Warriors go back
to winning waysUH ends a three-match losing
streak with a victory over USC
LOS ANGELES >> Serve and pass. Pass and serve.
HAWAII 3 USC 1
NEXT UP
at USC today
It's basic volleyball.
It's what the Hawaii volleyball team went back to last night in front of 500 at North Gym.
The No. 2 Warriors snapped their three-match skid with a 30-28, 28-30, 30-20, 30-19 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win over unranked Southern California. It took 1 hour and 45 minutes and 10 aces for Hawaii (12-6, 9-4) to defeat USC (6-13, 4-8) for the seventh straight time.
The Warriors now lead the series for the first time since it began in 1981. Hawaii holds a 26-25 advantage going into today's rematch (5 p.m. Hawaii time).
Winning the battle of the Brazilians was Hawaii's Pedro Azenha, who had a match-high 22 kills, four of the team's 10 aces and was in on five of the 10 1/2 blocks. Delano Thomas had 18 kills and four aces, and Jose Delgado added 13 kills.
Brazilian Joao Grangeiro led the Trojans with 11 kills and 11 digs, while Pedro Leal had three of USC's five aces. The loss ended USC's three-game winning streak.
"It is nice to see the boys smile again," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "Although, the smiles didn't come until Game 3. I think we had two opponents tonight, and one was on our side of the net in the beginning.
"It was all about getting some confidence back. When we did that, we started playing some real good volleyball."
It took a while for Hawaii to adjust to the confines of North Gym. The Warriors had 16 service errors in splitting Games 1 and 2.
Leal's jump serve also was a problem for Hawaii, especially in Game 2. The junior hitter's first 3-0 run gave the Trojans an 11-8 lead; his second put USC up at 20-16.
The Warriors were able to tie it at 25, but never took the lead. Hawaii held off two game points to close to 29-28, but a net violation on Malia LaBarre gave USC the game and tied the match.
Serves by Azenha and Thomas helped the Warriors break away in Game 3 and take control of the match. Leading 12-9, Hawaii went on a 6-1 run, with Josh Stanhiser putting down three kills, two on service overpasses.
The Trojans got as close as 20-15 only to have the Warriors close it out with a 10-5 string. Azenha had two kills and was in on a block as Hawaii managed a 2-1 lead and took over.
Azenha hit wide to open Game 4, giving the Trojans their only lead. A kill by Thomas and a 5-0 serving run by Azenha put Hawaii ahead for good at 6-1.
LaBarre aced USC twice to help the Warriors roll out to an 11-2 margin. The Trojans pulled to within six several times, the last at 20-14, but Azenha went off with four kills during an 8-3 run.
At 28-19, Stanhiser put down his seventh kill and then teamed with Azenha to stuff Grangeiro to end it.
"I thought we served OK," said Wilton, his team finishing with 29 service errors. "But they had two guys who went off. Leal went on a heck of a run in Game 2. He had some serious heat with a hook on it, and a nice drop shot. They kind of got the best of us in Game 2.
"We weren't really in sync early and were doing things that kind of eroded our trust. But we got it together and got some trust going. Now we want to build on what we did in Games 3 and 4 and do that Tuesday."
Tonight concludes Hawaii's four-match road trip. The Warriors will next host MPSF leader Brigham Young March 18 and 20.
Hawaii def. USC
30-28, 28-30, 30-20, 30-19
WARRIORS (12-5, 9-4 MPSF) g k e att pct. bs ba d Delgado 4 13 1 21 .571 0 1 9 Jeschke 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Beckwith 4 3 0 4 .750 0 2 3 Reft 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Azenha 4 22 6 34 .471 1 4 4 LaBarre 4 3 0 4 .750 0 6 1 Thomas 4 18 5 36 .361 0 2 4 Stanhiser 4 7 1 11 .545 1 2 1 Totals 4 66 13 110 .482 2 17 29 TROJANS (6-13, 4-8 MPSF) g k e att pct. bs ba d Bailey 4 9 4 19 .263 0 1 4 Gilmour 4 3 1 4 .500 0 0 0 Tippett 4 9 7 24 .083 0 1 3 Leal 4 6 3 12 .250 0 0 5 Altamura 2 1 0 1 1.000 0 1 1 Grangeiro 4 11 7 26 .154 0 1 11 Gallagher 2 2 0 3 .667 0 0 0 Burden 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 McKniff 4 5 1 11 .364 2 1 2 Totals 4 46 23 100 .230 2 5 28
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (10): Azenha 4, Thomas 4, LaBarre 2. USC (5): Leal 3, Grangeiro, McKniff.
Assists -- Hawaii (58): Beckwith 53, Reft 3, Delgado, LaBarre. USC (40): Gilmour 29, Altamura 7, Tippett 3, Burden.
T -- 1:45. Officials -- Mike Parish, Verna Klubnikin. A -- 500.
MPSF standings
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. W L BYU 11 1 .917 13 3 Long Beach St. 10 3 .769 15 4 UCLA 10 3 .769 16 3 Hawaii 9 4 .692 12 5 CSU Northridge 8 5 .615 13 6 Pepperdine 7 4 .636 11 4 UCSB 6 7 .462 10 8 USC 4 8 .333 6 13 UC Irvine 4 9 .308 8 12 Stanford 4 10 .288 7 12 UC San Diego 2 11 .154 6 13 Pacific 2 12 .143 4 15
Last night's result
Hawaii def. USC, 30-28, 28-30, 30-20, 30-19
Tonight's match
Hawaii at USC, 5 p.m. Hawaii time
Tomorrow's matches
Long Beach State at UC Irvine
UCLA at UC San Diego
UC Santa Barbara at CSU Northridge
Thursday's match
x-UC Santa Cruz at Pacific
Friday's matches
UCLA at Long Beach State
Pepperdine at BYU
UC Irvine at UC San Diego
IPFW at UC Santa Barbara
Saturday's match
Pepperdine at BYU
x-denotes nonconference match
