Cardinal leave UH red-faced
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It was a power outage of mega-watt proportion. And it left Hawaii volleyball coach Mike Wilton in the dark as to what happened.
"I just don't know what happened," he said. "There were just too many light bulbs out."
A night after taking No. 9 Stanford to five, the Warriors had no juice left for the rematch. Freshman Spencer McLachlin (Punahou '07) put down 11 kills and added four aces -- including the match-ender -- as the Cardinal needed 90 minutes to sweep Hawaii 30-22, 30-23, 30-25 at Burnham Pavilion.
It was the first time since 1997 that Stanford (12-6, 8-6 MPSF) swept the series from Hawaii (6-9, 5-7). The Cardinal won their only NCAA men's volleyball title that season.
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From staff and wire reports
STANFORD, Calif. » Is Stanford men's volleyball back? Kawika Shoji thinks so.
The sophomore setter for the ninth-ranked Cardinal opened last night's match against Hawaii with an ace, setting the tone for the next 90 minutes.
Led by the Hawaii-born trio of Shoji, Spencer McLachlin and Jordan Inafuku, the Cardinal swept the Warriors 30-22, 30-23, 30-25 in Burnham Pavilion.
It was the first time since 1997 that Stanford (12-6, 8-6) swept the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation series with Hawaii (6-9, 4-7). That season, the Cardinal went on to win the program's only NCAA title, an omen not lost on Shoji.
"Getting these two wins this week was huge. It shows that the program is back," said Shoji, who finished with 46 assists, 10 digs and an ace. "It's a tribute to all the hard work we've been putting in.
"It's been pretty special for the three of us from Hawaii the last couple of nights. We played well together and we got to see some familiar faces on the other side of the net."
Shoji (Iolani '06), McLachlin (Punahou '07) and Inafuku (Kamehameha '07) have come up through the USA Volleyball pipeline together. Last night, they all contributed, with freshman libero Inafuku managing a match-high 12 digs and freshman hitter McLachlin putting down 11 kills and four of the team's six aces, including the match-ender.
Hawaii had few answers for Stanford's multi-prong attack. Evan Romero finished with a match-high 20 kills, hitting .692, for the Cardinal, and Brandon Williams added 11 kills, hitting .600.
Freshman hitter Joshua Walker was the only Warrior in double-figure kills with 17. Sophomore middle Matt Rawson, making his first start in over a month, had the next-highest total with six.
Junior hitter Jim Clar, who had a career-high 29 kills Wednesday, had none in Game 1 and finished with four.
The lack of offense and emotion had Hawaii coach Mike Wilton shaking his head.
"We were down tonight and I'm not sure why," he said. "You would figure that when you go five the night before and feel like you gave it away that you'd be ready to roll. We weren't.
"They played better (than Wednesday) and we played worse. The silver lining, which is hard to see right now, is that we did go 2-2 on the trip. I sure would have liked to win at least one here."
That hope all but ended on the opening serve.
"It was a good start to the match," Shoji said of his ace. "We had a plan to go out and be smart on serving while also attacking it at the same time.
"I threw in a little cut shot and it landed in. It was the perfect start to the match."
Hawaii never led until Game 3, when it opened with a kill from Walker. Another kill by Walker put the Warriors ahead at 19-18 ... the last time they led.
Hawaii tied it at 20, but never got closer than one, the last at 23-22. As happened most of the match, the Cardinal put together runs of points, with McLachlin knocking down three of Stanford's final kills as well as the match-ending ace.
Game 2 was a tag-team affair, with Shoji and McLachlin combining for four points as the Cardinal opened with a 5-0 run. Shoji had a kill off a McLachlin set and Shoji set McLachlin for three kills. The closest Hawaii would come was 22-18, on a kill by Clar.
"There are no excuses, we were just bad tonight," Wilton said. "As I told the team, when you're climbing a mountain, sometimes you're going to stumble.
"We'll come home, get back to work in the gym and get ready for a strong Loyola-Chicago team."
The Warriors host the Ramblers next Wednesday and Friday in nonconference matches.
MPSF standings
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
|
GB |
W-L
|
Long Beach St |
8 |
1 |
.889 |
|
-- |
12-1
|
BYU |
7 |
1 |
.875 |
|
1/2 |
12-1
|
CS Northridge |
8 |
3 |
.727 |
|
1 |
12-4
|
Pepperdine |
7 |
5 |
.583 |
|
2 1/2 |
7-5
|
Stanford |
8 |
6 |
.571 |
|
2 1/2 |
12-6
|
UCLA |
7 |
6 |
.538 |
|
3 |
10-7
|
USC |
6 |
6 |
.500 |
|
3 1/2 |
9-8
|
UC Irvine |
6 |
7 |
.462 |
|
4 |
9-9
|
UCSB |
5 |
6 |
.454 |
|
4 |
7-8
|
Hawaii |
5 |
7 |
.417 |
|
4 1/2 |
6-9
|
UC San Diego |
1 |
10 |
.091 |
|
8 |
4-11
|
Pacific |
1 |
11 |
.083 |
|
8 1/2 |
1-14 |
Last night
Stanford def. Hawaii, 30-22, 30-23, 30-25
Tonight
CSU Northridge at Long Beach State
Pacific at BYU
Pepperdine at USC
UC Santa Barbara at UC San Diego
Ohio State at UC Irvine
UCLA at Ball State
Tomorrow
Ohio State at UC Irvine
CSU Northridge at UC San Diego
Pacific at BYU
UC Santa Barbara at Long Beach State
Stanford at UC Santa Cruz
UCLA at Ball State
Stanford def. Hawaii
30-22, 30-23, 30-25
Warriors (6-9, 5-7 MPSF)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct |
d |
bs |
ba |
pts
|
Rawson |
3 |
6 |
3 |
15 |
.200 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
8.5
|
Grgas |
3 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
.000 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3.0
|
Clar |
2 |
4 |
2 |
13 |
.154 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5.0
|
Carney |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
.333 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1.5
|
Walker |
3 |
17 |
6 |
37 |
.297 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
19.0
|
Schkud |
3 |
3 |
4 |
16 |
-.062 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
4.0
|
Cervantes |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0.0
|
Frank |
1 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
.250 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.0
|
Zemljak |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0.5
|
Komar |
3 |
3 |
0 |
9 |
.333 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
3.5
|
Dyer |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
|
Totals |
3 |
36 |
16 |
101 |
.198 |
28 |
0 |
12 |
46.0 |
|
Cardinal (8-6, 12-6 MPSF)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct |
d |
bs |
ba |
pts
|
Romero |
3 |
20 |
2 |
26 |
.692 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
20.5
|
Williams |
3 |
11 |
2 |
15 |
.600 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
14.5
|
Ceran |
3 |
10 |
9 |
29 |
.034 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
11.5
|
Shoji |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
.333 |
10 |
1 |
0 |
4.0
|
Werner |
3 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
.250 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
3.0
|
McLachlin |
3 |
11 |
2 |
24 |
.375 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
15.5
|
Inafuku |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
0.0
|
Dobbs |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0
|
Connolly |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills + blocks + aces)
Aces -- Hawaii (4): Rawson, Grgas, Clar, Walker. Stanford (6): McLachlin 4, Shoji, Williams. Assists --Hawaii (36): Carney 20, Zemljak 14, Sckudd, Komar. Stanford (53): Shoji 46. Inafuku 3, Williams 2, Werner, McLachlin.
T -- 1.30. Officials -- John Kinyon, Brian Brink. A -- 447.