Warriors can’t dig
out against Bruins

Mudslides caused by this week's heavy rains took their toll on the roads leading to the UCLA campus. Yesterday, the Hawaii men's volleyball team needed nearly 2 hours and several detours to make the 7-mile drive from Pacific Palisades to Pauley Pavilion.

It never got much better.

The third-ranked Warriors dug themselves into a deep hole early against the No. 1 Bruins last night in Los Angeles and couldn't completely recover.

Steve Klosterman had 20 kills to lead UCLA over Hawaii, 30-22, 30-26, 28-30, 37-35, knocking the Warriors out of first place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings.

Paul Johnson added 17 kills and had four of UCLA's eight aces in the Bruins' eighth consecutive win. UCLA (15-1, 11-1) and Hawaii (10-2, 8-1) meet again tonight (5 p.m. Hawaii time).

The solution to reversing the outcome for the Warriors?

"It would be a good idea to start playing in Game 1 as opposed to Game 3, like we did tonight," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "We didn't have a lot of fire to start and you can't do that and expect to win.

"When we started serving more aggressively that helped a lot. In the beginning, we served easy and we served out. And we didn't pass well. We had some tunnel vision early, but you have to give a little credit to (UCLA)."

A crowd of 1,288 -- the second-highest for UCLA this season -- saw the Bruins rally in Game 4 and avoid what would have been their fourth five-game match this year.

The Warriors appeared poised to their fourth Game 5 when taking a 29-27 lead in Game 4. Hawaii had three chances to end it, the last when reserve middle Kyle Klinger put down his 10th kill for a 31-30 lead.

UCLA answered with a block of Jose Delgado and an ace by Kris Kraushaar to go ahead at 32-31. Hawaii tied it four more times but never could get ahead.

Pedro Azenha's team-leading 17th kill gave the Warriors their last shot at 35-35. Kraushaar's 11th kill gave it back to the Bruins and it ended after 2 hours and 10 minutes when Delgado hit long.

Matt Bender added 16 kills and Delgado finished with 14 for the Warriors, whose record in Pauley Pavilion fell to 4-20. Hawaii outblocked UCLA 13-11, led by Mauli'a LaBarre's six, and five from Azenha.

Also in double-figure kills for the Bruins were Jonathan Acosta (15) and Allan Vince (10). Helping UCLA's cause was its defense, which finished with a 51-38 edge over Hawaii.

Setter Dennis Gonzales had 13 digs before being pulled early in Game 4 for Gaby Acevedo. Tony Ker and Kraushaar added 11 kills each.

Gonzales was yanked after Hawaii took a 10-4 lead in Game 4. Wilton took that as a time his team had UCLA worried.

"Any time a team pulls a setter ... it's about as drastic as you can get," he said. "Short of the infamous call to sub all six, that is."

Wilton made some early substitutions of his own. Delgado replaced last week's sparkplug Lauri Hakala after the first-year hitter had one kill and four errors in seven attempts in Game 1.

Also departing early was junior blocker Dio Dante, who had a hard time solving UCLA's quick middle attack. Klinger replaced Dante in Game 1 and, according to Wilton, will start tonight.

"We need to get it going earlier," Wilton said. "That's the deal."

That and not getting stuck on Sunset Boulevard.

Prior to the match, UH gathered at the home of setter Brian Beckwith in Pacific Palisades, 7 miles away from UCLA. Wilton estimates it took an hour and 45 minutes to make the trip.

UCLA def. Hawaii

30-22, 30-26, 28-30, 37-35

Warriors (10-2, 8-1 MPSF)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Hakala	1	1	4	7	-.429	0	0	0
Beckwith	4	3	1	6	.333	1	0	4
Azenha	4	17	4	40	.325	2	3	9
Bender	4	16	4	34	.353	0	4	7
La Barre	4	6	2	11	.364	2	4	1
Dante	1	1	1	2	.000	0	0	0
Clar	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Klinger	4	10	1	17	.529	0	3	0
Delgado	4	14	8	33	.182	0	2	7
Reft	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	9
Schkud	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Rasay	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	4	68	25	150	.287	5	16	38
Bruins (15-1, 11-1 MPSF)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Gonzalez	4	1	0	5	.200	1	0	13
Johnson	4	17	3	27	.519	0	5	2
Acosta	4	15	5	33	.303	0	2	6
Klosterman	4	20	8	39	.308	0	4	4
Vince	4	10	1	20	.450	2	2	1
Kraushaar	4	11	4	21	.333	0	2	11
Ker	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	11
Garrett	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Acevedo	2	0	0	0	.000	0	1	2
Prahler	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	4	74	21	145	.366	3	16	51

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 3, Bender. UCLA (8): Johnson 4, Vince 2, Kraushaar 2. Assists -- Hawaii (68): Beckwith 63, Reft 3, Bender, Delgado. UCLA (73): Gonzalez 52, Acevedo 16, Ker 2, Johnson, Acosta, Kraushaar.
T -- 2:10. Officials -- Kim Pickering, Rick Olmstead. A -- 1,288.

MPSF standings

	Conference			Overall
	W	L	Pct.	W	L
UCLA	11	1	.917	15	1
Pepperdine	10	1	.909	10	1
Hawaii	8	1	.889	10	2
UCSB	9	4	.692	9	7
Long Beach State	7	5	.583	9	6
Pacific	5	6	.455	11	8
BYU	3	4	.429	7	7
CS Northridge	5	8	.385	7	8
UC Irvine	4	8	.333	6	11
Stanford	5	7	.417	6	9
USC	1	10	.090	3	14
UC San Diego	0	13	.000	0	14

Yesterday
UCLA def. Hawaii, 30-22, 30-26, 28-30, 37-35
Cal State Northridge def. USC, 30-21, 30-25, 30-22
Pacific def. Long Beach State, 30-21, 42-40, 30-28
BYU def. UC Irvine, 25-30, 30-27, 30-22, 30-26
Today
Hawaii at UCLA, 5 p.m. Hawaii time
Long Beach State at Stanford
UC Irvine at BYU