WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL
Hawaii outlasts BYU
It wasn't as pretty as Friday night's win, but UH will take it
The concern was there would be a major letdown after the near-flawless performance of the previous night.
Next Up vs. TBA, Saturday
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That the pressure to please all the family and friends in for senior night, as well as the season-high crowd of 5,550 at the Stan Sheriff Center, might be too much to carry. Especially against Brigham Young, which was playing for the right to host a conference quarterfinal next Saturday, as well as wanting to atone for Friday's very ugly loss.
It took a while -- make that a long while -- before No. 2 Hawaii found itself and its game. And the consistency that had led to 18 straight wins.
It took all the way until Game 5 before the Warriors could start the celebration for their five seniors. Led by junior Lauri Hakala's 21 kills and the ice water in his veins over the last 15 minutes, Hawaii won its 19th in a row, 27-30, 30-26, 30-25, 26-30, 15-12 in 2 hours and 44 minutes.
The Warriors (23-4, 19-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) took the series from the No. 4 Cougars (18-8, 14-8) for the first time since 1996 with their 11th straight home win. Hawaii also won for the second time in four five-game matches this year, while BYU fell to 1-5, all five losses coming on the road.
The senior celebration was worth the wait, a page taken straight from the Polynesian Cultural Center. Hawaii's five seniors -- Matt Bender, Matt Carere, Alfred Reft, Mauli'a La Barre and Jose Delgado -- donned lavalavas, performed a Maori haka as a group, then individually with Tahitian dancers.
Victor Batista, one of five Cougar seniors also honored, even had his turn at a Tahitian dance. The crowd cheered him on, both in appreciation and relief that this was Batista's last appearance at the Sheriff Center.
Yosleyder Cala made things interesting at the end of Game 5 with two straight aces that pulled the Cougars to 13-12. But he served long to give the Warriors match point and Hawaii ended it with an emphatic stuff of Ivan Perez by Dio Dante and Brian Beckwith to hand BYU its fourth straight loss.
"We missed serves at real critical times tonight," said BYU coach Tom Peterson, his team missing 29 serves, six in Game 5. "Hawaii was better at the very critical times. They were better-composed than we were. Hakala went off on us at critical times and La Barre may not have had many sets, but he hit .846."
La Barre put down 11 kills with no errors in 13 swings. He was also in on six of the Warriors' 14.5 blocks. Delgado added 15 kills.
"I think it was one of my better matches, but I think everyone overall came through," La Barre said. "We just grinded it out at the end, wanted it more."
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Seniors Alfred Reft, Matt Carere, Jose Delgado, Mauli'a La Barre and Matt Bender watched a video during last night's senior night ceremony.
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"It was a great win for us," added Reft, finishing with nine of the team's 40 digs. "It's so good for our team right now, heading into the playoffs. It could have gone either way."
It didn't, despite Hawaii's most consistent player -- Carere -- having an off night. He was in negative hitting percentage for all but one part of the match, when he was hitting .000.
"How you figure we win a game like this, with Carere in negative numbers, BYU had more kills and digs?" questioned associate coach Tino Reyes. "But the kids just grinded it out. There were a lot of good things that happened, good preparation for us in the playoffs. This is what we expected from BYU Friday."
The Cougars had five attackers in double-figure kills, led by Cala's 21. Cala also had six of BYU's nine aces.
BYU took control midway through Game 1, scoring three straight points for a 17-14 lead. Hawaii never got closer than one, the last at 28-27, with the Cougars closing it out on a service error by Carere and Batista's fifth kill, as many as he had in all of Friday's match.
The Warriors finally pulled away in the tight Game 3 as Mauli'a La Barre served for four consecutive points and a 25-21 lead. The Cougars closed to within three four times, the last at 29-26, only to have La Barre and Carere stuff Taylor Evans to end it on Hawaii's ninth block of the night.
Carere, who had just one hitting error Friday, continued to hit negative through Game 3, but more than made up for it with his serving.
At 16-16, Carere aced Cala twice and Hawaii -- the top blocking team in the MPSF -- stuffed the Cougars three times, with La Barre in on all of them, to take the lead for good at 21-16.
The momentum traded sides with the teams in Game 4, with BYU breaking a 10-10 score with three unanswered points and never looked back. The Warriors would pull to within 28-25 on consecutive kills by Hakala, and hold off one game-point on La Barre's 11th kill, before Evans ended it with his 10th.
Note: Hawaii will host the winner of Wednesday's play-in match between UCLA and UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets go on sale Tuesday at the usual outlets and online. ... Other quarterfinal matches have Cal State Northridge at Pepperdine and BYU at Long Beach State. Top-ranked UC Irvine will host the last two nights of the tournament and has a bye into its April 27 semifinal against the BYU-Long Beach State winner.
MPSF standings
|
Conference |
Overall
|
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
W |
L
|
x-UC Irvine |
20 |
2 |
.910 |
27 |
3
|
x-Hawaii |
19 |
3 |
.864 |
23 |
4
|
x-Pepperdine |
15 |
7 |
.681 |
16 |
7
|
x-BYU |
14 |
8 |
.636 |
18 |
8
|
x-Long Beach St. |
14 |
8 |
.636 |
21 |
9
|
x-CSU Northridge |
13 |
9 |
.591 |
18 |
10
|
x-UCLA |
12 |
10 |
.545 |
20 |
12
|
x-UC Santa Barbara |
9 |
13 |
.409 |
13 |
15
|
USC |
7 |
15 |
.318 |
11 |
18
|
Pacific |
6 |
16 |
.272 |
8 |
20
|
Stanford |
2 |
20 |
.090 |
4 |
26
|
UC San Diego |
1 |
21 |
.045 |
2 |
27 |
x-clinched MPSF Tournament berth
Yesterday
Hawaii def. Brigham Young, 27-30, 30-26, 30-25, 26-30, 15-12
Pacific def. UC San Diego, 28-30, 30-25, 30-22, 30-27
UC Irvine def. UC Santa Barbara, 30-25, 30-22, 30-25
Pepperdine def. USC, 30-21, 30-23, 30-19
Long Beach State def. Stanford, 30-22, 30-14, 30-28
End regular season
MPSF Tournament
Play-in match, Wednesday
UC Santa Barbara at UCLA
Quarterfinal, Saturday
Play-in winner at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
CSU Northridge at Pepperdine
BYU at Long Beach State
Hawaii def. Brigham Young
27-30, 30-26, 30-25, 26-30, 15-12
Cougars (18-8, 14-8 mpsf)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Cala |
5 |
21 |
7 |
43 |
.326 |
0 |
3 |
9 |
|
Perez |
5 |
16 |
9 |
36 |
.194 |
0 |
3 |
8
|
Holmes |
5 |
11 |
3 |
21 |
.381 |
1 |
4 |
1
|
Neilson |
5 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
.667 |
0 |
2 |
8
|
Batista |
5 |
16 |
4 |
26 |
.452 |
1 |
5 |
4
|
Evans |
5 |
11 |
6 |
24 |
.208 |
0 |
1 |
4
|
Charette |
2 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
.500 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
Rowley |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
15
|
Gomes |
5 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
.500 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Sorensen |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Totals |
5 |
80 |
29 |
159 |
.321 |
2 |
18 |
50 |
Warriors (23-4, 19-3 MPSF)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Delgado |
5 |
15 |
9 |
33 |
.182 |
0 |
3 |
7
|
Hakala |
5 |
21 |
5 |
40 |
.400 |
1 |
5 |
3
|
Carere |
5 |
5 |
6 |
31 |
-.032 |
0 |
2 |
8
|
Beckwith |
5 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
.167 |
0 |
3 |
5
|
La Barre |
5 |
11 |
0 |
13 |
.846 |
1 |
5 |
0
|
Dante |
5 |
5 |
1 |
9 |
.444 |
0 |
6 |
5
|
Kalima |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
2
|
Carney |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1.000 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
Reft |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
9
|
Bender |
2 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
.286 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Totals |
5 |
62 |
22 |
140 |
.286 |
2 |
25 |
40 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- BYU (9): Cala 6, Perez 2, Batista. Hawaii (8): Carere 3, Delgado 2, Hakala, La Barre, Dante. Assists -- BYU (76): Neilson 69, Batista 4, Cala, Perez, Holmes. Hawaii (57): Beckwith 54, Delgado, Hakala, Reft.
T -- 2:44. Officials -- Dickson Chun, Dan Hironaka. A -- 5,550.