[ WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
UH efficient in
sweep of Stanford
STANFORD, Calif. >> As good as it gets? It was pretty close for the Hawaii Warriors volleyball team last night.
The No. 2-ranked squad smothered No. 9 Stanford, needing just 75 minutes to sweep the Cardinal 30-19, 30-14, 30-19 at Maples Pavilion. It was the fewest points (52) Hawaii has allowed in four sweeps this season, the previous low (68) coming last week against Ball State at the Stan Sheriff Center.
It was a reunion of sorts for junior hitter Delano Thomas, who grew up some two hours away in Sacramento. With many family members and friends attending. He responded with a match-high 14 kills and had two of the Warriors' three aces.
Having a perfect night for Hawaii was sophomore middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre, who put down all 11 of his swings (1.000). He also bettered his career best in solo blocks by one with four and had four assist blocks as the Warriors outblocked the Cardinal 9-3.
"That's why they call us middle blockers," LaBarre said. "I love blocking."
Hawaii's first block came early, when the 6-foot-8 LaBarre and the 6-7 Thomas teamed to reject Ben Reddy to give the Warriors a 3-0 lead in Game 1. It set the tone for the night as Stanford never got its offense going, hitting .075 to UH's .519.
It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Cardinal (5-8, 3-6 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation). The Warriors (7-2, 4-1) put their five-match winning streak on the line in today's rematch (5 p.m. Hawaii time).
The biggest thing UH coach Mike Wilton wants to work on is putting last night's match in the past.
"Tonight went quicker than I expected, for sure," Wilton said. "I'm pleased overall with the performance. We were pretty much in system most of the night, and our serving caused them a lot of problems. But tonight was tonight, and it's officially over.
"We know Stanford is a lot better team than they showed tonight and tomorrow will be tougher."
The Warriors were never threatened until early in Game 3. They jumped out to a 10-5 lead only to have the Cardinal close to 11-10, forcing Wilton to call his only timeout of the match.
"It was more of a momentum timeout, they had gotten on a little roll," Wilton said. "We were getting a little lax and backed off on the gas. There was no panic or anything. We talked about not letting up and taking care of some of the little things we weren't doing."
Hawaii responded in a big way. A kill by Thomas sparked a 5-0 run that included an ace by reserve hitter Matt Bender and Thomas' third kill on a service overpass.
Stanford pulled to 16-12 only to see Hawaii pull away on a four-point serving run from LaBarre. Another strong serving run, this one by Josh Stanhiser with four unanswered points, gave the Warriors a 27-16 lead and Stanford never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
While Wilton expects to see a different Cardinal team, he is also hoping for a bigger crowd. Prior to the volleyball match, the 11th-ranked Stanford women's basketball team will be playing Bay Area rival Cal at Maples.
"We're hoping the crowd will stay," Wilton said. "The had a nice little crowd tonight (679) and we had a good amount of parents and expatriates for us."
Former UH football linebacker Jeff Ulbrich, now playing for the San Francisco 49ers, was invited by Wilton to the match. Ulbrich was in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl and was on the Warriors' flight Wednesday.
During a radio interview on KKEA, Ulbrich said it was the first volleyball match he had ever attended.
"We used to watch them on TV, but I never saw a match in person," he said. "I'm kicking myself for not going. This is so exciting. I felt sorry for Stanford."
Jose Delgado and Stanhiser each had nine kills. The Cardinal were led by David Vogel (eight kills) and Patrick Bomhack (seven).
Hawaii def. Stanford
30-19, 30-14, 30-19
Warriors (7-2, 4-1 MPSF)
CARDINAL (5-8, 3-6 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Delgado 3 9 0 18 .500 0 0 5 Jeschke 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Beckwith 3 2 0 2 1.000 0 2 3 Reft 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Azenha 2 3 3 7 .000 0 1 1 Bender 2 1 0 3 .333 0 1 1 Woodward 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 LaBarre 3 11 0 11 1.000 4 4 1 Thomas 3 14 5 23 .391 0 1 5 Stanhiser 3 9 1 13 .615 0 1 1 Totals 3 49 9 77 .519 4 10 17
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
g k e att pct. bs ba d Buell 3 4 7 15 -.200 0 2 1 Ahlfeldt 3 3 2 7 .143 1 0 0 Manov 2 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 0 Vogel 3 8 5 18 .167 0 0 5 Reddy 3 4 6 17 -.118 0 0 1 Clayton 2 2 1 3 .333 0 0 0 Jacobs 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Lindberg 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Hansen 3 2 0 3 .667 0 0 3 Bomhack 3 7 4 16 .188 0 2 0 Totals 3 31 25 80 .075 1 4 12 Aces -- Hawaii (3): Thomas 2, Bender. Stanford (1): Hansen. Assists -- Hawaii (38): Beckwith 33, Reft 4, Bender. Stanford (28): Hansen 25, Vogel, Jacobs, Bomhack.
T -- 1:15. Officials -- John Kinyon, Bill Forrester. A--679.
