[ WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Matt Bender tried to hit past BYU defenders during Game 1 of last night's match at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Warriors can’t
put Cougars awayNo. 1 BYU comes back from a
two-game deficit for the victory
Carlos Moreno was hunting down errant practice balls after the team's session in the Stan Sheriff Center on Friday afternoon. The Brigham Young setter found Vili the Warrior's drum instead under the stands, and started pounding out his own tune.
It was nothing com- pared to the rhythm he found late last night in leading top-ranked BYU over No. 5 Hawaii. Moreno's steady presence and a career-high 27 kills by Joe Hillman helped the Cougars rally past the Warriors 24-30, 23-30, 30-22, 30-27, 15-11 in front of 3,874.
It was BYU's 16th consecutive victory, improving the Cougars to 17-3 overall, 15-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Warriors slipped to 13-7, 10-6 after the 2-hour, 32-minute marathon.
"We were really surprised with them, they were really warriors," Moreno said. "We finally got our timing together, started playing like a family. We didn't quit."
Neither did Hawaii.
"We needed the confidence we had in Games 1 and 2," said UH hitter Arri Jeschke, who had 11 kills. "They're veterans and we knew they weren't going to let up. And that got to us a little bit.
"We had so much emotion and maybe we thought we had it in bag. After Game 2, they made a few runs and it was, 'Oh, oh.' "
"I think what we needed was to play at a higher level in Game 3," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "If we had, I like our chances. They upgraded, they played with more urgency and no panic.
"No question we had momentum going into Game 5, but they made some key plays late and that was what the match was all about. This was a no-star team we had tonight, a team in the true sense of the word."
Matt Bender tied his career high with 23 kills, but it wasn't enough to lift Hawaii.
Fernando Pessoa, who tormented Hawaii on Thursday with 18 kills, didn't warm up until late in the match. He was hitting negative in the early going but came back to finish with 17 kills, including three straight that gave the Cougars match point at 14-11. Moreno's dump finished off the comeback.
It started off as "Hoosiers," "The Replacements" and "Miracle" all rolled into one. But the Warriors' inexperience in a tight situation, with three new starting hitters, showed at the end.
After Hawaii took the first two games, the Cougars jumped out to an 8-3 lead in Game 3 and were never seriously threatened. BYU hit .708 for the game.
The Cougars continued their hot hitting, putting down all seven of their swings to open Game 4 in taking a 9-6 lead.
With BYU on the verge of forcing Game 5, Hawaii put together a gutsy rally, holding off five game points. It fell short when at 29-27 Victor Batiste blocked Muise.
In the deciding game, the Cougars took the lead for good at 7-6 and closed out the match.
Gang of four: The four suspended Warriors are scheduled to meet with coach Mike Wilton tomorrow at 7 a.m. The return of Pedro Azenha, Jose Delgado, Delano Thomas and Dio Dante is "situational and highly provisional," Wilton said. The four were suspended after a violation of unspecified team rules that occurred March 9, the final night of the team's last road trip.
MPSF standings
Friday's results
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L BYU 15 1 .938 17 3 Long Beach St. 12 3 .800 18 4 UCLA 12 4 .750 18 4 Hawaii 10 6 .625 13 7 CSU Northridge 9 5 .643 14 6 Pepperdine 8 6 .571 12 6 UC Santa Barbara 6 8 .429 11 9 Stanford 4 9 .308 7 11 USC 4 10 .288 6 15 UC Irvine 4 12 .250 9 15 UC San Diego 3 12 .200 6 13 Pacific 2 12 .143 6 15
x-Long Beach State def. Rutgers-Newark, 30-20, 30-21, 30-17
x-UC Irvine def. IPFW, 30-23, 30-20, 30-20
Last night's results
BYU def. Hawaii, 24-30, 23-30, 30-22, 30-27, 15-11
Pepperdine def. USC, 19-30, 26-30, 30-23, 30-21, 15-11
x-UC Irvine def. Rutgers-Newark, 30-24, 23-30, 28-30, 30-24, 15-11x-denotes nonconference match
BYU def. Hawaii
24-30, 23-30, 30-22, 30-27, 15-11
Cougars (17-3, 15-1 mpsf)
Warriors (13-7, 10-6 mpsf)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Burke 5 11 1 18 .556 0 2 2 Moreno 5 5 0 10 .500 0 2 0 Hillman 5 27 5 43 .512 1 2 6 Alleman 5 13 6 31 .226 1 4 11 Neilson 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Olmstead 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Pessoa 5 17 9 31 .258 0 2 6 Batista 5 7 3 13 .308 0 7 2 Evans 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 5 80 24 146 .384 2 19 32
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 Tuyay 5 1 0 1 1.000 1 4 4 Muise 2 3 3 6 .000 0 1 1 Jeschke 5 11 4 25 .280 1 3 5 Beckwith 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Reft 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Bender 5 23 9 44 .319 0 2 3 Woodward 5 11 3 20 .400 0 1 5 LaBarre 5 10 4 18 .333 0 3 2 Stanhiser 5 9 1 16 .500 0 6 3 Totals 5 68 24 130 .338 2 20 34
Aces -- BYU (5): Moreno, Hillman, Alleman, Neilson, Batista. Hawaii (2): Tuyay, Bender.
Assists -- BYU (76): Moreno 70, Pessoa 3, Alleman, Olmstead, Burke. Hawaii (62): Tuyay 58, Jeschke, Reft, Bender, LaBarre.
T -- 2:32. Officials -- Dan Hironaka, Ernest Ho. A -- 3,874.
