Warriors drop 10th straight on road
POSTED: Saturday, April 04, 2009
UCLA's success in basketball dominates the rafters of Pauley Pavilion, with 11 NCAA banners hanging above Wooden Court.
Last night, the sport's influence showed up on the volleyball court. Senior middle blocker Jamie Diefenbach, who spent the last five months on the Bruins basketball team, came off the bench late in the second set to help No. 9 UCLA turn back No. 13 Hawaii 25-30, 31-29, 30-23, 30-22 in Los Angeles.
The loss dropped the Warriors to 6-17 overall, 3-15 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Hawaii, 0-10 on the road this year, will miss the MPSF playoffs for the second consecutive season.
Joshua Walker finished with 19 kills to lead the Warriors, who finish out the season at home with two matches next week against Pacific and two the following week against USC.
Playing for pride and building for next year is how UH coach Mike Wilton sees the final four matches.
“;We'll get back in the gym Tuesday and continue to work hard,”; he said after the 1 hour, 55 minute defeat. “;We got off to a great start (tonight), but the wheels kind of came off and things started to disintegrate.”;
The Warriors rebounded from Thursday's disappointing five-set loss by coming out strong last night. Using the same lineup that played well in the final three sets Thursday, Hawaii controlled from the start, jumping out to leads of 18-11 and 24-15.
Behind five kills each by Walker and Steven Hunt, the Warriors withstood a late UCLA rally to take Set 1.
Hawaii appeared ready to take a 2-0 lead when again pulling ahead 27-25. The 6-foot-8 Diefenbach, who didn't play Thursday, helped UCLA put up a wall that led to Hunt being blocked twice and the Bruins scoring three straight for a 28-27 lead.
Joe Strotman's kill tied it at 28 and Hawaii held off on set point to tie it at 29. Sean O'Malley put down one of his 13 kills and Walker hit wide to even the match at 1-1.
UCLA used a 5-1 run in Set 3 to take the lead for good at 12-8. Hawaii continued to have trouble slowing Garrett Muagututia, who had nine of his match-high 20 kills to give the Bruins the 2-1 lead.
It was 10-10 in Set 4 and then it was over, as UCLA put together a 4-1 run that included two aces. Hawaii never got closer than one in falling to the Bruins for the 52nd time in 71 meetings.
Hunt, who had a career-high 28 kills Thursday, finished with 14.
“;One of our goals was to control their two middles and we did,”; Wilton said of UCLA starters Nick Vogel and Thomas Amberg. “;And then they brought in (Diefenbach). I thought the difference tonight for them was Muagututia. He was OK Thursday (eight kills), but he played very well tonight.
“;It was a familiar theme for us tonight. We were inconsistent when we needed consistency.”;
MPSF standings
| W | L | Pct. | GB | W-L | ||
| x-Pepperdine | 15 | 2 | .882 | — | 17-2 | |
| x-UC Irvine | 15 | 3 | .833 | 1/2 | 20-4 | |
| x-CSU Northridge | 14 | 5 | .737 | 2 | 21-5 | |
| x-USC | 12 | 6 | .667 | 3 | 16-7 | |
| x-Stanford | 11 | 6 | .647 | 4 | 18-8 | |
| x-BYU | 11 | 7 | .611 | 41/2 | 15-10 | |
| UCLA | 8 | 10 | .444 | 71/2 | 12-13 | |
| Long Beach State | 7 | 12 | .368 | 8 | 10-14 | |
| UC San Diego | 7 | 11 | .389 | 81/2 | 11-12 | |
| UC Santa Barbara | 4 | 14 | .222 | 111/2 | 8-15 | |
| Hawaii | 3 | 15 | .167 | 121/2 | 6-17 | |
| Pacific | 0 | 17 | .000 | 15 | 3-23 |
x-clinched MPFS playoff spot
Yesterday
UCLA def. Hawaii, 25-30, 31-29, 30-23, 30-22
UC Irvine def. BYU, 30-28, 26-30, 30-27, 30-27
CSU Northridge def. USC, 30-27, 30-28, 29-31, 30-21
Stanford def. Long Beach State, 28-30, 30-18, 30-26, 26-30, 20-18
UC San Diego def. Pacific, 30-19, 30-22, 30-24
Today
Pepperdine at UC Santa Barbara
Stanford at UC San Diego
Pacific at Long Beach State
UCLA def. Hawaii
25-30, 31-29, 30-23, 30-22
Warriors (6-17, 3-15 MPSF)
| g | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
|
| Grgas | 4 | 6 | 1 | 12 | .417 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9.5 |
| Hunt | 4 | 14 | 11 | 36 | .083 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 15.0 |
| Walker | 4 | 19 | 3 | 37 | .432 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 21.0 |
| Lofy | 3 | 2 | 3 | 7 | -.143 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3.0 |
| Zemljak | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | -.250 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 1.5 |
| Strotman | 4 | 9 | 3 | 20 | .300 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 11.0 |
| Rawson | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .500 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.0 |
| Carney | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
| Tuaniga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| China | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Ching | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
| Dyer | 2 | 6 | 2 | 11 | .364 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 |
| Totals | 4 | 59 | 25 | 132 | .258 | 37 | 1 | 18 | 71.0 |
Bruins (11-13, 8-10 MPSF)
| g | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
||
| O'Malley | 4 | 13 | 3 | 32 | .312 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 16.0 | |
| Muagututia | 4 | 20 | 3 | 37 | .459 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 23.0 | |
| Polales | 4 | 14 | 4 | 28 | .357 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 16.0 | |
| Amberg | 4 | 7 | 5 | 16 | .125 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 11.0 | |
| Ker, K. | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | .000 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 5.5 | |
| Vogel | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | -.125 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4.0 | |
| Ker, J. | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Hastings | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Stromath | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.5 | |
| Diefenbach | 3 | 6 | 2 | 9 | .444 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6.5 | |
| Ratelle | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| Totals | 4 | 65 | 23 | 138 | .304 | 42 | 2 | 23 | 83.5 |
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 (2): Walker, Strotman. UCLA (5): O'Malley 2, Muagututia, Ker, K., Vogel. Assists -Hawaii (58): Zemljak 58. UCLA (63): Ker, K. 57, Muagututia 5, Ker, J.
T - 1:55. Officials -Larry Schwartz, Lydia Godshall. A - 892.
