LOS ANGELES >> It was wet outside Pauley Pavilion, but it was nothing compared to the inside. UH aces UCLA
to sweep seriesFrom staff and wire reports
No. 2 Hawaii rained kills and aces to dominate No. 8 UCLA yesterday. The Warriors handily defeated the Bruins 30-19, 30-23, 28-30, 30-19 before 999 fans to sweep the series for the second straight year.
With the victory, Hawaii (15-5, 9-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) equals its longest win streak (five) of the season. UCLA (13-10, 8-9) is at the opposite end of the spectrum and might be in danger of missing the league playoffs in April.
Hawaii coach Mike Wilton was up until the wee hours of the morning dissecting tape from Friday's match, and he said that the rain hardly let up. Wilton could have easily been describing the play of his team.
Hawaii hammered UCLA at the net (.459 to .342) and from the service line with eight aces. The Bruins missed 19 serves and had just two aces in the match.
"We did do some good playing," Wilton said. "We had a bit of a letdown in Game 3. We have to give UCLA some credit. They just flat out routed us.
"I've had a couple of coaches, Doug Beal (U.S. national team coach) and Al Scates tonight, say they haven't seen a team serve like this in the past five years. I don't know if that's not true or not, but we're getting better and better at it as each game goes by."
The Warriors' seniors were lethal again with Costas Theocharidis (27 kills, two aces), Tony Ching (19 kills, four aces) and Eyal Zimet (12 kills, six digs) each hitting above .450.
The Warriors were all over the Bruins from the start. Hawaii unleashed six aces in Game 1 and decimated UCLA's offense. The Warriors led 10-9 when Ching started a 4-0 run. He blasted a kill and unleashed back-to-back aces. The Bruins scored few points in between a massive Hawaii run as the Warriors opened up a 10-point gap (23-13) and cruised the rest of the way.
Game 2 was more tightly contested. The Warriors were down two (20-18), and it could have been more when they offered a free ball to the Bruins, who did not capitalize on the opportunity. Kimo Tuyay served out the final six points of the game after a UCLA serving miscue.
Hawaii appeared disinterested in Game 3 and trailed nearly the entire game before re-engaging themselves at the right time. With the game even at 23, the Warriors rattled off three straight and seemed to have the match sealed with a 28-24 lead after a solo stuff by Tuyay. But setter Rich Nelson started a 6-0 run with a dump, and UCLA's blocking, absent for most of the match, took over.
Hawaii brushed off the loss and outhit UCLA .577 to .125 in the final game.
Notes: Hawaii returns home today and begin preparations for matches against No. 6 Pacific on Friday and Saturday. ... The Warriors plan to nominate Ching for national player of the week honors for his performance in the two matches. The Kamehameha grad hit .645 and totaled 36 kills and six aces in the wins.
30-19, 30-23, 28-30, 30-19 Hawaii def. UCLA
WARRIORS (15-5, 9-5 MPSF) G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Tuyay 4 2 0 3 .667 2 2 6 Zimet 4 12 3 20 .450 1 3 6 Theocharidis 4 27 5 45 .489 0 1 6 Ching 4 19 2 28 .607 0 0 3 Nordberg 4 5 2 11 .273 0 1 2 Thomas 4 7 4 15 .200 1 4 4 Muise 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 11 Bender 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 72 16 122 .459 4 11 38
BRUINS (13-11, 8-9 MPSF) G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Russell 3 2 1 4 .250 1 1 0 Garrett 3 4 3 15 .067 0 2 3 Acosta 4 17 4 33 .394 0 3 2 Nelson 4 6 0 6 1.000 0 0 5 Pena 4 8 1 13 .538 0 2 1 McKinney 4 15 7 35 .229 0 1 5 Dodd 3 0 0 0 .000 0 1 0 Morrow 3 6 2 12 .333 0 5 0 Zemaitaitis 4 1 0 2 .500 0 1 3 Shrader 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Totals 4 59 18 120 .342 1 16 24 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (8): Ching 4, Theocharidis 2, Thomas 2. UCLA (2): Acosta, Zemaitaitis.
Assists -- Hawaii (68): Tuyay 61, Zimet 3, Theocharidis, Ching, Thomas, Muise. UCLA (57): Nelson 45, Dodd 4, Pena 3, Zemaitaitis 3, Garrett, Acosta.
T -- 1:50.
Officials -- Verna Klubnikin, Joe Sloate.
A -- 999.
UH Athletics
