GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Maulia LaBarre celebrated with teammates after slamming down a kill against Ball State last night.
Warriors crush
No. 10 Ball StateHawaii drops the last
undefeated team in Division I-II
It was the first road trip of the season for Ball State and the road hit back ... hard. As hard to handle as Hawaii's rocket jump serves, as hard to stop as the Warriors' pounding outside attack.
Hawaii: 3
Ball State: 0
NEXT UP
vs. Ball State tonight
The last undefeated men's volleyball team remaining in Division I-II fell last night ... hard. No. 3 Hawaii made it look fairly easy, sweeping No. 10 Ball State 30-21, 30-18, 30-28 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
It took just 93 minutes for the Warriors (5-2) to notch their third victory in a row and to end the Cardinals' perfect record after six wins. A turnstile crowd of 2,662 saw junior hitter Delano Thomas lead Hawaii's attack with 16 kills, including three to help the Warriors rally late in Game 3.
"We didn't want it to go to four (games)," said Thomas, also in on three of his team's 7.5 blocks. "We know they're a lot better team than they showed tonight. We didn't want to give them a chance to show what they could do.
"I knew they'd come out firing (after Game 2). Their team has a lot of heart, so they're going to try hard every time."
The teams meet again at 7 tonight and both sides expect a tougher, tighter match.
"Tomorrow will be better, tomorrow will be different," said Cardinal senior Jary Delgado, finishing with a team-high 12 kills. "In Game 3, we played better. We didn't have anything to lose. We need to come out and do our best."
Delgado's best just missed being good enough. He had half of his kills in Game 3 as the Cardinals led most of the way. Hawaii rallied to take its first lead since the midpoint of the game at 28-27 only to have Delgado's 12th kill tie it at 28-28.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Jose Delgado went up for a kill against Ball State during last night's match.
Warrior senior middle Josh Stanhiser took an up-ball from Jose Delgado and pushed it over for match point. Mauli'a LaBarre returned to the lineup just in time to put down the match-ender on an overpass.
LaBarre had just five kills but no errors in seven swings, with two of the team's aces. Pedro Azenha added 13 kills. Nick Meyer put down 10 kills for the Cardinals.
"I don't know if we could have played any worse after Game 2," said Ball State coach Joel Walton. "Our serving wasn't very tough (one ace) and I think at the end we needed some good, tough serves to get Hawaii out of their offense.
"Tomorrow, we need to serve better, pass better, do all the ball-control things better."
The Warriors took control of the match midway through Game 1 behind the serves of LaBarre. The sophomore blocker had both of his aces during a 3-0 run that put Hawaii ahead for good at 14-12.
The Cardinals were able to pull to within one five times, the last at 19-18, only to see the Warriors close it out with an 11-3 run. Hawaii had three of its four aces and two of its kills on service overpasses to set the tone for the night.
LaBarre continued to serve tough early in Game 2 as Hawaii jumped out to a 6-2 lead. By the time Walton called his first timeout, his Cardinals were behind 10-5 and hitting minus-.200 (three kills with five errors on 10 attempts).
When Walton called his second timeout 10 minutes later, his Cardinals were hitting .000 and trailing 22-12. Ball State never got closer than nine the rest of the way, with Azenha finishing it off with two consecutive kills.
The Cardinals refused to fold, coming out of the 10-minute break rejuvenated. Senior hitter Jary Delgado had four of his 12 kills to help Ball State to a 15-13 lead. Hawaii led briefly at 16-15 but couldn't hold on.
The Cardinals had several two-point cushions, the last at 22-20. The Warriors had to play catch-up, tying it six times before a hitting error by Meyer put UH ahead a 28-27.
Jary Delgado's last kill tied it for the last time and the Warriors took little time in finishing off their third consecutive sweep.
"Things just didn't go our way at the end," said Ball State junior middle Andrew Braley, a Kalaheo High product. "I thought we came out strong in the beginning. We were fired up and then we let it get away from us.
"We fought hard and Game 3 we pushed a lot harder. We hope we can come out and do a better job tomorrow."
Braley had Ball State's only ace, that coming on the first serve of the match.
"We know they'll be ready to play us tomorrow," said Jose Delgado, a calabash cousin of the Cardinals' Delgado. "It will be a whole different game but we'll be ready for it.
Notes: In other matches last night, Long Beach State defeated Pepperdine 3-1 and Cal State Northridge topped UC Irvine 3-1 ... UH sophomore hitter Matt Bender tweaked his right wrist in practice and was in street clothes last night. He is expected to be available for tonight's match. ... Vili the Warrior, who has been performing at men's volleyball matches, was not in attendance last night due to a commitment with the Pro Bowl.
Hawaii def. Ball State
30-21, 30-18, 30-28CARDINALS (6-1, 0-0 MIVA)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Meyer 3 10 7 25 .120 0 1 0 Sasson 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Delgado 3 12 3 22 .409 0 0 5 Schunzel 3 2 1 5 .200 1 0 3 Berg 3 0 2 2 -1.000 0 0 0 Durbin 2 0 2 3 -.667 0 2 2 Rumschik 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Bushong 1 0 1 1 -1.000 0 0 0 Braley 3 5 2 10 .300 0 2 1 Grabovac 3 7 1 12 .500 1 1 1 Totals 3 6 19 80 .213 2 6 14 WARRIORS (5-2, 3-1 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Delgado 3 6 2 12 .333 1 0 4 Jeschke 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Beckwith 3 3 1 6 .333 0 3 5 Reft 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Azenha 3 13 7 21 .286 0 0 3 LaBarre 3 5 0 7 .714 1 2 0 Thomas 3 16 3 27 .481 0 3 0 Dante 1 2 0 3 .667 0 0 0 Stanhiser 3 9 2 14 .500 0 3 0 Totals 3 54 15 90 .433 2 11 19 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- BSU (1): Braley. Hawaii (4): LaBarre 2, Beckwith, Azenha. Assists -- BSU (35): Schunzel 29, Meyer 2, Berg, Durbin, Braley, Grabovac. Hawaii (49): Beckwith 37, Delgado 6, Reft 4, Thomas, Dante.
T -- 1:33. Officials -- Wayne Lee, Dickson Chun. A -- 2,662.
