[ WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
Warriors ready for
blockbuster sequelNo. 1 Hawaii goes for its sixth
straight win vs. No. 2 UCLA
Peter Jackson and Peter Weir. Mike Wilton and Al Scates.
Watching films -- a lot of films -- links the two Academy Award-nominated directors with the two award-winning men's volleyball coaches. Much like Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" going against Weir's "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" tomorrow at the 76th Academy Awards, it will be Wilton's Warriors facing off with Scates' Bruins at 7 tonight in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at the Stan Sheriff Center.
No. 1 Hawaii and No. 2 UCLA meet for the 57th time in what is expected to be another great match in the heated rivalry. The Warriors (11-2, 8-1) outlasted the Bruins (12-3, 7-3) in five Thursday night for an unprecedented fifth straight victory over UCLA.
MPSF volleyball
Who: No. 2 UCLA (12-3, 7-3) at No. 1 Hawaii (11-2, 8-1)When: 7 tonight
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
TV: Live, KFVE (Ch. 5)
Tickets: $3-$14
Series: UCLA leads, 41-15
Tonight, will it be Hawaii, the current "Master and Commander," going for a 10th consecutive win? Or it will be UCLA, the sport's premier program, seeking "The Return of the King?"
The envelope goes to ... whichever team again plays better at the critical points of the match. Yesterday's film sessions gave some hints to the coaches for the rematch.
"We have to work on serve reception," said Scates, who has won 18 NCAA titles. "We have to serve a lot tougher, pass a lot better, block a lot better.
"If we can improve in those areas, and in that order, I think we'll be in great shape. If we can't, it could be a quick night."
Don't count on it. Thursday's marathon lasted 2 hours and 33 minutes, with Pedro Azenha's sizzling serves as constant and annoying to the Bruins as yesterday's incessant downpour.
Azenha served for four straight points in Game 5, capping the run with his second ace of the match, and giving Hawaii a commanding 12-7 lead.
"The fifth game was all about the serve," Scates said. "We couldn't handle No. 12 (Azenha)."
Azenha served 25 times during the match, with two aces, including the one that ended Game 4.
The Warriors scored 12 points while the sophomore hitter was on the back line. The 48 percent is more than acceptable to Wilton; the team goal is 35 percent.
Sophomore Matt Bender was even better (55 percent), as UH scored six points on his 11 serves. Bender replaced Arri Jeschke (sore shoulder) in the lineup as serving specialist, making the most of a rare appearance with an ace and a kill.
"Matt's been serving well in practice and he did a nice job in the game," Wilton said.
Getting the middles more involved will be key to Hawaii's quest of sweeping the two-match MPSF series from UCLA for a third straight season. Senior Josh Stanhiser and sophomore Mauli'a LaBarre weren't real factors until late in the match; the two combined for 12 kills, with LaBarre finishing with eight block assists and Stanhiser two solo and four block assists.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii’s Alfred Reft dug a UCLA serve in the back court during Thursday night’s win over UCLA at the Sheriff Center.
UCLA's middles Paul Johnson (16 kills), Marcin Jagoda (13) and Chris Pena (12) combined for 41 of the Bruins' 69 kills. Their quick attack was nothing that surprised the Warriors; they just had a hard time stopping the team that came into the match leading the country with a .388 hitting percentage.
"UCLA did what we expected," Wilton said. "Some of their servers hit it harder than we thought; it's hard sometimes to gauge the actual speed of the serve when you're watching it on tape.
"And (Scates) has always used a lot of players. If someone's not getting it down, he pulls him. No. 10 (Damien Scott) and No. 33 (Jagoda) came in and did well, but then we started figuring them out."
Scates used 11 of his 12 players, including both setters. Highly touted freshman hitter Steve Klosterman, who had 24 kills in last week's win over UC Santa Barbara, was pulled at the end of Game 2 after hitting negative-.067; he never returned, with Jagoda finishing the match.
"I'll have to think about who we're going to use," Scates said of Jagoda and Klosterman. "Maybe both of them."
The one change Hawaii hopes to make is in its on-court demeanor. Wilton felt his team was too anxious and had bought into the pre-match hype.
The Warriors were uncharacteristically slow on their block coverage and weren't as precise with their passes. Some of that had to do with UCLA, and some of it was anxiety, according to Wilton.
The theme of yesterday's practices was cutting down mistakes. Both coaches hope that it won't be "Lost in Translation."
Notes: Hawaii remains tied for the lead in the MPSF with BYU at 8-1. The Cougars kept pace with a 3-1 win at UC Irvine on Thursday. BYU faces the Anteaters again tonight. ... Hawaii and UCLA have played 17 five-game matches, with the Bruins winning 13. The Warriors' victories came in 1986, 1996, 2001 and Thursday. ... No. 7 UC Santa Barbara upset No. 3 Long Beach State last night 30-24, 30-27, 31-29.
MPSF standings
Wednesday
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. W-L Hawaii 8 1 .889 11-2 BYU 8 1 .889 10-3 Long Beach St. 8 4 .667 14-4 UCLA 7 3 .700 12-3 Pepperdine 6 3 .667 10-3 CSU Northridge 6 4 .600 11-5 UCSB 6 5 .545 10-6 UC Irvine 3 7 .300 5-10 USC 3 7 .300 4-12 Stanford 3 9 .250 7-11 UC San Diego 2 9 .181 6-11 Pacific 2 10 .167 4-13
Long Beach State def. CS Northridge, 30-28, 30-22, 31-29
x-Stanford def. California, 30-22, 30-25, 30-24Thursday
Hawaii def. UCLA, 26-30, 30-28, 25-30, 30-26, 15-9
Pepperdine def. Pacific, 30-22, 30-22, 30-27
BYU def. UC Irvine, 30-23, 23-30, 30-24, 30-26
UC Santa Barbara def. UC San Diego, 30-21, 30-28, 30-17.Last night
USC def. Pacific, 30-26, 30-21, 30-22
UC Santa Barbara def. Long Beach State, 30-24, 30-27, 31-29
CS Northridge def. UC San Diego, 30-28, 30-25, 30-23
x-Stanford def. LaVerne, 30-19, 30-22, 30-24Tonight
UCLA at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
BYU at UC Irvinex-denotes nonconference match
