Saturday, March 13, 1999
The Beach
is no picnic
for ’Bows
The Hawaii men's volleyball
From staff and wire reports
team loses to Long Beach
State in fourLONG BEACH, Calif. -- The University of Hawaii men's volleyball team played through a symphony of emotions last night against Long Beach State. The No. 7 Rainbows hit some high notes but also some sour ones in falling to the third-ranked 49ers, 15-10, 12-15, 15-6, 17-15, at The Pyramid.
"It was a familiar tune for us," said Hawaii coach Mike Wilton, after losing to The Beach for a third straight time. "We were up and we were down. It was a real winnable game but Long Beach were just steadier than we were. They don't beat themselves.
"There was a silver lining to tonight. Last time we played them, it was a total embarrassment. Tonight we had some embarrassing moments but we played a lot better."
Last month's 15-8, 15-13, 15-7 loss to the 49ers lasted 95 minutes. Last night, Hawaii battled for nearly 2-1/2 hours before again losing to its Pacific Division rival in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
The teams were tied at 10-10 in Game 1 until the 49ers pulled away with five unanswered points. Hawaii took a big lead in Game 2 and then had to hold off a late Long Beach rally to even the match.
"In Game 3, we hit .067 and nothing was happening for us," said Wilton. "Game 4 was a war."
The Rainbows led, 14-11, in Game 4 but couldn't finish off the 49ers to force a fifth game. Led by David McKienzie (28 kills), Jim Polster (25) and Matt Prosser (15), Long Beach finished the match off with a 6-1 run.
The Beach improved to 14-1 overall, 11-1 in the MPSF. Hawaii fell to 11-5 and 6-4.
The Rainbows will try to regroup tonight at No. 2 Pepperdine (5 p.m. HST), a team it hasn't defeated in three seasons. The Waves are 13-1 overall, 10-1 in the MPSF.
"No question that Pepperdine is very good," said Wilton. "They have (6-foot-6 senior hitter) George Roumain who's been basically unstoppable for four years. Scott Wong is playing real well right now and J.J (Riley) is an excellent setter.
"Hopefully what we take out of tonight's match is that we're capable of playing some good ball."
Sophomore hitter Clay Stanley led Hawaii with a career-high 32 kills while Torry Tukuafu finished with 19 kills after a slow start. The Rainbows outblocked the 49ers, 18-17, with Andre Breuer finishing with 3 solos and 8 assist blocks.
The Rainbows will host Rutgers-Newark next Friday and Saturday in nonconference matches at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Long Beach State def. Hawaii, 15-10, 12-15, 15-6, 17-15
Rainbows (11-5 overall, 6-4 MPSF)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 4 7 6 19 .053 0 7 5 Kuo 4 2 2 7 .000 0 5 12 Breuer 4 14 3 28 .393 3 8 3 Lockwood 4 2 2 7 .000 0 3 6 Stanley 4 32 19 61 .213 0 3 6 Tukuafu 4 19 7 36 .333 0 4 4 Kaven 3 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Davis 1 1 2 5 -.200 0 0 0 Haliniak 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Alifonso 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 77 41 164 .220 3 30 36
g k e at pct. bs ba d Jackson 4 9 7 22 .091 0 4 7 Prosser 4 15 4 27 .407 1 9 4 McKienzie 4 28 11 63 .270 0 3 8 Seiffert 4 1 0 3 .333 0 5 6 Faber 4 11 5 22 .273 0 7 6 Polster 4 25 6 38 .500 0 3 11 Callahan 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Mason 2 6 1 9 .556 1 0 0 Peters 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Taras 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 95 34 185 .330 2 31 42Aces--UH (4): Stanley 3, Tukuafu 1. LBS (5): Jackson 2, Prosser 1, McKienzie 1, Faber 1. Assists--UH (74): Kuo 67, Lockwood 3, Miladinovic 2, Breuer 1, Tukuafu 1. LBS (90): Seiffert 88, McKienzie 1, Polster 1.A--1,246. T--2:18. Officials: Jim Joy, Robert Okamura.
MPSF
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Long Beach St. 11 1 .916 -- 14 1 .933 Hawaii 6 4 .600 3 11 5 .687 Southern Cal 7 6 .538 4-1/2 9 7 .562 Pacific 5 7 .417 6 7 7 .500 Stanford 3 8 .273 7-1/2 5 8 .385 San Diego St. 1 8 .111 8-1/2 1 9 .100 UC San Diego 0 12 .000 11 3 13 .187
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Brigham Young 12 0 1.000 -- 16 0 1.000 Pepperdine 10 1 .909 1-1/2 14 1 .934 UCLA 10 5 .667 3 14 6 .700 Loyola Marymt 7 4 .636 4-1/2 8 5 .615 UC Irvine 6 6 .500 6 9 7 .565 UCSB 3 11 .214 10 4 11 .267 Northridge 1 10 .091 10-1/2 2 12 .143Hawaii at Pepperdine, 5 p.m. HST
Pacific at San Diego State
Long Beach State def. Hawaii, 15-10, 12-15, 15-6, 17-15
