RAINBOW WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL
Seventh straight loss for Warriors
No. 12 Hawaii falls in five games at home to No. 14 USC
Hot and cold.
It's been the story of both Hawaii and Southern Cal this men's volleyball season. Periods of greatness followed by stretches of inconsistency.
It was the 14th-ranked Trojans who found consistency when it counted in last night's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match, snapping a three-match skid as well as a 12-match losing streak against the 12th-ranked Warriors. Led by junior hitter Juan Figueroa's career-high 35 kills, USC handed Hawaii its seventh straight defeat, 30-27, 20-30, 30-24, 23-30, 15-13 in 2 hours and 40 minutes.
USC - 3
HAWAII - 2
NEXT UP VS. USC TOMORROW
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A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 1,558 (2,982 tickets issued) saw the Warriors match their longest losing streak, set in 1991. It was the first time the Trojans had won in Honolulu since 1999.
Hawaii (2-9, 2-7 MPSF) and USC (4-8, 3-6) meet again at 7 p.m. tomorrow.
"In Game 5, it came down to a couple of plays and we got a couple of tough breaks," said Warrior sophomore setter Sean Carney, who replaced senior Brian Beckwith late in Game 3. "That game could have obviously gone either way. Credit them for pulling it out. That's something we need to work on, finishing it. We know we can win these games. Maybe next time it will go our way."
Hawaii is now 0-3 in five-game matches, none more critical than last night. The victory gives USC sole possession of ninth place, with UH 10th in the 12-team league. Only the top eight make the playoffs.
Jim Clar had 15 kills for the Warriors, who were again without senior kill leader Lauri Hakala, still nursing a strained abdominal muscle. Jake Schkud added 14 and Matt Vanzant came off the bench for 13.
The Trojans also got 11 kills from Andrew Vernon and 10 by C.J. Schellenberg.
UH outblocked USC 20-10, with Dio Dante in on 10. The Warriors also had the edge in aces 7-3 but were outdug 44-34, with USC libero Luke Morris finishing with 13 digs.
First-year Trojan coach Bill Ferguson said his game plan at the end was simple: keep feeding the ball to Figueroa.
"Juan ... it's the second time in two matches that he's been an absolute warrior for us, no pun intended," Ferguson said. "We started to lose it a bit in the middle of that fifth game and, in the last timeout, we talked about, 'Hey, this is your team.'
"Juan had a great match, especially for such a small guy (6-foot-2)."
Figueroa came up huge at the end, with seven of his team's nine kills in Game 5.
"At the end, we got together, worked as a team," Figueroa.
USC jumped out to leads of 4-0 and 6-3 in Game 5. Hawaii rallied to tie it at 6-all then jumped ahead at 9-6 when Carney put down an overpass, teamed with Dante to stuff Matt Anderson and Dante and Vanzant blocked Schellenberg.
The Warriors led by as many as three (10-7) but couldn't hold on, betrayed by several serving errors and a couple of controversial calls that went USC's way. The Trojans caught them at 11 and it was tied twice more before USC took the first swing at ending it on Figueroa's 35th kill. Clar tried to finesse it over the Trojans' block only to have it hit the tape and fall back on Hawaii's side of the court.
Hawaii controlled Game 1 until late, when USC got its block together. The Warriors led by as many as six (21-15), only to be outscored 15-6 the rest of the way, with five of the Trojans' points coming on stuffs.
Hawaii, the top blocking team in the MPSF, pulled away in Game 2 on the strength of its blocks (four), defense (nine digs) and serves (three aces). Perhaps the highlight of the 30 minutes was Schkud's bicycle kick from beyond the endline -- an attempt that did cross over the net but landed wide, bringing the Trojans to 13-12. USC would get no closer.
Beckwith nailed two aces into the wide-open back-right corner, the second giving the Warriors a23-16 lead. This time, Hawaii didn't let up and didn't allow USC to go on the runs, as happened in Game 1.
As happened last week against UC Santa Barbara, Hawaii took the momentum into the locker room after Game 2 only to see it emerge on the other side of the court. The Warriors continued to have no answer for Figueroa, who put down 10 kills in carrying his team.
Helping to shoulder the load was sophomore opposite Schellenberg, who came into the match second behind Figueroa in kills. Schellenberg had no kills until Game, 3 but had five as the Trojans took a 2-1 lead.
Hawaii evened the match, winning the tight Game 4. USC blinked first.
Behind Dante, who was in on three blocks and added a kill, Hawaii broke away from a 21-21 tie with a 5-1 run.
Vanzant put down his 12th kill to jump-start a 4-0 spurt that closed out the game and send it to Game 5.
USC def. Hawaii 30-27, 20-30, 30-24, 23-30, 15-13
TROJANS (4-8, 3-6 MPSF)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Schellenberg |
4 |
10 |
7 |
24 |
.125 |
0 |
1 |
4
|
Vernon |
5 |
11 |
1 |
19 |
.526 |
1 |
5 |
3
|
Figueroa |
5 |
35 |
10 |
61 |
.410 |
0 |
3 |
5
|
Killian |
5 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
.333 |
1 |
3 |
6
|
Current |
5 |
9 |
2 |
14 |
.500 |
0 |
3 |
2
|
Anderson |
5 |
5 |
12 |
20 |
-.350 |
0 |
2 |
9
|
Pavlovich |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
-.1000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Morris |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
13
|
Hackett |
2 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
-.333 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Altamura |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Mosko |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
2
|
Totals |
5 |
72 |
37 |
149 |
.235 |
2 |
17 |
44
|
WARRIORS (2-9, 2-7 MPSF)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Rawson |
5 |
7 |
1 |
13 |
.462 |
0 |
6 |
2
|
Clar |
5 |
15 |
9 |
41 |
.146 |
0 |
4 |
3
|
Beckwith |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1.000 |
2 |
1 |
5
|
Schkud |
5 |
14 |
2 |
34 |
.353 |
0 |
6 |
8
|
Dante |
5 |
5 |
3 |
11 |
.182 |
1 |
9 |
0
|
Ribeiro |
1 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
.167 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Grgas |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
Kalima |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
8
|
Carney |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1.000 |
0 |
4 |
4
|
Vidinha |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Vanzant |
5 |
13 |
8 |
29 |
.172 |
0 |
4 |
3
|
Totals |
5 |
60 |
26 |
139 |
.245 |
3 |
34 |
34
|
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- USC (3): Figueroa 2, Current. Hawaii (7): Clar 2, Beckwith 2, Rawson, Dante, Vidinha. Assists -- USC (71): Killian 68, Current, Anderson, Morris. Hawaii (56): Beckwith 32, Carney 22, Kalima 2.
T -- 2:40. Officials -- Wayne Lee, Dan Hironaka. A --1,558.
MPSF standings
|
Conference |
Overall
|
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
W |
L
|
Pepperdine |
7 |
1 |
.875 |
9 |
1
|
BYU |
5 |
1 |
.833 |
10 |
1
|
UC Santa Barbara |
8 |
2 |
.800 |
10 |
3
|
UC Irvine |
7 |
3 |
.700 |
12 |
4
|
Pacific |
5 |
4 |
.555 |
7 |
6
|
UCLA |
5 |
5 |
.500 |
7 |
6
|
CSU Northridge |
4 |
4 |
.500 |
6 |
7
|
Long Beach St. |
3 |
4 |
.429 |
6 |
5
|
USC |
3 |
6 |
.333 |
4 |
8
|
Hawaii |
2 |
7 |
.222 |
2 |
9
|
UC San Diego |
1 |
6 |
.143 |
4 |
7
|
Stanford |
1 |
8 |
.111 |
1 |
13
|
Yesterday
USC def.
Hawaii 30-27, 20-30, 30-24, 23-30, 15-13
UC Irvine def. UC Santa Cruz 30-22, 30-23, 30-23
Today
BYU at Pepperdine
Long Beach State at CSU Northridge
UC San Diego at UC Santa Barbara