[ WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
Warriors fall to
Gauchos in 5No. 3 Hawaii rallies but
comes up short against
No. 9 UCSB
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. >> Two words can sum up last night's loss by the Hawaii volleyball team.
Evan Patak.
The UC Santa Barbara redshirt freshman had 31 kills, hit .510, was in on eight blocks and had three aces to help carry the No. 9 Gauchos past the No. 3 Warriors last night at Robertson Gym. The 30-27, 29-31, 30-20, 26-30, 15-11 marathon victory earned a split for UCSB in its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation series with Hawaii.
The Warriors fell to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in MPSF, after the 2 hour, 30 minute match. The Gauchos improved to 4-2 and 1-1.
"We just made too many mistakes to win," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "I really appreciate the heart we played with to get back into it. I liked how we rallied back in Game 4 and, except for that one bad stretch in Game 5, the team played well.
"But Patak just went off. We couldn't stop him. As Kenny (Preston, UCSB coach) puts it, 'Patak is an up-and-down player. When he's up, he's very good. When he's down, he's horrible.' He was pretty good tonight."
The deciding fifth game was decided by Patak, who served his third ace of the night to give the Gauchos a 6-4 lead. He had two more kills to help UCSB to what appeared to be an insurmountable 8-5 margin.
Hawaii rallied behind kills by Delano Thomas and Dio Dante to tie it at 10.
A service foot fault by Thomas gave the Gauchos an 11-10 lead, and UCSB would give the ball back to Hawaii once the rest of the way. During what Wilton called "the one bad run," Patak had three more kills as the Gauchos finished off the match with a 4-1 run, punctuated by a block of Matt Bender to end it.
Bender, again replacing the injured Pedro Azenha at opposite, finished with a career-high 25 kills. Thomas added 20 kills and had four of the Warriors' five aces.
Hawaii finished with 34 digs, with libero Alfred Reft coming up with 15. Mauli'a LaBarre was in on seven of UH's 11 1/2 blocks.
For the second night, the Gaucho block was again better. UCSB had 18 1/2 blocks, with Patak and Michael Kennedy each in on eight.
"We found their block pretty good all night," Wilton said. "We were setting quicks (quick sets to the middle) on perfect passes, but they'd have someone right there.
"What we needed was better ball control. We weren't loose. The good thing is we have some time off and we need it. We'll get Pedro healthy and we'll be back at it."
Azenha sprained his ankle in last Saturday's win over Lewis. Hawaii doesn't play again until hosting UC San Diego (1-0, 0-0) on Jan. 28 and 30.
UCSB, which got 20 kills from freshman Jake Wiens, next hosts Cal State Northridge next Friday. The fifth-ranked Matadors (3-2, 0-1) were swept by No. 8 BYU (1-2, 1-2) last night.
Also last night, No. 11 Stanford upset No. 2 UCLA 30-28, 30-25, 25-30, 30-28.
"It's a tough league," Wilton said. "The MPSF is not just some letters thrown together. It's tough every night.
"I'm sure we'll be learning some lessons every time out. I'm just grateful how we gutted it out and came back in Game 4. I liked our character. But Santa Barbara made some plays when they needed to and we didn't."
The Warriors played their best in Game 4, taking the lead at 8-7. The Gauchos rallied back to tie it five times, the last at 24, but Hawaii outscored UCSB 6-2 to force a fifth game.
It was the only time Hawaii out-blocked UCSB, finishing with a 4-1 edge in Game 4.
UH is 1-2 when matches go to a Game 5. The Warriors lost their season opener to Penn State then defeated Lewis.
UC Santa Barbara def. Hawaii
30-27, 29-31, 30-20, 26-30, 15-11
Warriors (2-2) g k e att pct. bs ba d Delgado 4 7 11 24 -.167 0 0 7 Jeschke 4 2 1 6 .167 0 1 0 Beckwith 5 0 1 2 -.500 0 4 1 Reft 5 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 15 Bender 5 25 8 52 .327 0 1 8 LaBarre 5 6 6 19 .000 3 4 0 Thomas 5 20 6 43 .326 0 3 2 Rasay 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Dante 3 5 0 5 1.000 0 2 0 Stanhiser 3 5 2 8 .375 0 2 1 Totals 5 71 35 160 .225 3 17 34 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
GAUCHOS (4-2) g k e att pct. bs ba d Jansen 5 1 0 1 1.000 1 2 6 Patak 5 31 6 49 .510 1 7 8 Fisher 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Ulfers 2 2 4 9 -.222 0 1 3 Wack 5 5 2 13 .231 1 3 2 Parra 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Wiens 5 20 12 40 .200 0 2 4 Mathew 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Mansfield 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 15 Kennedy 5 7 1 11 .545 1 7 1 Adams 5 6 3 19 .158 2 3 2 Totals 5 72 28 142 .310 6 25 41
Aces -- Hawaii (5): Thomas 4, Delgado. UCSB (7): Patak 3, Jansen, Ulfers, Wack, Wiens. Assists -- Hawaii (64): Beckwith 60, Rasay 2, Reft 2. UCSB (68): Jansen 65, Mansfield 2, Patak 1.
T -- 2:30. Officials -- Brandt Lee, Rick Olmstead. A--200.