[ WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH's Delano Thomas tried to hit past the block of UCLA's Steve Klosterman during last night's match at the Stan Sheriff Center.
UH takes
down UCLAThe top-ranked Warriors
come from behind to win
their fifth straight vs. the
second-ranked Bruins
The flash flood warning had been posted early yesterday.
No one said anything about the storm moving indoors.
For the 15th time in their heated rivalry, Hawaii and UCLA played to five games. For only the second time, the Warriors came out on top.
No. 1 Hawaii withstood everything that No. 2 UCLA threw at it and survived a mini-meltdown in Game 5 to pull out a 26-30, 30-28, 25-30, 30-26, 15-9 win at the Stan Sheriff Center. It was the fifth consecutive time the Warriors defeated the Bruins and the first time since 1986 that UH had won a fifth game.
Hawaii won its ninth straight, improving to 11-2 overall and 8-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. UCLA fell to 12-3 and 7-3.
A season-high crowd of 5,767 (4,365 turnstile) saw Pedro Azenha put down 24 kills and Delano Thomas add 21. Azenha also had a 4-0 service run in the middle of Game 5 that sealed the victory, as the Warriors pulled away to a 12-7 lead.
The Bruins clawed back to 12-9, but Azenha sandwiched his last two kills around a block of Marcin Jagoda to end it after 2 hours and 33 minutes.
"I thought we showed a lot of heart and perseverance at the end," said Thomas, who was in on five of UH's 16 1/2 blocks.
The Warriors took a 6-4 lead in Game 5, but two rotation violations gave the Bruins two free points, tying it at 6-6.
"I guess we had a little brain flatulence," said Hawaii coach Mike Wilton. "I seriously thought about calling a timeout, but Jose (Delgado) was in there helping to get heads screwed on straight.
"We were able to right the ship when it looked pretty bad at times."
Leading at 8-7, Azenha went back to serve. When he was done, the Warriors were up 12-7 and headed for the win.
"There was a lot of energy in the crowd tonight and I think there will be even more people Saturday," said Azenha.
The rematch is set for 7 p.m. tomorrow.
Paul Johnson led UCLA with 16 kills while Jagoda added 13, Chris Pena 12 and Kris Kraushaar 11. Neither Jagoda nor Pena started the match as coach Al Scates used 11 of 12 players.
"We needed to adapt to what they were doing at the end," said Pena. "They went with off-speed shots and we didn't react. They're the ones who stepped it up in Game 5. It won't happen again." "No. 12 (Azenha) was bringing a lot of heat," said Scates. "We didn't stop them much at the end and they probably hit the best they did all night at the end."
Hawaii hit .692 for Game 5, .326 for the match.
The Bruins got off to an uncharacteristically quick start in Game 1, helped by the Warriors' problems on offense. Freshman setter Brian Beckwith had difficulty connecting with his hitters, with two UH errors helping UCLA take an 8-4 lead.
Hawaii never recovered, falling behind as bad as 19-11. A serving run by Beckwith gave the Warriors some hope and some momentum as they closed to 26-24.
Two straight points by Johnson on a kill and an ace ended the threat. UCLA closed it out with two points on UH errors, one serving and the other when Thomas hit long. It was the first time the Warriors dropped Game 1 in six matches.
Hawaii regrouped to take control midway through Game 2. Two kills by Azenha helped the Warriors take a 19-16 lead.
It expanded to 22-18 on two consecutive hitting errors by Bruin freshman hitter Steve Klosterman, leading Scates to switch his sophomore setters. Beau Peters replaced Dennis Gonzalez.
The Bruins rallied behind two kills from Damien Scott in pulling to 26-25. The teams traded sideouts and points before a block by Beckwith on Kraushaar gave the Warriors game point at 29-26.
UCLA threatened, with a kill by Jagoda and a block of Thomas to close the gap to 29-28. Thomas ended it with his 11th kill to even the match at 1-1.
Game 3 was a virtual replay of Game 1, with UCLA again taking early leads of 10-5 and 17-12. The Warriors rallied late, getting as close as 23-21 but never any closer.
At 28-25, the Bruins needed just two swings to win it, with Gonzalez putting down his first kilsl and then teaming with Johnson to stuff Matt Bender.
Hawaii def. UCLA
26-30, 30-28, 25-30, 30-26, 15-9
Bruins (12-3, 7-3 MPSF)
Warriors (11-2, 8-1 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Peters 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Gonzalez 5 1 0 2 .500 0 3 3 Wenger 2 4 4 11 .000 0 0 1 Johnson 5 16 3 22 .591 0 6 0 Scott 4 6 3 12 .250 0 0 3 Klosterman 2 6 7 15 -.067 0 2 2 Pena 5 12 4 23 .348 0 3 3 Shrader 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 10 Kraushaar 5 11 3 26 .308 0 3 4 Jagoda 4 13 5 26 .308 0 1 4 Shubin 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 5 69 29 137 .292 0 18 31
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 Delgado 5 10 2 16 .500 0 0 10 Beckwith 5 0 1 4 -.250 0 3 2 Reft 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Azenha 5 24 9 43 .349 0 6 8 Bender 5 1 1 3 .000 0 0 0 Woodward 1 0 0 1 .000 0 1 0 LaBarre 5 5 0 10 .500 0 8 0 Thomas 5 21 8 38 .342 2 3 6 Stanhiser 5 7 4 17 .176 2 4 0 Totals 5 68 25 132 .326 4 25 29
Aces -- UCLA (6): Johnson 2, Pena 2, Scott, Gonzalez. Hawaii (5): Azenha 2, Delgado, Bender, Thomas. Assists -- UCLA (65): Gonzalez 54, Peters 4, Johnson 3, Pena 2, Shrader 2. Hawaii (65): Beckwith 60, Thomas 2, Delgado, Reft, Azenha.
T -- 2:33. Officials -- Wayne Lee, Ernest Ho. A -- 4,365.
