WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Lauri Hakala put down a kill past Stanford's Matt Ceran during last night's match at Stan Sheriff Center. Hakala finished with 19 kills in the Warriors' win.
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Warriors roll over Cardinal
Think senior night is tonight?
Think again.
Hawaii's four seniors decided they wanted two nights to celebrate what looks to be the final home appearance of their careers. Led by senior opposite Lauri Hakala's match-high 19 kills and senior hitter Eric Kalima's 11 digs, the Warriors moved closer to securing the playoff spot they want in next week's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament with a sweep of Stanford last night.
A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 2,692 (3,822 tickets distributed) watched as 10th-ranked Hawaii wore down a young Cardinal team much better than its record reflected to win its ninth straight, 30-22, 30-23, 30-22. The Warriors (12-13, 10-11 MPSF) moved into a tie for sixth with Cal State Northridge heading into tonight's season finale.
Should Hawaii finish tied with CSUN, the Warriors have the tiebreaker and would travel to third-seeded UC Irvine for an MPSF tournament quarterfinal next Saturday. The Matadors (16-14, 10-11) finish at USC (12-14, 9-12) tonight.
If Hawaii were to drop today's 7 p.m. rematch with Stanford (2-19, 3-24) and CSUN beat USC, the Warriors would host USC in the play-in match Wednesday. The play-in winner then goes to second- seeded BYU for a Saturday quarterfinal.
"As much as we'd like to play at home for the fans, it would be a much better schedule for us if we only had to play one match next week," said senior middle Dio Dante, who had an impressive night with eight kills and no errors on 11 swings and added seven blocks. "We'd get a little more rest, get a chance to get our legs under us, if we go to Irvine.
"Nothing against (Provo), but I don't want to go to BYU."
JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii opposite Lauri Hakala raised his hands high as he celebrated last night's win with his Warriors teammates.
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Hawaii can control its destiny with a win tonight. The Warriors also want to save the emotion until after the match, with all the senior night festivities.
For Stanford, which had three freshmen and three sophomores on the court most of the night, the goal is be more consistent and spread out the offense. The Cardinal got 17 kills from freshman Evan Romero, who took 38 swings, but no one else had more than seven kills.
"We need a little more offense from a couple of other guys," Stanford coach John Kosty said. "Evan had a good night, especially the first two games (13 kills). I think everyone else will rise to the occasion tomorrow."
One Cardinal in particular hopes to. Freshman hitter Kawika Shoji, son of Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji, finished with seven kills but six errors, in addition to 10 digs.
"It was a rough homecoming for me," Shoji said. "But I had a great time playing in here. The crowd was great as always.
"We struggled executing and I struggled personally, too.
"I thought UH played really good defense and they're a really good blocking team. Tomorrow we need to tighten up some things, be better at passing and execute in transition better."
Hawaii controlled the match for most of the hour and 42 minutes, turning back all Stanford challenges. The one lapse in focus came at the end of Game 3, where the Warriors saw a 26-15 lead turn into one of 27-21 with the Cardinal's late rally.
Hawaii regrouped after a timeout, finishing it out on a 3-1 run, culminating with Dante's solo block of Miki Groppi.
The Warriors outblocked the Cardinal 11.5-6, with senior setter Brian Beckwith in on six to go with his 45 assists. Vanzant also had 11 digs to help Hawaii to a 42-39 edge in digs.
MPSF Standings
|
Conference |
Overall
|
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
W |
L
|
a-Pepperdine |
20 |
1 |
.953 |
24 |
1
|
b-BYU |
17 |
4 |
.810 |
21 |
5
|
b-UC Irvine |
16 |
5 |
.762 |
23 |
5
|
c-UC Santa Barbara |
15 |
7 |
.682 |
20 |
10
|
d-UCLA |
13 |
9 |
.591 |
19 |
10
|
CSU Northridge |
10 |
11 |
.476 |
16 |
14
|
Hawaii |
10 |
11 |
.476 |
12 |
13
|
USC |
9 |
12 |
.429 |
12 |
14
|
Pacific |
8 |
13 |
.381 |
14 |
16
|
Long Beach St. |
6 |
16 |
.273 |
11 |
17
|
UC San Diego |
2 |
19 |
.095 |
5 |
22
|
Stanford |
2 |
19 |
.095 |
3 |
24 |
a-clinched MPSF title; b-clinched MPSF Tournament berth; c-clinched fourth seed; d-clinched fifth seed
Yesterday
Hawaii def. Stanford 30-22, 30-23, 30-22
Brigham Young def. Pacific 30-24, 30-26, 30-24
UC Irvine def. Long Beach State 30-25, 30-21, 30-19
UCLA def. UC San Diego 30-26, 30-24, 30-28
Today
Stanford at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
Brigham Young at Pacific
CSU Northridge at USC
UC Santa Barbara at Pepperdine
UC Irvine at UC San Diego
End regular season
Hawaii def. Stanford
30-22, 30-23, 30-22
Cardinals (3-24, 2-19 MPSF)
|
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Groppi |
3 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
.400 |
0 |
2 |
3
|
Romero |
3 |
17 |
10 |
38 |
.184 |
0 |
1 |
3
|
Williams |
3 |
2 |
4 |
11 |
-.182 |
0 |
1 |
1
|
Ceran |
3 |
7 |
7 |
28 |
.000 |
0 |
1 |
5
|
Shoji |
3 |
7 |
6 |
23 |
.043 |
0 |
1 |
10
|
Werner |
3 |
3 |
0 |
9 |
.333 |
1 |
4 |
2
|
Keller |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1.000 |
0 |
0 |
14
|
Lindberg |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
Palacios |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Totals |
3 |
40 |
28 |
115 |
.104 |
1 |
10 |
39
|
Warriors (12-13, 10-11 MPSF)
|
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Rawson |
3 |
6 |
2 |
12 |
.333 |
1 |
2 |
3
|
Kalima |
3 |
3 |
3 |
11 |
.000 |
0 |
2 |
11
|
Hakala |
3 |
19 |
5 |
41 |
.341 |
0 |
1 |
5
|
Beckwith |
3 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
.333 |
0 |
6 |
5
|
Dante |
3 |
8 |
0 |
11 |
.727 |
1 |
6 |
2
|
Vanzant |
3 |
12 |
2 |
25 |
.400 |
0 |
2 |
11
|
Carney |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Cervantes |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
3
|
Vidinha |
1 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
2
|
Totals |
3 |
52 |
15 |
110 |
.336 |
2 |
19 |
42 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (2): Beckwith, Dante. Assists -- Stanford (38): Groppi 32, Ceran 3, Shoji 2, Williams. Hawaii (49): Beckwith 45, Cervantes 3, Kalima.
T -- 1:42. Officials -- Dickson Chun, Ernie Ho. A --2,692.