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GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Pedro Azenha blasted a kill past Alberta's Aaron Schulha during last night's match at the Stan Sheriff Center.

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Cundy leads Alberta
to victory over Hawaii

The Warriors fall to the top
Canadian collegiate team

In men's volleyball, it sometimes comes down to which team has the biggest drum.

Last night, it was Alberta's Nicholas Cundy going against Hawaii's Pedro Azenha in a scene right out of the movie "Drumline."

Azenha finished with 31 kills and Cundy had 30, but the Golden Bears won the exhibition, 28-30, 30-24, 30-21, 34-36, 15-12 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 1,984 (4,387 tickets) saw Alberta, the top-ranked Canadian collegiate team, run its record to 5-0 over teams from the U.S. this season. The Bears have also beaten defending NCAA champion Brigham Young, Pepperdine, Cal State Northridge and Long Beach State.

The teams meet again tomorrow at 1 p.m. UH coach Mike Wilton would like to see more consistency and better passing on his side in the rematch.

"This was good for us," Wilton said. "They're a good team and I think we're going to be. I like our heart and our character.

"We just have to be more consistent, especially with our passing."

Warrior setter Brian Beckwith agreed.

"Volleyball comes down to serving and passing," the sophomore said. "We had a passing breakdown in Game 5, getting down 6-0, and it happened at other times, which can limit our offense."

At times it seemed that Alberta had limited its offense to Cundy, who had 52 attempts and hit .442. The Warriors had problems from the beginning, stopping him for the first time late in Game 2 with a triple block by Jake Schkud, Lauri Hakala and Azenha to close to 21-16.

Cundy, who had 21 kills through Game 3, was slowed somewhat in Game 4. But it was then that the taller Alberta block heated up.

The Bears had 9.5 stuffs in Game 4, finishing with an 18-9 edge. Cundy, Brock Davidiuk and Dallas Soonias were in on four each.

"We needed some blocking at the end," said Azenha, who had 65 attempts. "That will come with time ... and our consistency too.

"I thought we did a good job at catching up at the end (of Game 5). We have a lot of things to work on but, overall, it was a good match for the team, only having two practices this week."

Jose Delgado added 10 kills and Maulia La Barre 10 kills, six of those coming in Game 1.

Aaron Schulha added 12 kills and Soonias had 11 for the Bears.

The Warriors appeared headed to the showers early until staging a late rally in Game 4. At 18-15, La Barre had his first kill since early in Game 2 to jump-start a 5-0 run that game Hawaii a 20-18 lead.

Azenha had two aces during the rally, but his service error gave the ball back to Alberta at 20-19. The Bears appeared to take the lead for good at 24-22, only to see the Warriors pull to within a point four times.

Hawaii tied it at 28-28 on a controversial touch call that gave Azenha his 23rd kill. It was tied six more times, the last at 34-34.

An Alberta serving error gave the Warriors their second swing at game point. Azenha made good on his 57th attempt, putting down his 26th kill and forcing Game 5.

The last game was a case of Hawaii getting stuck in a bad rotation, as Alberta was able to take control at 6-0, five points on the serves of Adam Kaminski. The Warriors got as close as 11-9 when stuffing Cundy and again at 12-10 on a kill by Azenha.

It was 14-11 when Cundy's service error gave the Warriors brief life. Azenha served long to end it.

"We gave up some pretty big leads in Game 4 and couldn't finish it," Alberta coach Terry Danyluk said. "If I could isolate two things, we need to serve more consistent and pass better.

"And Cundy has the capability to go off like he did. He has a quick armswing and, when he's on, he's tough to stop."

Hawaii had early success, using a 4-0 serving run by Schkud to take a 9-3 lead in Game 1 before having to hang on. La Barre put down his first six attempts, hitting 1.000, to help the Warriors pull away at 27-24.

The Bears held off two game points, using a line shot by Cundy and a block by Schulha and Davidiuk on Azenha in closing to 29-28. It ended anticlimactically when Alberta setter Davidiuk was called for a lift.

Injury update: Hakala sprained his left ankle early in Game 3 but likely will be available for tomorrow's match. Junior opposite Matt Bender has tendinitis and bursitis in his left (hitting) shoulder and likely will be available for next week's Outrigger Hotels Invitational

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Alberta def. Hawaii

28-30, 30-24, 30-21, 34-36, 15-12
Golden Bears

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Cundy	5	30	7	52	.442	2	3	9
Kaminski	5	8	2	11	.545	0	2	5
Schulha	5	12	4	27	.296	0	2	13
Davidiuk	5	4	1	12	.250	2	3	9
King	3	8	1	13	.538	0	2	6
Carroll	5	3	1	10	.200	0	8	2
Wong	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Kucharski	2	1	0	1	1.000	1	1	0
Soonias	5	11	6	22	.227	1	3	3
Schmuland	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Hatch	5	0	0	0	.000	0	0	6
Griffith	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Totals	5	77	22	148	.372	6	24	54

Warriors

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Delgado	5	10	12	35	-.057	0	1	8
Hakala	3	6	1	15	.333	1	1	2
Beckwith	5	1	1	4	.000	0	2	9
Azenha	5	31	11	65	.308	0	5	5
Schkud	5	6	0	17	.353	0	4	3
La Barre	5	10	3	19	.362	0	3	1
Kalima	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	9
Carere	4	7	3	21	.190	0	1	2
Reft	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	7
Totals	5	71	31	176	.227	1	17	46

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Alberta (5): Kaminski 2, King, Carroll, Soonias. Hawaii (8): Azenha 2, Beckwith 2, Delgado, Schkud, La Barre, Carere. Assists -- Alberta (72): Davidiuk 58, Schulha 4, Carroll 4, Cundy 3, Griffith 2, Kaminski. Hawaii (69): Beckwith 63, Delgado 2, Azenha 2, Schkud, Kalima.
T -- 2:48. Officials -- Dickson Chun, Wayne Lee. A -- 1,984.