[ WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
Northridge will not
sneak up on Hawaii
tonight
The element of surprise has been lost for tonight's battle.
At least that is how Cal State Northridge coach Jeff Campbell is feeling.
His No. 7 Matadors upended No. 2 Hawaii in four games Wednesday at the Matadome. A repeat performance may not be as easy.
"Hawaii is a great team, so I expect them to come out very strong (tonight)," Campbell said in a telephone interview. "We will have the same strategy, try to affect their hitters by throwing blocking schemes at them again.
Men's volleyball
Who: No. 2 Hawaii (11-4, 8-3) at No. 7 CSU Northridge (12-6, 7-5).When: Today, 5 p.m. Hawaii time.
Radio: Live, KKEA 1420-AM.
TV: None.
Series: Hawaii leads 33-11.
Next: Hawaii at USC, Monday and Tuesday.
"We're looking forward to playing them again. It will be a real test. I think we might have surprised Hawaii (on Wednesday), but I do not anticipate that happening again."
For one thing, Warrior senior Josh Stanhiser is not expected to forget his uniform. Campbell thought it was a planned revision of the UH lineup, only to find out after the match it wasn't.
Hawaii coach Mike Wilton could have given Stanhiser a teammate's uniform but "I opted not to," he said. "I have no regrets about the decision."
Stanhiser's uniform arrived late in Game 2, and the 6-foot-10 senior blocker went on to hit .857, with six kills on seven swings and no errors. He was also in on six of the team's season-high 18 blocks.
"There was a real difference in the match from Games 1 and 2 to Games 3 and 4," said Wilton. "We started blocking a lot of balls, were more alert. If you look at the statistics, there isn't much difference between the two teams, although with us having two guys in new positions early (Delano Thomas in the middle for Stanhiser and Matt Bender replacing Thomas on the left side), it didn't add to our sense of well-being.
"But it all boils down to serving and passing. Northridge is a very good team and they passed better than I expected, and passed better than we did. I know our guys are ready for redemption. Not so much against Northridge, but to get back playing our game."
One key to the loss was the lack of scoring runs for Hawaii. It was a sideout game for most of the match.
Except for a 3-0 serving run by Mauli'a LaBarre midway through Game 1, the Warriors rarely got more than one point off any serving rotation.
"Northridge passed well and I'm sure we put enough pressure on their passers," said Wilton. "They prevented us from getting any runs. We need to be more aggressive."
Campbell agreed that passing was a key.
"We were probably 1-2 points better in that area than they were," said Campbell. "Statistically, the match was very close, but I thought our passing was just a little better. Our libero (senior Doug English) did very well. Hawaii's hitters were bombing and a couple of them were bombing their serves."
English was credited with just seven digs, but he passed all 36 balls that came his way without an error. Hawaii libero Alfred Reft had nine digs and passed 39 of 44 balls.
Campbell was concerned about his Jekyll-and-Hyde team. The one that beat Hawaii on Wednesday played like the one that had defeated Pepperdine, BYU and Long Beach State.
The Northridge coach knows the Matadors are also capable of losing to anyone, as they did last month in three to USC (5-12, 3-7).
"We have struggled with consistency," said Campbell. "Mentally the win (over Hawaii) is big. In this league, you have to be ready to play every night. If you don't, there's a good chance you can lose."
Note: Defending NCAA champion Lewis lost at USC on Monday 30-28, 27-30, 30-27, 30-27 and UCLA on Wednesday 30-18, 30-27, 30-25.