WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL
UC Santa Barbara deals UH sixth straight defeat
The Warriors fall to 2-8 overall, 2-6 in conference play, with a four-game loss against the Gauchos
This is not the side of history on which the Hawaii men's volleyball team wanted to be.
Next Up vs. USC on Wednesday
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A sixth straight loss -- a first for coach Mike Wilton in 15 seasons -- and first since 1991.
The big question marks that have become part of the Warriors' current uniform got bigger last night as No. 9 Hawaii fell to No. 4 UC Santa Barbara for the second straight night. A turnstile crowd of 1,792 (3,070 tickets) saw senior All-America opposite Evan Patak put down a match-high 18 kills and seven aces to lead the Gauchos to a 30-26, 19-30, 30-19, 30-20 victory at the Stan Sheriff Center after 2 hours and 13 minutes.
The win keeps UCSB (10-3, 8-2 MPSF) in the hunt for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation lead. The loss has Hawaii (2-8, 2-6) hoping to stay in the hunt for a playoff berth.
Senior hitter Bryan Berman added a season-high 17 kills, hitting .571, while junior middle Theo Brunner added 12 kills, hitting .524, and was in on five of the Gauchos' 13 blocks. The Warriors, playing without senior All-American and co-captain Lauri Hakala (strained abdominal), got a match-high 16 kills from Mark Ribeiro, making not only his first start but seeing his first action of the year. Sophomore opposite Jim Clar added 14 kills, but just five after Game 1.
Hawaii will try to avoid a school-record seventh defeat when hosting USC Wednesday.
"Bryan had a fantastic match," UCSB coach Ken Preston said of Berman, who had three kills and hit .000 Thursday. "I told all our hitters they had to all step up. After Game 2, I told them, here's the deal, here are the (UH) guys who are hurting us.
"I think without Hakala, they had to go to the middles a lot more. It's tough when you don't have your captain out there and Lauri is such a good player."
For Ribeiro, it was a mixed-emotion night.
"It was nerve-wracking but once I got in there, it was just me playing with my boys," said Ribeiro, who added two aces and a solo block. "In Game 2, we got on them, kept on them and they couldn't come back. Then the same thing happened to us in Games 3 and 4.
"It will get better. We'll turn it around."
But time is running out.
"We played pretty good in Game 2," Wilton said. "But in Game 3 and 4, they really elevated. They can serve it.
"We'll be back in the gym Monday, get ready for SC. Those are big matches for us if we want to entertain thoughts of postseason play. Those will be big matches."
The Trojans (3-8, 2-6) share ninth place in the MPSF with Hawaii.
The match was a see-saw battle in the opening 60 minutes.
In a loosely called Game 1, the Gauchos broke away from a 16-16 tie with a 4-0 run via two kills by Patak and two Warrior hitting errors. Hawaii had just two serving errors in the opening 30 minutes but they were back-to-back, slowing what little momentum had been built.
A kill by Clar and David Kennedy's hitting error brought the Warriors to 24-23 but they could never get closer than 26-25. Patak's ninth kill and his ace jump-started a 4-1 run that closed it out.
Hawaii, which had 25 blocks in Thursday's five-game loss, didn't pick up its first until early in Game 2 when Brian Beckwith and Matt Rawson stuffed Kennedy for a 9-5 lead. The second block came moments later when Beckwith rejected Patak's tip for an 11-5 margin, the first error by Patak in 17 swings.
Matching Patak in efficiency was Clar, who didn't have an error until his 13th attempt, hitting wide at 13-7. It was the Warriors' first error of the game with the second -- and last -- not coming until Jake Schkud was blocked to make it 26-16.
The Gauchos avoided being held to their lowest total of the season -- 18 -- with a late run, trading points with the Warriors until Ribeiro put down Hawaii's first attempt at game point, evening the match.
Momentum traded sides when the teams came out of the break with UCSB roaring back behind the hot arm of Berman, who tied his season high in kills (12) midway through Game 3. As efficient as the Warriors were in Game 2, the Gauchos were even better in Game 3.
UCSB had a single hitting error -- by Patak -- but it was not nearly enough to let Hawaii back into the game.
Patak's serving, including two of his seven aces, helped UCSB open up a 5-0 lead in Game 4. Another ace by Patak made it 13-7 and the Gauchos pulled away to a 17-8 lead.
Several questionable calls went against Hawaii, killing the rally effort. One in particular came when the Warriors were called for a net violation, after the Gauchos had committed a four-hit violation, for an 19-10 margin.
It never got much better the rest of the way as the Gauchos gave Preston his 499th career victory.
UC Santa Barbara def. Hawaii
24-30, 28-30, 30-26, 30-28, 17-15
gauchos (9-3, 7-2 MPSF)
|
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Kowalski |
5 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
.667 |
0 |
2 |
7
|
Berman |
4 |
3 |
3 |
16 |
.000 |
1 |
2 |
4
|
Fisher |
4 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
-.600 |
0 |
1 |
2
|
Brunner |
5 |
18 |
4 |
28 |
.500 |
2 |
5 |
1
|
Kennedy |
5 |
10 |
5 |
22 |
.227 |
0 |
3 |
4
|
Patak |
5 |
32 |
13 |
71 |
.268 |
0 |
3 |
17
|
Brockman |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
17
|
Norton |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Zakarian |
5 |
8 |
4 |
19 |
.211 |
0 |
0 |
4
|
Moisenco |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Richman |
3 |
5 |
5 |
13 |
.000 |
0 |
3 |
3
|
Totals |
5 |
78 |
37 |
177 |
.232 |
3 |
17 |
59
|
Warriors (2-7, 2-5 MPSF)
|
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Rawson |
5 |
9 |
3 |
15 |
.400 |
0 |
9 |
1
|
Clar |
5 |
22 |
10 |
45 |
.267 |
0 |
5 |
8
|
Hakala |
5 |
14 |
7 |
46 |
.152 |
0 |
9 |
10
|
Beckwith |
5 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
-.333 |
0 |
7 |
10
|
Schkud |
5 |
11 |
3 |
34 |
.235 |
1 |
7 |
4
|
Dante |
5 |
8 |
2 |
17 |
.353 |
0 |
11 |
1
|
Kalima |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
18
|
Carney |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Vidinha |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Totals |
5 |
64 |
26 |
160 |
.237 |
1 |
48 |
52 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- UCSB (5): Patak 3, Berman, Brunner. Hawaii (2): Clar, Hakala. Assists -- UCSB (75): Kowalski 73, Brunner, Richman. Hawaii (61): Beckwith 60, Hakala.
T -- 2:47. Officials -- Dickson Chun, Dan Hironaka. A --1,561.
MPSF standings
|
Conference |
Overall
|
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
W |
L
|
Pepperdine |
7 |
1 |
.875 |
8 |
1
|
BYU |
5 |
1 |
.833 |
9 |
1
|
UC Santa Barbara |
8 |
2 |
.800 |
10 |
3
|
UC Irvine |
6 |
2 |
.750 |
11 |
2
|
Pacific |
4 |
3 |
.571 |
6 |
5
|
CSU Northridge |
4 |
4 |
.500 |
5 |
7
|
Long Beach St. |
3 |
4 |
.429 |
5 |
5
|
UCLA |
3 |
5 |
.375 |
5 |
6
|
USC |
2 |
6 |
.250 |
3 |
8
|
Hawaii |
2 |
6 |
.250 |
2 |
8
|
UC San Diego |
1 |
6 |
.143 |
3 |
7
|
Stanford |
1 |
7 |
.125 |
1 |
12 |
Yesterday
UC Santa Barbara def. Hawaii, 30-26, 19-30, 30-19, 30-20
UC Irvine def. Stanford, 30-28, 30-22, 30-22
Loyola-Chicago def. CSU Northridge, 25-30, 30-28, 20-30, 30-23, 17-15
Long Beach State def. Cal Baptist, 30-27, 30-25, 30-25
Springfield def. UC San Diego, 34-32, 30-17, 30-18
Pepperdine def. USC, 26-30, 30-24, 30-26, 30-25)
Today
CSU Northridge vs. Quincy
UC Santa Cruz at Pepperdine
UC San Diego vs. Rutgers
Stanford at UCLA
Pacific at UC Irvine