Beckwith said. "It was a lot of fun to compete against an old friend."

Hawaii upped its series lead over USC to 31-18. The teams are tied 14-14 when playing in Los Angeles.

Staying in L.A. and not mentally flying out for Honolulu is what Warrior coach Mike Wilton wants in tonight's rematch.

"I think the horses are smelling the corral, but it's not time to go home yet," he said of the team's loss of focus. "I felt we went to sleep after Game 1, mentally went on the blink. Maybe we need some ginkgo biloba (an herb taken to help mental alertness).

"I liked that we figured out a way to win. We were very precise in Game 1, but I knew it would be tougher than that. What happened the rest of the way were products of not focusing, our passing going awry and they (USC) executing better.

"We made it harder on ourselves than it needed to be."

Hawaii trailed for most of Game 2, catching USC at 21, and taking a brief 22-21 lead when Figueroa hit wide.

A hitting error by Dio Dante tied it at 22, the first of three ties.

At 24-all, Beckwith and La Barre teamed to block Grangeiro, jump-starting a 3-0 run that lifted the Warriors to a 27-24 lead.

The Trojans held off one game point while closing to 29-26, only to have Killian's service error end it, giving Hawaii a 2-0 lead.

Game 3 very much resembled Game 2, with the Warriors again trailing most of the way. Hawaii pulled to within 20-19 only to have the Trojans hold this time.

USC scored three straight points to take a 23-19 lead. Hawaii was able to close to within one several times, the last at 27-26, but the Trojans used two kills by Andrew Vernon and one by Figueroa to finish it off with a 3-1 spurt.

Game 4 was tight until 23-23 and Beckwith's serves.

"I'm feeling very lucky to get out of Lyon with a win," Wilton said.

Notes: The Warriors remained at No. 4 in yesterday's CSTVAVCA Coaches Top 15. The three teams above the Warriors also stayed the same, led by unanimous No. 1 Brigham Young, followed by UC Irvine and Pepperdine.

UH senior libero Alfred Reft had eight digs last night, bringing his career total to 680. Reft ranks fourth on the school's dig list, and trails Naveh Milo (707), Eyal Zimet (710) and Allen Allen (739).

Hawaii def. USC, 30-18, 30-26, 27-30, 30-24

WARRIORS (10-4 OVERALL, 8-3 MPSF)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Delgado	4	20	6	35	.400	2	2	4
Hakala	4	14	7	30	.233	0	5	3
Carere	4	18	4	31	.452	0	4	8
Beckwith	4	3	0	4	.750	2	3	3
La Barre	4	8	3	15	.333	1	5	2
Dante	3	2	3	8	-.125	1	5	0
Kalima	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Carney	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	2
Reft	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	8
Bender	1	1	0	1	1.000	0	0	0
Schkud	1	2	0	4	.500	0	1	0
Totals	4	68	23	128	.352	6	25	31

TROJANS (8-10 OVERALL, 5-8 MPSF)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Schellenberg	4	8	3	20	.250	0	2	3
Vernon	4	8	0	12	.667	1	4	0
Figueroa	4	20	11	44	.205	0	0	5
Grangeiro	4	12	12	33	.000	0	4	10
Mosko	4	9	3	20	.300	0	5	2
Killian	4	1	0	2	.500	0	6	1
Bailey	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Morris	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	5
Altamura	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Anderson	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	4	58	29	131	.221	1	21	26

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.

Aces -- Hawaii (2): Beckwith, Hakala. USC (1) Mosko. Assists -- Hawaii (65): Beckwith 53, Hakala 4, Reft 4, Delgado 3, Carere. USC (55): Killian 48, Grangeiro 2, Morris 2, Figueroa, Mosko, Schellenberg.

T -- 2:05. Officials -- Mike Farish, Greg Leung. A -- 350.