[UH VOLLEYBALL]

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Dejan Miladinovic and Costas Theochardis went up to block UCLA's Chris Pena last night. The Warriors won in four games.

UH downs UCLA

The Warriors win 3 straight
after dropping the first game

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By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.com

Memory problems turned out to be good for the Hawaii volleyball team yesterday.

In front of a crowd of 5,108 (5,896 tickets issued) at the Stan Sheriff Center, Hawaii shook off a terrible first game to soundly defeat UCLA 19-30, 30-26, 30-16, 30-26.

The win moved the third-ranked Warriors (18-6, 15-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) into a tie for second place with second-ranked UCLA (23-5, 15-4).

"We told them to forget about it" Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "That one's over. That was not us. It went off in Game 2. We played some good defense and hit our stride really well."

Setter Kimo Tuyay agreed.

"We woke up," Tuyay said. "In the first game we didn't have them but we knew we had them after."

UCLA was without starters Jonathan Acosta and Scott Morrow, but it didn't matter in the beginning. Middle blocker Paul Johnson and outside hitter Parker Smith made it look like there was no drop-off. Johnson hit .500 with six kills in Game 1 and Smith was effective from the serving line with his floaters.

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Delano Thomas went up for a kill last night.

Hawaii was not aggressive in passing and paid for it. Smith, Matt Komer and Chris Pena each had an ace that landed untouched. The Warriors had Tuyay scrambling all over the court. UCLA exploited the middle while Hawaii's middles all but disappeared on offense and defense. UCLA hit .389 to Hawaii's .079. The Warriors were frustrated and looking to each other for answers.

They found them in Game 2. Hawaii steadied its passing and improved its hitting infinitely. The Warriors hit .450 and were led by Costas Theocharidis' 13 kills in the game. The blocking also improved, with Hawaii's blockers getting a handle on UCLA's offense. The Warriors broke away midway through the game, outscoring the Bruins 4-1 to take a 19-15 lead. Hawaii led 27-22 after Komer was awarded a yellow card for arguing a call. Two kills from Theocharidis and a UCLA error evened the match at one game apiece.

"We couldn't stop Costas," UCLA coach Al Scates said. "He took charge in Game 2."

Hawaii didn't let up in Game 3. Freshman Delano Thomas shook off early match jitters and got the Warriors going with his serve. Thomas blasted an ace and caused passing problems for UCLA as Hawaii jumped out to a 6-1 lead.

"He's been serving well all year," Tuyay said. "Once he gets a hold of it, he's good."

The Warriors led 20-9 after a pair of kills by Theocharidis. Hawaii's lead never dipped below double figures the rest of the way. The Warriors' defense dismantled the Bruins' offense as UCLA hit .000. Hawaii crammed four balls back at UCLA and finished the match outblocking the taller Bruins 12-8.

"When they go down, they go down hard," Dejan Miladinovic said. "We didn't block that many balls tonight, but we touched a lot of them. Our defense was good."

In Game 4, Hawaii led from the start. A kill by Dejan Miladinovic gave the Warriors a 20-14 lead. UCLA trimmed the deficit to 22-20, but Hawaii's defense stopped UCLA again. The Bruins had just four more points and faded down the stretch. UCLA watched as Tuyay's dump at match point landed in the middle of the court.

The rematch is today at 7 p.m.

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Hawaii def. UCLA

19-30, 30-26, 30-16, 30-25

Bruins (23-5, 15-4 MPSF)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Smith	3	2	3	13	-.077	0	0	0
Johnson	4	14	4	25	.400	0	8	0
Nelson	4	1	0	3	.333	0	2	5
Mount	4	16	3	30	.433	0	1	10
Pena	4	8	5	22	.136	0	0	2
Komer	4	9	4	26	.192	0	4	15
Russell	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Garrett	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Prahler	2	5	2	11	.273	0	1	0
Shrader	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	10
Totals	4	55	21	130	.262	0	16	42

Warriors (18-6, 15-4 MPSF)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Miladinovic	4	13	3	22	.455	1	2	3
Tuyay	4	2	0	3	.667	1	4	2
Zimet	4	5	4	11	.091	0	1	5
Theocharidis	4	29	8	63	.333	1	2	7
Delgado	2	1	3	7	-.286	0	0	3
Thomas	4	8	1	17	.412	0	7	3
Chala	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Podlewski	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	15
Ching	4	6	2	14	.286	0	2	6
Nordberg	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	4	64	21	137	.314	3	18	45

Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.

Aces -- Bruins (4): Smith, Mount, Pena, Komer. Hawaii (4): Thomas 3, Theocharidis Assists -- Bruins (50): Nelson 46, Smith 2, Shrader 2. Hawaii (59): Tuyay 53, Miladinovic 2, Podlewski 2, Delgado, Ching.

T -- 1:58. Officials -- Wayne Lee, Dan Hironaka. A -- 5,108.

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UH Athletics