UH’s block socks
it to Anteaters

Some nights, it's all about adjustments.

No. 4 Hawaii adjusted well to the move from Bren Events Center to the smaller Crawford Court last night. The Warriors adjusted their block even better.

Hawaii had 12.5 blocks during the 86 minutes it took to sweep No. 11 UC Irvine 30-27, 30-22, 30-25 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball match at Irvine, Calif. The Warriors return from their first road trip with a 6-1 overall record, as well as the top spot in the MPSF at 4-0.

Senior hitter Pedro Azenha again led Hawaii with 18 kills, hitting .500. Matt Bender -- challenged by the coaches to "bring it" -- added 13 kills as the Warriors won their fourth straight.

"We spent about an hour watching videotape (of Friday's match) to get a better idea of what they do," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said of the Anteaters. "We were very disciplined on our block. We wanted to make their hitters do something else.

"Bender got his arm back and we got outstanding play by (setter) Brian Beckwith. His location was almost always perfect. Our passing was ... let's just say I've seen it better. Brian made chicken salad out of chicken feathers."

Beckwith, with 40 assists, led the team with six blocks.

Hawaii, which had just eight blocks in Friday's victory, had six in Game 1 last night. Two came at the end of a six-point rally in which the Warriors turned a 20-15 deficit into a 21-15 lead.

Backup setter Daniel Rasay served for five of those points and "that was a big serving run for us," Wilton said. "Danny's becoming our serving guy."

Serving errors again proved to be the downfall for the Anteaters (3-7, 1-4). On Friday they had 23; last night they had 17, including seven each in Games 1 and 3.

Azenha again had his serve going and, although he had only one ace compared to five Friday, he wreaked havoc with UCI's serve-receive. His only ace came early in Game 2 during a 3-0 run that gave the Warriors the lead for good at 6-3.

The Anteaters trailed by as many as 10 (21-11 and 26-16) and never found a rhythm. UCI recouped in Game 3, closing to 21-20, but never got closer.

At 26-24, Azenha took over with two kills and teamed with Kyle Klinger for a block of Steffin Rangel for match point. Aaron Harrell's 10th kill staved off the inevitable before Paul Spittle served into the net to end it.

Jayson Jablonsky led the Anteaters with 11 kills.

"We didn't pass particularly well," UCI coach John Speraw said. "We could have opened it up, but we didn't get the ball enough to our middles.

"I felt Hawaii was off (Friday) and I knew that Bender and Jose (Delgado) weren't going to have the same poor matches they had. I knew we were going to have to play better than we did (Friday) and we didn't."

The young Anteaters started two freshmen and four sophomores last night and "we have the potential to be very, very good," Speraw said. "We've played three of the top four teams in January and that's a lot for a young team."

Klinger, who turns 24 today, again started in the middle for the injured Dio Dante (back strain). He had five kills on six swings with no errors (.833) and was in on four blocks.

Hawaii is hoping to get senior All-American middle Delano Thomas back for this week's series against Stanford. The Warriors take on the Cardinal (3-6, 2-4) on Thursday and Friday.

Bulldogs hire Nieves: Fresno State hired former Stanford men's volleyball coach Ruben Nieves to coach its women's team. He led the Cardinal to their only NCAA volleyball title in 1997.

Nieves replaces Lindy Vivas, whose contract was not renewed after 11 seasons.

MPSF standings

	Conference	Overall
	W	L	Pct.	W	L
Hawaii	4	0	1.000	6	1
Pepperdine	5	1	.833	5	1
Long Beach State	5	1	.833	7	2
UCLA	4	1	.800	8	1
UCSB	4	2	.667	4	5
Pacific	3	3	.500	7	4
BYU	2	2	.500	6	3
CS Northridge	2	4	.333	4	5
Stanford	2	4	.333	3	6
UC Irvine	1	4	.200	3	7
USC	1	5	.167	2	7
UC San Diego	0	6	.000	0	7

Yesterday's results
Hawaii def. UC Irvine, 30-27, 30-22, 30-25
Long Beach St. def. USC, 30-23, 30-18, 25-30, 27-30, 17-15
UCLA def. BYU, 30-21, 30-24, 30-26
UC Santa Barbara def. Stanford, 23-30, 30-24, 28-30, 30-24, 18-16

Hawaii def. UC Irvine

30-27, 30-22, 30-25

Hawaii Warriors (6-1, 4-0 MPSF)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Klinger	3	5	0	6	.833	1	3	1
Delgado	3	7	4	15	.200	0	1	7
Beckwith	3	1	0	2	.500	1	5	4
Azenha	3	18	4	28	.500	0	2	5
Bender	3	13	6	29	.241	2	1	3
La Barre	3	4	1	8	.375	0	5	1
Reft	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	8
Rasay	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	3
Totals	3	48	15	88	.375	4	17	32
Anteaters (3-7, 1-4 MPSF)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Steller	3	4	2	13	.154	0	0	1
Thornton	3	0	0	0	.000	0	1	6
Spittle	3	2	4	11	-.182	0	0	1
Jablonsky	3	11	5	23	.261	0	2	3
Smith	3	9	1	13	.615	0	3	0 Harrell	3	10	1	17	.529	0	2	2
Webber	3	6	4	17	.118	0	2	1
Mel	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	5
Rangel	2	1	2	7	-.143	0	1	1
Totals	3	43	19	101	.238	0	11	20

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (1): Azenha. UCI (5): Steller 3, Spittle, Jablonsky. Assists -- Hawaii (44): Beckwith 40,Reft 2, Rasay, Delgado. UCI (39): Thornton 38, Smith.
T -- 1:26. Officials -- Jesse Martinez, Patsy Malta. A -- 695.