[ WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii's Josh Stanhiser made a dig during yesterday's MPSF tournament match against UCLA in Los Angeles. Stanhiser had five kills and three digs as the Warriors ended their season with a three-game loss.
UCLA ends UH’s
season with sweepThe Warriors’ first three-game
loss turns out to be their last
LOS ANGELES » Josh Stanhiser came back out onto the court after a timeout late in Game 2 last night, singing along with the music blasting in Pauley Pavilion. The song was "I'm A Believer" and, even though his team trailed 26-22, the senior middle for the Hawaii men's volleyball team still had hope that the Warriors could pull it out.
It didn't happen. Not even close.
For the first time this season, Hawaii got swept. UCLA needed just 105 minutes to knock the Warriors out of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament via a 30-24, 30-24, 30-28 victory.
The third-seeded Bruins (25-5) advance to Thursday's MPSF semifinals at Brigham Young. UCLA will take on Long Beach State (26-5), a 30-17, 30-27, 30-25 winner over UC Santa Barbara.
In the other semifinal, top-ranked BYU (25-4) faces Pepperdine (19-8), which defeated Cal State Northridge 30-25, 30-27, 30-27. The Cougars swept UC Irvine 30-24, 30-23, 30-21 to advance.
This is the first time since 2000 that Hawaii did not get past the first round. The Warriors ended their up-and-down season at 17-12, falling to a Bruins team that wasn't spectacular but played very steady.
Basically, it was the basics -- or lack of them -- that hurt Hawaii. The Warriors had trouble serving and passing, which made their offense predictable, regardless of whether senior Kimo Tuyay or freshman Brian Beckwith was running it.
"When you can't pass well, they know where you're going and it makes it hard," said Stanhiser, who finished his career with five kills and two block assists. "They got on some runs and, when things start going bad, they tend to get worse."
Hawaii had leads in all three games but couldn't hold them. The Warriors would rally late but never could catch the Bruins.
The sequence that concluded the match pretty much summed up the night: close but not close enough.
Hawaii led 21-20 in Game 3 only to have UCLA score three straight points. The Warriors tied it at 22, but the Bruins came back with two more points.
UH pulled to within one three times, the last at 29-28, only to have a tough set go way outside, leaving Delano Thomas without an option except to hit outside the antenna.
"It all came down to basics, to fundamentals," said Beckwith, who replaced Tuyay late in Game 2. "We missed so many serves (13) and we couldn't pass to save our lives. This was a tough one to lose."
UCLA helped make it tough with efficient hitting (.314) and a varied offense. Five players had seven or more kills, led by senior Chris Pena and Steve Klosterman with 11 each.
Thomas and Matt Bender had 10 kills each for Hawaii, but neither hit above .167. The Warriors hit .185 as a team, actually outhitting UCLA in Game 3, .333-.306.
"We beat ourselves," said Pedro Azenha, who had an off night with nine kills. "We didn't play smart. The teams are pretty equal and the game depended on who was ready for the playoffs.
"I was confident, but I don't think we were ready."
Added Bender: "We didn't execute our game plan. We didn't run our offense."
And the Bruins were able to run theirs.
"We had some good control blocks where we could dig it and convert it," UCLA coach Al Scates said. "We're not going to block a lot of balls, but if we get a lot of touches we can convert and put it away."
The Bruins had the edge in digs, 28-26. Both teams had six blocks and three aces.
"We had a simple game plan and we stuck to it," Pena said. "We took them out of their passing rhythm and we took them out of their hitting rhythm. We took away what they wanted to hit and that was the match."
The Bruins targeted Thomas with their serves "because we thought he was the weakest," Scates said. "We thought if we went after him, and they'd have to go with (sophomore hitter Jose) Delgado, who isn't the same offensively as Thomas."
It was simple but effective. Hawaii never found a consistent rhythm. It wasn't from a lack of trying. Warrior coach Mike Wilton used 11 of his 12 players, but nothing worked.
"UCLA is a good serving team, with five guys who are consistently good jump-servers," Wilton said. "You've got to be a good passing team and we weren't tonight. They were able to exploit some weaknesses.
"We had trouble passing the ball, we had trouble passing their serves. And I didn't think we did a very good job at returning the favor on our end. That was the difference."
Notes: The Warriors are scheduled to return home this evening. ... Watching in the stands were UH women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji and the Rainbow Wahine players. The women finished 4-4 at a spring tournament hosted by Loyola Marymount. Also in attendance were former UH players Tom Pestolesi and Diane Sebastian Pestolesi.
UCLA def. Hawaii
30-24, 30-24, 30-28Warriors (17-12, 13-9 mpsf)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Tuyay 2 0 0 0 .000 0 1 2 Muise 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Delgado 3 1 2 3 -.333 0 0 1 Beckwith 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Reft 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Azenha 3 9 5 25 .160 0 1 3 Bender 3 10 6 24 .167 1 2 3 LaBarre 1 0 0 2 .000 0 0 1 Thomas 3 10 7 25 .120 0 2 2 Dante 2 4 1 6 .500 0 2 0 Stanhiser 3 5 1 7 .571 0 2 3 Totals 3 39 22 92 .185 1 10 26 Bruins (24-5, 17-5 mpsf)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Gonzalez 3 2 0 3 .667 0 0 4 Wenger 3 7 3 17 .235 0 1 5 Johnson 3 8 1 15 .467 1 3 0 Acosta 1 4 2 9 .222 0 1 0 Klosterman 3 11 6 21 .238 0 1 3 Pena 3 11 1 15 .667 1 1 1 Shrader 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Kraushaar 3 7 3 15 .267 0 1 7 Jagoda 1 0 2 7 -.286 0 0 0 Totals 3 50 18 102 .314 2 8 28 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (3): Azenha 3. UCLA (3): Johnson 2, Klosterman. Assists -- Hawaii (39): Tuyay 21, Beckwith 14, Reft 2, Bender, Thomas. UCLA (43): Gonzalez 40, Shrader 2, Kraushaar.
T -- 1:45. Officials -- Ken Taylor, John Martin. A -- 1,228.
