[ WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
Hawaii misses
out on hostingA loss to Pepperdine means the
Warriors will be on the road
in the MPSF playoffs
MALIBU, Calif. » There is no way to describe it.
It was the good, the bad and the ugly -- emphasis on the ugly -- all transpiring in 118 minutes. It was the microcosm of Hawaii's volleyball season summed up in last night's match against Pepperdine with the incredible highs and the devastating lows.
After being in control for the first 25 minutes, any hopes of the No. 6 Warriors defeating the No. 4 Waves at Firestone Fieldhouse for the first time since 1989 were washed away over the next 93 minutes. The song played by the Pepperdine band after Game 1 -- "Wipe Out" -- came true for Hawaii in a 25-30, 33-31, 30-17, 30-25 defeat.
The loss wiped out any hope the Warriors had of being home on April 24 for the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament. Hawaii (16-11, 12-9) can only hope to regain some momentum when taking on Pepperdine (18-7, 14-7) in the regular-season finale for both teams today (4 p.m. Hawaii time).
A win by the Waves tonight would keep alive their slim hopes of hosting on April 24 as the No. 4 seed. Pepperdine also needs Cal State Northridge to lose at UC Irvine tomorrow, otherwise Pepperdine will be the fifth seed and be at Northridge and Hawaii, the sixth seed, at UCLA.
Should Hawaii win tonight in three or four games, the Warriors would be seeded fifth and be at Northridge with Pepperdine at UCLA. If the Warriors win in five, then the Waves -- by virtue of the game differential tiebreaker -- would be seeded fifth.
"We need to come out again like we did in Game 1. It's important for our momentum," UH setter Kimo Tuyay said. "Game 2 kind of hurt us. We were coming back ... if we won that game, it would have given us momentum. But we didn't and we came out flat in Game 3 and they took care of us. Their block was pretty big."
Pepperdine threw a block party last night, coming up with 21 stuffs, with 6-foot-7 freshman John Parfitt in on eight of them. Six of the Waves' blocks came in the momentum-shifting Game 2, the last when Parfitt and Sean Rooney blocked Delano Thomas to give Pepperdine its second game point at 31-30.
Thomas put down one of his career-high 28 kills to tie it at 31, only to have Rooney knock down one of his team-high 14 kills and Kamehameha Schools graduate James Ka end it with one of his career-high 10 kills.
The match was even at 1-1 and it was soon over as the Warriors dug a deep hole -- 21-9 at one point -- from which there was no escape. Coach Mike Wilton used every player on the roster in Game 3 with little success, "but we did get our starters some rest," Wilton said.
"I think what happened is we didn't serve as tough as we had in Game 1 and they started playing real well. Game 2 could have gone either way and I recall a couple of friendly bounces that went their way. Then we never got it going again. I am tired of hearing about the must-win games. The important thing is that we start playing better and be playing better next week in the playoffs."
Things were going well early for Hawaii, with Pedro Azenha and Thomas bombing their serves. Azenha controlled the early tempo in Game 1, his two aces jump-starting a 4-0 run that put the Warriors up for good at 5-2. A 3-0 serving run by Thomas midway through the game included his 41st ace of the season and gave Hawaii breathing room at 18-13.
Thomas also had two of Hawaii's final three points to close out Game 1. He hit .818 in the game, with nine kills and no errors, and had 20 kills and three errors by the end of Game 2.
But by then, the Waves had nearly figured him out. Thomas finished with 11 errors, hitting .340.
Pepperdine opened Game 3 with three consecutive blocks, the last when Fred Winters stopped Thomas for a 3-0 lead. The Waves got an emotional block when junior setter John Mayer, listed generously at 6-2, stuffed UH's 6-8 Mauli'a LaBarre for a 23-12 lead.
Pepperdine again pulled away early in Game 4, with Rooney nailing one of his four aces for an 18-13 lead. Hawaii was able to rally to within 27-24, but Rooney's last ace gave the Waves match point at 29-24. Bender's 11th kill briefly staved off the inevitable, but Thomas' serve attempt hit the bottom of the net to finish it.
"They have great players and any time you play a Hawaii team, you have to be prepared," Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy said. "I know they'll play better against us tomorrow. They have great athletes and great competitors."
The Waves employed a balanced attack, with Rooney leading four players in double-figure kills. Winters added 13, while Ka and Andy Hein each had 10.
"We can always count on Sean and Fred and if we're able to close out the block, we play well," said Ka, who had one solo and four assist blocks. "It was really important for us to win tonight to stay home. It's always good to play in your own gym.
"It would have been really tough to come back if we had lost Game 2. Hawaii played well and they served well, especially in Game 1."
Three of the Warriors' four aces came in the first 25 minutes. Then it went from the good to the bad quickly.
MPSF standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L xy-BYU 19 2 .905 23 4 x-Long Beach State 17 4 .810 24 5 x-UCLA 16 5 .619 22 4 x-Pepperdine 14 7 .667 18 7 x-CSU Northridge 13 8 .650 19 8 x-Hawaii 12 9 .571 16 10 x-UC Santa Barbara 9 12 .428 14 14 UC Irvine 7 14 .333 14 17 Stanford 6 15 .288 9 17 Pacific 5 16 .288 9 17 USC 4 17 .190 6 22 UC San Diego 4 17 .190 8 20
x-clinched MPSF Tournament berth
y-clinched MPSF regular-season titleLast night
Pepperdine def. Hawaii, 3-1
BYU def. USC, 3-0
Tonight
Hawaii at Pepperdine, 4 p.m. HST
Tomorrow
CSU Northridge at UC Irvine
Pacific at Stanford
USC at BYU
UC San Diego at Long Beach State
End regular season
Pepperdine def. Hawaii
25-30, 33-31, 30-17, 30-25Warriors (16-11, 12-9 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Tuyay 4 1 2 4 -.250 0 0 4 Muise 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Delgado 2 4 0 6 .667 0 0 1 Beckwith 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Reft 4 1 0 3 .333 0 0 15 Azenha 4 13 6 25 .280 2 0 3 Bender 4 11 8 25 .120 1 1 4 Woodward 1 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 0 LaBarre 4 4 3 10 .100 0 1 0 Thomas 4 28 11 50 .340 0 1 9 Dante 2 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 1 Stanhiser 4 7 0 13 .538 0 1 0 Totals 4 70 31 139 .281 3 4 38 Waves (18-7, 14-7 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Hein 4 10 4 16 .375 1 3 2 Winters 4 13 6 32 .219 2 1 1 Ka 4 10 2 16 .500 1 4 7 Sutherland 4 0 0 1 .000 0 0 9 Mayer 4 2 0 7 .286 2 1 5 Rooney 4 14 2 33 .364 4 4 5 Hulse 1 0 0 0 .000 0 1 0 Parfitt 4 7 0 12 .583 0 8 2 Totals 4 56 14 117 .359 10 22 31 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (4): Azenha 2, Bender, Thomas. PU (5): Rooney 4, Winters. Assists -- Hawaii (65): Tuyay 51, Reft 8, Beckwith 5, Bender. PU (54): Mayer 49, Sutherland 2, Ka, Rooney, Parfitt.
T -- 1:48. Officials -- Kim Pickering, John Martin. A -- 984.