SANTA BARBARA, Calif. >> It was just the way Hawaii coach Mike Wilton wanted to start the trip. Delgado slams
Santa BarbaraFrom staff and wire reports
The second-ranked Warriors played the first of four matches in five days yesterday. Hawaii played hard but expended a minimal amount of energy as it swept UC Santa Barbara 30-27, 30-26, 30-22 before 420 at Robertson gym.
It took the Warriors 95 minutes to improve their record to 13-3 overall and 10-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Hawaii stayed on top of the conference standings and picked up its seventh road win of the season. Sixth-ranked UCSB dropped to 13-6 and 9-6.
"We were real efficient tonight," Wilton said. "We were pretty much in charge. We won most of the long rallies. We hit better than they did but they still hit for a high percentage. But we dug a lot of balls and we transitioned well."
Costas Theocharidis and Jose Delgado led the Warrior attack with 19 kills apiece.
A day after the NCAA notified Delgado that it was investigating the Puerto Rican league that he competed in over the summer, Delgado hit a blistering .552 en route to notching his career-high in kills.
"He must have gotten good news today because he was tough," Wilton said. "The read was that he's okay. We had sufficient evidence to show that the club he played on was an amateur club. ... The NCAA felt there was no reason to pull him out of games right now."
UCSB transfer Brian Nordberg had a tougher time, posting just four kills. But the junior notched Hawaii's only ace of the match.
"It was weird, really weird," Nordberg said. "Luckily, we walked away with a 'W' ... fortunately we caught them on an off-night."
It wasn't too off as UCSB hit .353 and outblocked Hawaii 7-4. But the Warriors outdug the Gauchos 32-18 and had fewer serving errors (12-14).
Game 1 was tightly contested with neither team able to distance itself. The Warriors took a 25-22 lead off a kill by Theocharidis. But the Gauchos scored two quick points following a timeout. A ball set over by Theocharidis surprised the Gauchos and landed untouched.
Theocharidis followed with a tip for a 27-24 Warrior lead. The Gauchos added two more points, one on a dump by setter Britt Galang. Nordberg ended the game with two consecutive kills.
Hawaii controlled Game 2 from the beginning. The Warriors had leads of 6-3 and 13-7 and led by five for most of the game. A setting change midway through helped Santa Barbara, but not much. Jeff Minc fired up the offense for four points, but Hawaii still led 22-18.
The Gauchos trimmed Hawaii's lead to three at 28-25 off a kill by Ben Koski. Theocharidis followed with another kill to bring Hawaii to game point. After another kill by Koski, Theocharidis ended the game with his 15th kill of the match.
The Warriors trailed 3-1 in Game 3 but scored three straight points to take a 4-3 lead after Nordberg's ace. The Gauchos and Warriors battled to 7-7 before Hawaii started to pull away. Three straight kills by Hawaii started a 10-4 run and put the Warriors up for good.
Koski led UCSB with 16 kills.
The rematch is today at 5 p.m. Hawaii time. Wilton expects an improved Gaucho squad to show up.
Hawaii def. UC Santa Barbara
30-27, 30-26, 30-22Warriors (13-3, 10-1 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Milodinovic 3 4 1 5 .600 0 1 2 Tuyay 3 1 0 2 .500 0 0 4 Zimet 3 13 3 22 .455 0 0 7 Podlewski 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Delgado 3 19 3 29 .552 1 1 4 Nordberg 3 4 2 11 .182 0 1 1 Theocharidis 3 19 4 35 .429 1 1 5 Totals 3 60 13 104 .452 2 4 32 Gauchos (13-6, 9-6 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Galang 2 1 0 3 .333 0 1 1 Koski 3 16 3 30 .433 0 1 3 Zegarra 3 4 3 16 .063 1 1 3 Rivera 3 6 1 16 .313 0 2 5 Kennedy 3 9 1 16 .500 0 1 0 Adams 3 8 1 15 .467 0 5 0 Minc 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Lienert 2 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 0 Busam 3 1 1 5 .000 0 1 0 Wack 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Mansfield 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Totals 3 46 10 102 .353 1 12 18 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--Hawaii (1): Nordberg. UCSB (1): Lienert.
Assists--Hawaii (54): Tuyay 53, Delgado. UCSB (44): Galang 25, Minc 19.
T--1:35. Officials--Rick Olmstead, Brant Lee.
UH Athletics
