StarBulletin.com

Men's volleyball teams get plenty of work in fall warm-ups


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POSTED: Saturday, November 08, 2008

The goal was to get plenty of repetitions against quality opposition. The three men's volleyball teams competing in the Warrior Fall Tournament at Klum Gym got exactly that, with three of the six opening-day matches going to five sets.

Brigham Young's split squads both finished with 2-0 records and advanced to this morning's championship bracket semifinals. BYU I takes on USC I while BYU II faces Hawaii I at 10 a.m.

“;We've been working hard all fall and we're happy to go 4-0,”; Cougar coach Shawn Patchell said. “;And it's nice to play somebody else and get in a lot of quality reps.

“;I thought our ball control was really good and I saw a lot of heart.”;

The Cougars went 2-0 against the host Warriors including BYU I's 30-27, 30-25, 30-28 sweep of Hawaii I. BYU II also picked up a marathon win against Hawaii II when holding off match point in Set 4 to force Set 5 en route to a 27-30, 30-27, 22-30, 32-30, 15-10 victory.

The Warriors came back to split their matches with the Trojans. What pleased Hawaii coach Mike Wilton was how UH I rebounded to sweep USC I, 30-24, 30-19, 30-27.

“;The team in the second match looked like the team I've been coaching this fall,”; Wilton said. “;We had two (true) freshmen out there and there were a lot of nerves in that first match.

“;We stayed with BYU but gave away some points. I know we're going to continue to get better.”;

Playing with Hawaii's first team were freshman hitters Steve Hunt and Gus Tuaniga. Adding to the youth was redshirt freshman middle Jarrod Lofy.

The Trojans came in off a championship outing in the 13th Husky Energy Can-Am Challenge in Canada last month. Sophomore setter Riley McKibbin (Punahou '07) was named the tournament's MVP as USC became the first NCAA team to win the title in five years.

USC II and UH II meet in the consolation match at 1 p.m. The championship and third-place matches will be held concurrently at 4 p.m.