WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL
BYU sends Hawaii home with a sweep
The No. 12 Warriors lose their second straight to fall to 3-11
PROVO, Utah » The "what ifs" were scheduled for a long flight back to Honolulu today.
That was part of the baggage the No. 12 Hawaii men's volleyball team was bringing home, along with a two-match losing streak, courtesy of last night's 35-33, 30-22, 30-27 loss to No. 4 Brigham Young in 1 hour and 50 minutes.
A Smith Fieldhouse crowd of 2,905 saw the Cougars continue to crawl back into the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title hunt, moving into fourth at 7-3, 11-4 overall.
The Warriors (3-11, 3-9) slipped deeper into 10th place in the 12-team league, eight games behind No. 1 Pepperdine, their next MPSF opponent 12 days from now. Also eight games back is surprising UC San Diego, which upset No. 13 Long Beach State last night in five.
Senior hitter Lauri Hakala had 14 kills for Hawaii and freshman Matt Vanzant added 11 kills with two of the team's three aces.
Junior hitter Ivan Perez led the Cougars with 15 kills and freshman opposite Robby Stowell 13. Sophomore Yosleyder Cala added 12 for BYU, which had just one attacker hit under .333.
Hawaii, the top blocking team in the MPSF, was out-blocked by BYU 14-10. The Cougars also won the dig war 39-20, with freshman libero Joel Silva finishing with 14.
"I will say this," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "We're a much better volleyball team than we were last month at the Outrigger tournament and we're closing the gap on BYU. It's time to keep the chins up."
It might be hard to after the way the Warriors lost Game 1, the biggest "what if" of the night. Hawaii led by as many as six, the last at 24-18, only to see BYU refuse to fold.
The Cougars continued to chip away at the margin until tying it at 27. It was tied six more times after that, with BYU holding off five Hawaii attempts at ending it.
At 33-33, a kill by Perez gave the Cougars their first lead since 1-0. BYU needed just one swing to finish it off, and it came when UH senior middle Dio Dante hit long to end the marathon.
As happened in Game 2 Friday, the Cougars used mini-runs of points to pull away. An 11-10 lead turned into 13-10, 17-13 became 19-13, until 25-21 became an insurmountable 29-21.
Hawaii didn't give up, despite trailing most of Game 3. The Warriors caught the Cougars at 27 on what would be Hakala's final kill.
BYU closed it out quickly, using Hakala's third service error -- UH's 20th -- and a hitting error by senior middle Kyle Klinger for match point. Perez and Stowell stuffed Hakala to give the Cougars a 13-3 series advantage against the Warriors in matches played here.
"It happened in both Games 1 and 3," Wilton said. "We just couldn't stop them, just couldn't stop their left-side hitters (Perez and Cala). They got on fire.
"We still have sequences where we make unforced errors, and you can't do that against a team like BYU. I continue to look for things to be happy about. We served tough at the start but I was disappointed that we couldn't get our middles on track."
Hawaii also had trouble with consistency at opposite. Sophomore starter Jim Clar struggled, with four errors in seven swings and no kills.
His replacement, freshman Steven Grgas started off well, with five kills and no errors in his first seven swings. Grgas cooled off, with two kills the rest of the way to go with four errors on his last 14 attempts.
The Warriors will take tomorrow off before hosting the alumni Friday at 7 p.m. An alumni-alumni match is schedule for 4 p.m.
Notes: Freshman hitter Will Erhman (Punahou '06) had 19 kills to help host UC San Diego outlast Long Beach State, 25-30, 30-23, 20-30, 30-27, 15-9. It was the first win over the 49ers for the Tritons since 2002. ... Sophomore libero Brent Asuka (Iolani '05) had a match-high 21 digs to help UC Irvine down visiting Cal State Northridge last night, 30-25, 30-24, 24-30, 30-18. CSUN junior hitter Isaac Kneubuhl (Kamehameha '03) shared team-high honors with 11 kills.
BYU def. Hawaii
35-33, 30-22, 30-27
Warriors (3-11, 3-9 MPSF)
|
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Clar |
3 |
0 |
4 |
7 |
-.571 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Klinger |
3 |
6 |
6 |
16 |
.000 |
0 |
4 |
1
|
Hakala |
3 |
14 |
3 |
32 |
.344 |
0 |
3 |
3
|
Beckwith |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
0 |
1 |
3
|
Dante |
3 |
3 |
4 |
8 |
-.125 |
1 |
2 |
1
|
Vanzant |
3 |
11 |
5 |
26 |
.231 |
1 |
2 |
5
|
Rawson |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Grgas |
3 |
7 |
4 |
21 |
.143 |
0 |
2 |
4
|
Kalima |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
3
|
Carney |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Totals |
3 |
41 |
26 |
112 |
.134 |
2 |
16 |
20 |
|
Cougars (11-4, 7-3 MPSF)
|
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Cala |
3 |
12 |
3 |
23 |
.391 |
0 |
0 |
2
|
Sorensen |
2 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
.333 |
1 |
1 |
0
|
Perez, I. |
3 |
15 |
5 |
25 |
.400 |
0 |
6 |
4
|
Holmes |
3 |
3 |
2 |
9 |
.111 |
4 |
7 |
1
|
Stowell |
3 |
13 |
5 |
22 |
.364 |
0 |
2 |
4
|
Perez, Y. |
3 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
.000 |
0 |
2 |
8
|
Santos |
3 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
5
|
Cox |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
-1.000 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
Silva |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
14
|
Totals |
3 |
48 |
19 |
92 |
.315 |
5 |
18 |
39 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (3): Vanzant 2, Beckwith. BYU (1): Holmes. Assists -- Hawaii (38): Beckwith 36, Carney, Klinger. BYU (48): Perez, Y. 44, Sorensen 2, Silva, Holmes.
T -- 1:50. Officials -- Maile Jewkes, Les Calles. A -- 2,905.
MPSF standings
|
Conference |
Overall
|
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
W |
L
|
Pepperdine |
11 |
1 |
.917 |
13 |
1
|
UC Irvine |
11 |
3 |
.786 |
17 |
3
|
UC Santa Barbara |
10 |
4 |
.714 |
12 |
5
|
BYU |
7 |
3 |
.700 |
11 |
4
|
UCLA |
8 |
6 |
.571 |
10 |
7
|
CSU Northridge |
6 |
6 |
.500 |
8 |
9
|
Pacific |
6 |
6 |
.500 |
8 |
8
|
USC |
4 |
7 |
.363 |
5 |
9
|
Long Beach St. |
3 |
7 |
.300 |
6 |
8
|
Hawaii |
3 |
9 |
.250 |
3 |
11
|
UC San Diego |
2 |
8 |
.200 |
5 |
10
|
Stanford |
1 |
12 |
.077 |
1 |
17 |
Yesterday
BYU def. Hawaii, 35-33, 30-22, 30-27
UC Irvine def. CSU Northridge, 30-25, 30-24, 24-30, 30-18
UC San Diego def. Long Beach State, 25-30, 30-23, 20-30, 30-27, 15-9
Today
Pacific at USC