|
UH in MPSF final MALIBU, Calif. >> It was a bittersweet symphony.
Hawaii beats UCSB
in 4 games, likely earning
a spot in the NCAA final 4By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comBitter because it was an ugly volleyball match between Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament. Sweet because the second-ranked Warriors used a team effort to pull out a win.
Before a crowd of 1,127 at Firestone Fieldhouse, Hawaii defeated UC Santa Barbara 30-27, 29-31, 31-29, 30-26 to advance to tomorrow's championship against host Pepperdine. The Waves knocked off defending national champion Brigham Young 3-1 in the first semifinal.
The Warriors improved to 22-7 overall with their second victory over the Gauchos this season. Fourth-ranked UCSB finished the year at 18-11. And while it isn't a sure thing, last night's win all but assured the Warriors of at least an at-large bid to next week's final four at Penn State.
"I like the fact that it took a team to get it done," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said of the big road win. "We got it done when our best player had an off night. We've got guys that can come in and right the ship. Danny (Rasay) did it again. Jose (Delgado) came in and gave us a little more offense. And I like the fact that Dejan (Miladinovic) broke out his serve and scored some points for us."
Miladinovic was Hawaii's top blocker and server. The senior had eight blocks, including one solo, and three aces.
Costas Theocharidis led Hawaii with 21 kills but never seemed completely on top of his game. Eyal Zimet continued his strong performance from last week, hitting .429 with 11 kills and two aces.
The Warriors outhit the Gauchos by a slim margin (.314 to .282). Andy Rivera pounded 21 kills for UCSB and gunned the ball through several well-formed blocks.
"They came out and played a really good first game," Gauchos' coach Ken Preston said. "They had a great game plan and they stayed with it. They made us pay a bit with the blocking. Miladinovic was fabulous.
"It's rally games. We weren't blown out. We weren't overconfident from last game. We weren't euphoric from being here. We wanted to win. It was a pretty hard-fought match. It was not a real pretty match. It was not 'A' game to 'A' game. We played a 'B' and they played a 'B+' probably."
The Gauchos opened the match with a 10-5 lead behind the hitting of Rivera (three kills) and several Warrior errors. Hawaii looked tight early in the game, but momentum shifted to the Warriors after back-to-back-to-back blocks from Miladinovic. The Warriors evened the score at 11 after a kill from Zimet and another block by Miladinovic. Consecutive kills by Tony Ching and an ace from Theocharidis gave Hawaii a 14-12 advantage. The Gauchos didn't go away and tied the score one final time at 27 before three straight errors gave the Warriors the game.
Both teams improved their hitting nearly 200 points in Game 2. The game see-sawed and UCSB won by the slimmest margin. The Gauchos outhit the Warriors .316 to .314. The extra kill and some luck was the difference as Nathan Wack's serve at game point hit the tape and dribbled over the net and out of the reach of Kimo Tuyay.
"We just gradually shifted gears," Wilton said. "It took a long time. I'm not so sure we ever got out of it in Game 1. Losing in Game 2 helped."
Jose Delgado came off the bench to give the Warriors a lift in Game 3. The freshman hammered eight kills in 10 swings, including the game winner, to push Hawaii past UCSB in the pivotal game. He finished the match hitting .412 with 11 kills.
"I told coach that I'm ready if he needs me," Delgado said. "The moment is right now. I don't do extra. I just do my job."
It looked like UCSB was going to push the match to five in Game 4. The Gauchos broke away from a 10-9 Hawaii lead and scored four straight points. UCSB increased its momentum and its lead to 17-12 after kills by Rivera, Ben Koski, and Michael Kennedy. But the Warriors rallied behind the serving of Zimet and Miladinovic and a setting change. After a kill by Theocharidis, Rasay came off the bench and steadied Hawaii for the second straight match. Zimet served five straight balls, including an ace, to give Hawaii a 19-18 lead. Miladinovic tied the match at 21 with his seventh and final kill. But it was his serving that put the Gauchos away for good. Miladinovic reeled off six jump-serves and had two aces as the Warriors never looked back from a 26-21 lead.
"We didn't panic and we chipped away," Wilton said. "The serving run took care of that and the second run ended the match. Although no one was feeling comfortable on the bench. We had shot ourselves in the foot a lot tonight."
Added Miladinovic: "We made big plays when we needed them. In clutch-time, we managed to make those plays. We've been in tough situations before. We were calmer and that's total experience.
"Santa Barbara is a good team. We had to beat them. It wasn't the best game for spectators, I have to admit it. It was intense and exciting. All the games were tight but in clutch time, we managed to keep it on our side."
The Warriors have another opportunity to have the entire team harmonized tomorrow. They'll need a top-sounding performance to overcome Pepperdine. The Waves own a 16-1 record at home.
Hawaii def. UC Santa Barbara
30-27, 29-31, 31-29, 30-26Gauchos (18-11)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Galang 4 4 0 7 .571 0 1 10 Koski 4 15 8 35 .200 0 3 9 Zegarra 4 14 6 36 .222 1 0 1 Busam 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Rivera 4 21 8 36 .361 2 1 8 Wack 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Mansfield 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Bengtsson 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Kennedy 4 7 2 15 .333 0 3 1 Adams 4 5 2 13 .231 0 2 0 Totals 4 66 26 142 .282 3 10 37 Warriors (22-7)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 4 7 2 15 .333 1 7 1 Tuyay 4 0 0 3 .000 0 3 1 Zimet 4 11 2 21 .429 0 2 10 Podlewski 4 0 0 1 .000 0 0 6 Theocharidis 4 21 8 51 .255 0 5 5 Delgado 2 11 4 17 .412 0 0 3 Ching 2 6 4 16 .125 1 0 5 Nordberg 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Thomas 4 9 2 13 .538 0 3 2 Rasay 1 0 0 0 .000 0 1 0 Totals 4 65 22 137 .314 2 21 33 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- UCSB 4 (Galang, Zegarra, Busam, Wack). Hawaii 6 (Miladinovic 3, Zimet 2, Theocharidis).
Assists -- UCSB 59 (Galang 54, Adams 2, Zegarra, Rivera, Mansfield). Hawaii 62 (Tuyay 51, Rasay 8, Miladinovic, Zimet, Ching).
T -- 2:00. Officials -- Rick Olmstead, Bob Oshita. A -- 1,127.
UH Athletics