WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL
Warriors hammer Cal State Northridge in 3 straight
It's been years, actually closer to decades, since the T-shirts were popular. Perhaps it's time to dig into the closet for the vintage "Manoa Roofing Co." shirts that once were worn in Klum Gym.
The 14th-ranked Hawaii volleyball team constructed another convincing victory over No. 8 Cal State Northridge last night, with Lauri Hakala (15 kills) and Matt Vanzant (11 kills) carrying the biggest hammers. However, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win was literally the stuffs dreams are made of, with the Warriors capping the 30-27, 31-29, 30-26 sweep with 17.5 blocks, eight by freshman middle Matt Rawson and seven by senior setter Brian Beckwith.
A turnstile crowd of 1,644 (3,096 tickets) witnessed Hawaii (5-14, 5-11 MPSF) winning consecutive matches for the first time since taking the series from Pacific on Jan. 18 and 19. It took the Warriors 1 hour and 51 minutes.
"We knew coming in that Hawaii's record was not indicative of the team they had," CSUN coach Jeff Campbell said after his team dropped to 13-11 and 7-8. "Game 2 we were up and we started pressing. But that's not to take anything away from Hawaii. They played very well."
Game 2 was critical, with Hawaii holding off two game points when rallying from 29-27. The Warriors' defense hung tough, with Eric Kalima and Beckwith coming up with impressive digs.
At 29-28, Hakala's attempt went wide, but CSUN was called for a touch, tying it. Eric Vance hit long to give Hawaii a swing at ending it. The Warriors did it emphatically, with Rawson and Jake Schkud stuffing James Lischer.
"We caught a couple of breaks," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "But I'm proud of our team. They had to come from behind twice (Games 1 and 2) against a really good team, then had to survive having a lead (in Game 3).
"Tonight wasn't easy. Northridge played a lot better than last night, and were more effective with their serves, at least early. We had to make some adjustments, but we did it."
The Matadors switched things up from the previous night, going with a new setter in junior Travis Bluemling and moving junior Isaac Kneubuhl (Kamehameha '02) from libero back to the left side.
It was effective in Game 1, which was a case of two words for both teams: "bad rotation." It happened first for Hawaii when CSUN went on an 8-0 run behind Vance's serves to take an 11-3 lead.
The Matadors expanded it to 14-4, helped by five kills from Kneubuhl. The Warriors kept chipping away, using a balanced attack and a solid block to tie it at 19.
It was tied four more times before CSUN pulled away for what looked to be a safe lead at 26-23. It was then the Matadors' turn to get stuck, with Hakala leading the 6-0 charge that gave the Warriors game point at 29-26.
Hakala's serve was just long, keep CSUN's hopes alive. Beckwith quickly ended it, slamming it over on two.
"We're the Warriors of new, with perseverance and dedication," Beckwith said. "Dio (senior middle Dante) and 'Dragon' (Rawson) are such great blockers. We need to give them opportunities to block ... and it showed tonight."
Lischer finished with 14 kills and Dan Rhodes added 12 kills and 14 digs for CSUN. The Matadors, outblocked 11.5-2 on Friday, were outblocked 17.5-4 last night.
Freshman libero Ric Cervantes had 13 digs for Hawaii. Dante had six block assists to go with six kills and no errors, and two of the Warriors' three aces.
Hawaii hosts Lewis in nonconference matches Friday and Sunday.
Hawaii def. CSU Northridge
30-27, 31-29, 30-26
Matadors (13-11, 7-8 MPSF)
|
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Kneubuhl |
3 |
10 |
4 |
25 |
.240 |
0 |
0 |
4
|
Pedersen |
2 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
-.500 |
0 |
0 |
3
|
Lischer |
3 |
14 |
3 |
22 |
.500 |
0 |
2 |
0
|
Waite |
2 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
.400 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
Rhodes |
3 |
12 |
12 |
34 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
14
|
Vanoe |
3 |
2 |
6 |
21 |
-.190 |
1 |
1 |
9
|
Carter |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
8
|
Bluemling |
2 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
-.500 |
0 |
0 |
2
|
McKniff |
2 |
6 |
0 |
8 |
.750 |
1 |
0 |
1
|
Gaudino |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
.000 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Adams |
2 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
.600 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
Totals |
3 |
49 |
28 |
128 |
.164 |
2 |
4 |
43 |
Warriors (5-14, 5-11 MPSF)
|
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Rawson |
3 |
5 |
3 |
12 |
.167 |
1 |
7 |
1
|
Kalima |
3 |
1 |
1 |
13 |
.000 |
0 |
3 |
7
|
Hakala |
3 |
15 |
5 |
41 |
.244 |
0 |
1 |
1
|
Beckwith |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
.333 |
1 |
6 |
9
|
Dante |
3 |
6 |
0 |
9 |
.667 |
0 |
6 |
1
|
Vanzant |
3 |
11 |
9 |
34 |
.059 |
1 |
3 |
4
|
Carney |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Cervantes |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
13
|
Schkud |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Totals |
3 |
41 |
19 |
113 |
.195 |
3 |
29 |
36 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- CSUN (5): Vanoe 3, Rhodes, Gaudino. Hawaii (3): Dante 2, Kalima. Assists -- CSUN (45): Bluemling 23, Pedersen 21, Vanoe. Hawaii (39): Beckwith 33, Dante 2, Rawson, Kalima, Hakala, Carney.
T -- 1:51. Officials -- Wayne Lee, Ernie Ho. A --1,644.
MPSF standings
|
Conference |
Overall
|
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
W |
L
|
Pepperdine |
14 |
1 |
.933 |
18 |
1
|
UC Irvine |
14 |
3 |
.824 |
21 |
3
|
BYU |
11 |
3 |
.786 |
15 |
4
|
UC Santa Barbara |
10 |
7 |
.588 |
15 |
9
|
UCLA |
9 |
8 |
.529 |
14 |
9
|
Pacific |
8 |
8 |
.500 |
13 |
10
|
CSU Northridge |
7 |
8 |
.467 |
13 |
11
|
Long Beach St. |
6 |
8 |
.429 |
11 |
9
|
USC |
6 |
9 |
.400 |
9 |
11
|
Hawaii |
5 |
11 |
.312 |
5 |
14
|
UC San Diego |
2 |
14 |
.125 |
5 |
17
|
Stanford |
2 |
14 |
.125 |
3 |
19 |
Yesterday
Hawaii def. Cal State Northridge 30-27, 31-29, 30-26
Pepperdine def. UC San Diego, 30-18, 30-25, 30-16
Long Beach Sate def. Penn State, 19-30, 30-27, 30-28, 26-30, 15-13