MALIBU, Calif. >> It was every bit the battle expected from two of the top teams in the nation. Waves roll over UH
From staff and wire reports
Third-ranked Hawaii and second-ranked Pepperdine pushed each other throughout the match, but it was the Waves who prevailed 30-26, 30-28, 26-30, 30-26 at Firestone Fieldhouse.
"We had our chances. We flubbed up a lot of free opportunities and just maybe tried too hard at times," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "They bring it with their serves. They put pressure on us and we would break down and they would get some cheap points that way. Flubbing up a lot of opportunities to score easy points didn't help either. That could have made the difference in the match."
Hawaii drops to 15-5 overall, 12-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Pepperdine ran its win streak to seven and improve to 19-4, 14-2.
Over and over the Waves chopped at the Warriors with Sean Rooney and Brad Keenan dicing through Hawaii's block. Setter Beau Daniels set five players to double-digit kills with Rooney leading the way with a match-high 22.
Costas Theocharidis also had 22 kills, but he was the only Warrior to generate any offense as Pepperdine outhit Hawaii .368 to .218.
Wilton played a game of musical chairs with outside hitters Jose Delgado, Eyal Zimet and Tony Ching. None of them had the answer, with Zimet hitting negative, Delgado hitting zero and Ching a shade higher at .063.
A 13-10 advantage in Game 1 didn't help Hawaii. The Waves used two three-point runs to catch the Warriors and grab a 19-16 lead.
Rooney took over in the final stretch of the game. The freshman crushed four kills in Pepperdine's final six points.
In Game 2, the Warriors jumped out to a 7-2 lead. But Hawaii wilted down the stretch. A kill by Keenan ended a long rally and evened the score at 19 as the momentum shifted to Pepperdine. The Warriors pursued the Waves for the last 10 points but couldn't quite catch them.
"We had a pretty commanding lead in Game 2 and they chipped away at us and fought their way back in," Wilton said. "We did not put enough pressure on them. We did at times, but then we started guiding the ball in toward their weaker passers instead of serving with authority at them."
Hawaii led early in Game 3, but Pepperdine took the lead midway through the game. A kill by Rooney tied the score at 25. Words were exchanged at between Theocharidis and Lance Walker. The normally composed Theocharidis had to be walked to the endline and restrained by Ching. Fueled by Theocharidis' anger, Hawaii pulled out the game but then faltered in Game 4.
The Warriors and Waves play again today at 5 p.m. Hawaii time.
MPSF standings
Conference Overall W L PCT GB W L PCT UCLA 14 2 .875 -- 22 3 .880 Pepperdine 14 2 .875 -- 19 4 .826 Hawaii 12 3 .800 1 1/2 15 5 .750 Stanford 11 6 .647 3 1/2 12 8 .600 Brigham Young 10 5 .643 3 1/2 16 5 .722 UC Santa Barbara 10 6 .625 4 14 6 .700 CS-Northrdge 7 10 .412 7 1/2 12 11 .521 Pacific 6 11 .353 8 1/2 8 14 .364 Long Beach State 6 11 .353 8 1/2 9 15 375 UC Irvine 5 11 .313 9 11 12 .478 USC 2 15 .118 12 1/2 5 18 .217 UC-San Diego 1 16 .059 13 1/2 5 17 .227 Pepperdine def. Hawaii
30-26, 30-28, 26-30, 30-26
Warriors (15-5, 12-3 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 4 10 3 16 .438 1 6 3 Tuyay 4 1 1 3 .000 0 1 3 Zimet 4 7 8 22 -.045 0 3 4 Podlewski 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 17 Theocharidis 4 22 3 48 .396 0 1 3 Delgado 4 7 7 16 .000 0 4 4 Ching 3 6 5 16 .063 0 0 6 Nordberg 4 4 1 12 .250 0 3 1 Totals 4 57 28 133 .218 1 18 41 Waves (19-4, 14-2 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Van Reusen 4 10 1 16 .563 0 5 2 Gledhill 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Daniels 4 1 0 1 1.000 1 2 7 Keenan 4 12 3 25 .360 2 3 0 Winters 4 18 7 51 .216 1 3 3 Walker 4 13 7 28 .214 1 4 8 Rooney 4 22 2 31 .645 0 1 4 Olson 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 15 Totals 4 76 20 152 .368 5 18 39 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Waves (2): Daniels, Winters. Hawaii (3): Zimet, Theocharidis, Nordberg. Assists -- Waves (68): Daniels 65, Keenan, Winters, Walker. Hawaii (52): Tuyay 46, Delgado 2, Miladinovic, Zimet, Theocharidis, Nordberg.
T -- 2:00. Officials -- Marvin Hall, Bob Oshita. A -- 875.
UH Athletics
