Saturday, January 23, 1999
Rainbows
fall quickly to
fired-up UCLA
The Bruins likely will
By Cindy Luis
retain their No. 1
volleyball ranking
Star-BulletinWithout air, food and water, there is no life.
Without passing, serving and setting in volleyball, chances of survival are pretty slim, too.
After two consecutive nights of living-on-the-edge play, the No. 3 Hawaii men's team fell off into the deep end and never resurfaced. UCLA drowned the Rainbows' thoughts of taking over the No. 1 ranking in just 92 minutes, 15-6, 15-7, 15-3, to claim the title of the Outrigger Hotels Invitational at the Stan Sheriff Center.
It was the third championship in five years for UCLA (4-1, 2-1) in this event. The defending national champs rebounded from Thursday's stunning loss to second-ranked Lewis by taking out their frustrations on host Hawaii (4-1, 2-1) in front of subdued crowd of 8,427.
"We had a lot of motivation," said Bruins setter Brandon Taliaferro, who joined teammate Adam Naeve on the all-tournament team. "We felt we played poorly against Lewis and were embarrassed by it. We wanted to earn some respect back.
"We pretty much came out storming. The only other time I felt the whole team was that on fire was in the finals last year against Pepperdine (at the Sheriff Center last May). When you have all six players firing on all cylinders, you feel pretty confident."
And after two consecutive five-game matches, Hawaii couldn't respond. The Rainbows' offense sputtered almost from the opening serve; it was 1-1 in Game 1 and then it was basically over.
"I don't think it was as much physical as it was mental," said Rainbow hitter Torry Tukuafu, who had a team-high 16 kills. "We weren't in sync. They came at us with their serves, aced me early (3-1 in Game 1).
"Once they've got you doubting yourself, you don't feel confident in passing. They had a plan and they executed it."
UCLA's game plan was to go to senior captain Fred Robins as often as possible. The Kamehameha Schools' product responded with a team-high 16 kills and nine demoralizing digs.
"This is probably the last time I'll get to play here and it was a nice homecoming," Robins said. "Not that I want to be a ball hog but I wanted to contribute in other areas besides my passing.
"We had a lot of incentive. We were a lot hungrier. I could see it in our eyes. We were tired but I can only imagine how tired UH was after going five both nights before playing us. I know they'll be a lot better the next time we see them."
Hawaii doesn't play UCLA again until April 2 at Pauley Pavilion. The Rainbows have 16 matches between now and then, beginning with their first road trip, at Stanford next Friday and Saturday.
"We need to get back to the basic fundamentals," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "When the game gets reduced to the bare essentials -- serving and passing and setting -- I thought we came real deficient in those categories.
"We just didn't have it tonight and they were in system all night. We tried to stir up another magic elixir in Game 3 with some substitutions but it didn't work. I hoped it would have been a better match. We have no excuses."
"Losing (Thursday) got everyone's attention," UCLA coach Al Scates said. "Teams prepare much better after a loss. I thought we were reasonably fresh and I continued to go with our starters because they were playing well."
Scates never subbed while Wilton scrambled the lineup, hoping for a spark. Sophomore Jorge Perez came in to set for senior Mason Kuo but little changed.
Hawaii could not sustain any momentum, never scoring more than two points in a row. The Rainbows' only lead came at 2-0 in Game 2.
Tukuafu was named to the all-tournament team, along with teammate Dejan Miladinovic (14 kills). Clay Stanley added 14 kills for the Rainbows, who hit .190 to the Bruins' .412.
Lewis 3, Penn State 1: It was midway through Game 1 that Victor Rivera broke the tournament record for most kills. By the time the Flyers' senior hitter put down the match-ender, he had clinched the Most Valuable Player trophy and Lewis (3-1, 2-1) had won, 7-15, 15-6, 15-8, 15-9.
Rivera finished the three-day event with 100 kills, shattering the mark of 72 set by Hawaii's Yuval Katz in 1996. Rivera also broke Katz' record for most kill attempts (145) with 165.
"Our first two matches were at opposite ends of the spectrum," Lewis coach Dave Deuser said. "We go five with Hawaii and lose, then go five with UCLA and beat a great program for the first time ever.
"We knew it would difficult to rebound from the emotional high (of Thursday) but I told our guys if they thought we would have to work any less for a win against Penn State that they'd be wrong. Actually, I was more nervous about playing them than UCLA."
The Nittany Lions (0-7, 0-3) gave Deuser plenty of cause to worry after winning Game 1. But sparked by the all-around play of Eduardo Quinones (23 kills, 9 digs), Lewis was able to finally finish off Penn State after 2 hours and 19 minutes.
Quinones, an all-tournament selection, broke the marks for most digs in a single game (20 on Thursday) and tournament (36). Flyers' junior setter Edgardo Deniz set a record for most tournament assists (245), while sophomore middle Paul Aviles had 20 block assists in three matches to break the old mark by one.
Eric Houston led Penn State with 19 kills. Sergio Pampena added 16 en route to being named to the all-tournament team.
Box Score
UCLA def. Hawaii, 15-6, 15-7, 15-3
g k e at pct. bs ba d Taliaferro 3 5 2 13 .231 0 4 6 Williams 3 7 2 12 .417 0 1 9 Thatcher 3 13 3 29 .345 0 3 5 Robins 3 16 3 27 .481 0 3 9 Farmer 3 7 0 11 .636 0 4 2 Naeve 3 11 2 22 .409 0 6 1 Totals 3 59 12 114 .412 0 21 32
g k e at pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 3 14 3 26 .423 0 4 2 Kuo 3 0 0 1 .000 1 2 3 Kosty 3 1 1 7 .000 0 2 3 Davis 2 2 4 10 -.200 0 2 5 Stanley 3 14 7 31 .226 0 2 7 Tukuafu 3 16 7 33 .273 0 4 6 Perez 2 0 1 3 -.333 0 0 3 Lockwood 1 1 1 3 .000 0 0 4 Alifonso 1 2 3 7 .143 0 0 3 Totals 3 50 27 121 .190 1 16 36Aces--UH (1): Perez 1. UCLA (3): Williams 2, Naeve 1. Assists--UH (47): Kuo 32, Perez 9, Lockwood 2, Miladinovic 1, Kosty 1, Stanley 1, Tukuafu 1. UCLA (52): Taliaferro 46, Thatcher 3, Williams 2, Robins 1.A--8,427 turnstile (9,562 tickets). T--1:32. Officials: Randy Shaw and Andy Smilovich.
Lewis def. Penn State, 7-15, 15-6, 15-8, 15-9
g k e at pct. bs ba d Hoffman 4 18 6 39 .308 0 4 2 Hoechst 3 9 2 17 .412 1 4 1 Pollock 4 4 0 4 1.000 0 1 2 Houston 4 19 5 34 .412 0 0 8 Mazzullo 4 18 9 39 .231 1 3 8 Pampena 4 16 4 31 .387 1 1 6 Schall 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Whitescarver 3 2 0 4 .500 0 0 0 Quinones 2 2 0 5 .400 0 0 3 Miller 2 4 1 9 .333 2 3 5 Lapp 1 2 1 3 .333 0 0 2 Hawkings 1 0 0 0 .000 0 1 0 Totals 4 94 28 185 .357 5 17 37
g k e at pct. bs ba d Rivera 4 32 4 46 .609 0 0 12 Quinones 4 23 8 45 .333 0 2 9 Deniz 4 5 4 15 .067 0 6 8 Aviles 4 19 4 30 .500 0 7 5 Zambo 4 14 6 23 .348 1 5 10 Nembhard 4 14 1 23 .565 1 6 9 Bindon 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Corsten 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 107 27 182 .440 2 26 53Aces--Penn State (8): Houston 5, Hoffman 1, Pampena 1, Quinones 1. LEW (5): Aviles 2, Rivera 1, Deniz 1, Nembhard 1. Assists--Penn State (89): Pollock 47, Quinones 34, Mazzullo 4, Houston 2, Hoffman 2. Lew (102): Deniz 89, Quinones 5, Rivera 4, Aviles 2, Zambo 1, Nembhard 1.A--N/A T--2:19. Officials: Andy Smilovich and Dan Hironaka
All-Tournament Team
Hawaii: Torry Tukuafu, Dejan Miladinovic. Lewis: Eduardo Quinones. Penn State: Sergio Pampena. UCLA: Adam Naeve, Bradon Taliaferro.MVP: Victor Rivera, Lewis.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
