Warriors get rare
win at Pauley

Victories at Pauley Pavilion have been few for the Hawaii men's volleyball team.

The Warriors had won four -- count 'em, four -- out of 24 contests going into last night's rematch with No. 1 UCLA.

The Warriors can now count to five.

No. 3 Hawaii swept UCLA for the first time ever in Los Angeles, 30-25, 30-26, 30-25. A season-high crowd of 1,829 saw the Warriors beat the Bruins for the fifth time in six meetings; Hawaii still trails in the series 44-16, 5-20 at Pauley.

The win lifts the Warriors (11-2, 9-1) to within a half-game of first place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings. Leader Pepperdine (10-1, 10-1) comes to the Stan Sheriff Center for matches Wednesday and Friday.

Junior hitter Matt Bender had a match-high 16 kills, and senior opposite Pedro Azenha added 11 kills and three aces in the 90-minute sweep. The Warriors outblocked the Bruins 14-4, with junior middle Mauli'a LaBarre in on six and Bender five.

"Bender was pure poison," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "He had one error (in 24 attempts) and really good vision.

"I thought it was a nice volleyball game. I don't know if UCLA thought so, but it may have been our best match of the year."

Wilton would like a repeat performance in about two months. The NCAA Final Four is in Pauley, May 5 and 7 and "I told the guys as we walked out, 'Bring me back in May,'" Wilton said. "We talked about wanting to come back here for two more games in May.

"Tonight, it was a question of playing better at the start of the match. It was the first time playing here for some of our guys and there were environment adjustments to make. I thought they did a nice job at that."

Hawaii's passers took away one of UCLA's lethal weapons: the jump serve. The Warriors passed very well, allowing just two Bruin aces, both by Kris Kraushaar.

Hawaii's blockers adjusted to UCLA's middle attack, holding 6-foot-8 senior middle Paul Johnson to just 10 kills. Kraushaar, a 6-7 senior outside, led the team with 11 kills.

Wilton credited his son Aaron, the Warriors' assistant, with running the team's effective blocking schemes. Hawaii took away UCLA's outside attack, with Steve Klosterman subbed out after Game 2 after putting down seven kills; he had 20 in the Bruins' 3-1 victory Thursday.

"And we did a pretty good job of applying pressure with our serves," Mike Wilton said. "In Game 2, we started getting a little cautious, getting into a play-not-to-lose mood. We stopped taking it to them.

"We were able to address the issue. I don't think we ever thought 'sweep.' It was one point at a time, and everyone did a good job at focusing."

At the end of Game 2, Azenha was able to shut out the raucous Bruin crowd that continued to chant, "Pedro, Pedro" every time the senior went back to serve.

Bender's kill broke a 26-26 tie, giving Azenha the ball on the service line. He rocketed an ace and, after Kraushaar hit long, Azenha served another ace to give Hawaii a 2-0 lead.

UCLA had never been down two games all season. The Bruins' only loss had come at BYU in four on Jan. 28, the night the Cougars hung their 2004 championship banner in Smith Fieldhouse.

UCLA's eight-match winning streak would soon come to a screeching halt. The Bruins were able to tie but never led in Game 3, and fell behind by as many as five late (27-22).

UCLA had rallied from an eight-point deficit (21-13) against USC this season to win 30-27. There would be no comeback against Hawaii.

The Bruins pulled to 27-24, only to have substitute setter Gaby Acevedo serve into the net. UH freshman middle Kyle Klinger blocked Johnson for match point and, following a kill by UCLA's Jonathan Acosta, a UCLA service error gave the Warriors the victory.

"We challenged our guys before the match and they were up to the challenges," Wilton said. "We played some really nice volleyball. It's a nice feeling to walk out of here with the win."

Hawaii def. UCLA

30-25, 30-26, 30-25

Warriors (11-2, 9-1 MPSF)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Klinger	3	5	1	10	-.400	0	4	2
Hakala	3	4	3	9	.111	0	4	2
Beckwith	3	1	0	2	.500	1	1	4
Azenha	3	11	7	28	.143	1	3	2
Bender	3	16	1	24	.625	1	4	3
La Barre	3	7	1	13	.462	0	6	1
Reft	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	3
Rasay	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Totals	3	44	13	86	.360	3	22	18
Bruins (15-2, 11-2 MPSF)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Gonzalez	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	4
Johnson	3	10	2	15	.533	0	2	0
Acosta	2	8	4	14	.286	0	2	5
Klosterman	2	7	5	16	.125	0	0	0
Vince	3	8	4	19	.211	0	1	2
Kraushaar	3	11	2	21	.429	0	0	3
Ker	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	8
Acevedo	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Scott	3	3	2	7	.143	1	0	0
Prahler	2	3	2	8	.125	0	1	1
Scheftic	1	0	2	2	-1.000	0	0	0
Totals	3	50	23	102	.265	1	6	23

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (6): Azenha 3, Beckwith 2, Rasay. UCLA (2): Kraushaar 2. Assists -- Hawaii (44): Beckwith 40, Bender2, Reft 2. UCLA (48): Gonzalez 35, Acevedo 9, Kraushaar 3, Ker.
T -- 1:30. Officials -- Verna Kulbnikin, John Martin. A -- 1,829.

MPSF standings

	Conference			Overall
	W	L	Pct.	W	L
Pepperdine	10	1	.909	10	1
Hawaii	9	1	.900	11	2
UCLA	11	2	.846	15	2
UCSB	9	4	.692	9	7
Long Beach State	7	6	.538	9	7
BYU	4	4	.500	9	6
Stanford	6	7	.461	7	9
Pacific	5	6	.454	11	5
CS Northridge	5	8	.385	7	8
UC Irvine	4	9	.308	6	12
USC	1	10	.090	3	14
UC San Diego	0	13	.000	0	14

Yesterday
Hawaii def. UCLA, 30-25, 30-26, 30-25
Stanford def. Long Beach State, 30-15, 30-27, 31-29
BYU def. UC Irvine, 30-28, 30-24, 30-26