SAN DIEGO >> Enough with the experimentation. There was a potluck to go to. Warriors clinch spot
in playoffsFrom staff & wire reports
After dropping Game 2 to unranked UC San Diego last night, the No. 2-ranked Hawaii volleyball team tossed its mixed plate of a lineup and went back to its staple of starters. All-American Costas Theocharidis came off the bench in Game 3 for 12 kills in two games and the Warriors disposed of the Tritons 30-26, 27-30, 30-20, 30-20 at RIMAC Arena.
UH ran its win streak to nine in defeating UCSD for the 29th consecutive time. The Warriors (19-5, 13-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) also secured a spot in the MPSF Tournament and likely will host a first-round match on April 19.
The Tritons, who have never defeated the Warriors, fell to 5-18 and 1-17. The last time UCSD took a game off UH was March 30, 2000, when the Warriors rallied to win in five.
"In all hindsight, I'm blaming myself for what happened tonight," said Hawaii coach Mike Wilton, referring to the match going four games. "I think if I had done what I did Wednesday, when I mixed more of our veterans in with the other guys, we would have been fine. Once we established control, then I could have subbed more like Wednesday.
"Tony Ching played very well tonight and got us going at the end. Everybody did some good playing this week, but the group we started tonight kind of died on the vine. When we put our other guys in, they immediately took control of the match."
The control came in the middle of Game 4 via a 7-0 run. Hawaii led 13-11 when Ching's kill attempt went wide, but a net violation on the Tritons gave the point instead to the Warriors and kick-started the run.
Ching served for six consecutive points, including one of his two aces, and Theocharidis put down two of his kills to pull away to 20-11. The closest UCSD would come after that was at 25-18, but Hawaii used a 5-2 run to win for the eighth time in 10 road games.
The team then headed for a potluck hosted by the family of San Diego native Kimo Tuyay, the Warriors' junior setter.
"This may be the highlight of the whole night," Wilton said of the potluck. "It's just like we would have back home with fried noodles, katsu, rice and mac salad."
Hawaii returns home for its final four regular-season matches. The Warriors take on UC Santa Barbara (9-17, 4-14) next Friday and Saturday then host Southern California (6-18, 2-13) April 11-12.
"We're ready to come back home," said Wilton. "We're not going to take Santa Barbara lightly. We've split with them in the regular season both times the past two years."
Ching led the Warriors with 15 kills.
Junior opposite Jim Waller kept the Tritons in the match with 22 kills.
WARRIORS (19-5, 13-5 MPSF) Hawaii def. UC San Diego
30-26, 27-30, 30-20, 30-20
G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Azenha 2 8 9 23 -.043 1 2 1 Bender 2 6 4 12 .167 0 0 2 Ching 4 15 3 25 .480 0 2 13 Nordberg 4 7 4 15 .200 0 3 2 Rasay 2 1 0 3 .333 0 0 3 Stanhiser 2 3 0 4 .750 0 3 0 Tuyay 2 2 0 2 1.000 0 7 1 Muise 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Zimet 2 6 0 12 .500 0 1 3 Jeschke 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Theocharidis 2 12 3 20 .450 0 0 5 Thomas 2 5 0 7 .714 0 5 0 Totals 4 65 23 123 .341 1 23 33 TRITONS (5-18, 1-17 MPSF)
G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Waller 4 22 7 37 .405 0 7 7 Urton 3 4 0 10 .400 0 0 2 Keyser 4 5 3 16 .125 0 7 0 Toren 4 9 8 21 .048 0 5 2 Rupp 4 7 2 15 .333 0 7 0 Perrine 4 2 0 5 .400 1 5 4 Tai 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Young 3 6 3 9 .333 0 1 0 Mortimer 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Oksenendler 2 0 1 3 -.333 0 0 1 Totals 4 55 24 116 .267 1 32 27 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (10): Rasay 3, Nordberg 3, Ching 2, Azenha, Zimet. UC San Diego (5): Tai 2, Young, Urton, Keyser.
Assists -- Hawaii (61): Rasay 30, Tuyay 27, Ching 3, Azenha. UC San Diego (51): Perrine 48, Toren 2, Urton.
T -- 1:50.
Officials -- Jesse Martinez, Kevin Cull.
A -- 443.
UH Athletics
