JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Matt Bender went for a kill against Jonathan Winder of Pepperdine Wednesday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH usually stronger
in rematches

Warriors and Waves go at it again
tonight in a key MPSF contest

Some players went back and watched the replay on KFVE. Others just replayed it on the VCRs of their minds.

No. 3 Pepperdine at No. 2 Hawaii When: Today, 7 p.m. Where: Stan Sheriff Center TV: Live, KFVE (Ch. 5) Radio: None Internet radio: www.pepperdinesports.com Tickets: $3-14; free to UH students and children (high school-age and under) wearing green shirts. Series: Pepperdine leads 29-19.

Either way, the outcome was still the same. The second-ranked Hawaii volleyball team saw a winnable match get away Wednesday night against No. 3 Pepperdine.

"I didn't watch it again, but it was in my mind last night," Warrior senior hitter Pedro Azenha said. "You replay the games, even when we win but especially when we lose, to see what you did wrong.

"I had one opportunity to finish the match and I got blocked. We need to make some adjustments so we can beat them tomorrow."

It is said that the sequel is never as good as the original, but don't bet on that when it comes to tonight's rematch. Particularly on the Hawaii side as of late, where the Warriors' pattern has been to play much better the second night.

Against Stanford and USC, Hawaii won in five the first night then swept the Cardinal and the Trojans the next contest. Last week, the Warriors fell in four to UCLA only to come back and sweep the Bruins the next night.

"Unfortunately, that's what has been going on -- we play better the second night," said Azenha, who shared team-high kill honors of 25 with Matt Bender on Wednesday. "One thing we need to do better is to stop (Pepperdine senior hitter Sean) Rooney. He got us in trouble and we didn't do a better job defending him. We can do a better job on him."

Rooney, a national player of the year candidate, had 28 kills in 63 attempts Wednesday and was in on nine of the Waves' 27.5 blocks. The Warriors had more kills (83-71), but managed just 11 blocks against the taller Waves.

The two keys for Hawaii tonight will be to hit smarter and close the gap in the block. Those were the focus of yesterday's practice ... as well as the ever-present serve-and-pass lecture.

"If we pass better then all of our (offensive) options are available," UH associate head coach Tino Reyes said. "We cannot make the game at the net. We cannot keep going high and outside (on sets) and allow them to camp out on our hitters. We need a better job at creating one-on-ones and split blocks.

"We'll see how our guys respond to this. We had four swings at it (winning the match) and Pepperdine played well when they needed to. We kind of felt like we left the game on the court, like UCLA on that first night. One game here and there will make a difference at the end."

Neither Reyes nor Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy wanted to look ahead at the playoff ramifications of this series. However, if there is a tie at the end of the season, the seeding tiebreaker would first be head-to-head and, in a case of a series split, game differential.

Hawaii (22-3, 9-2) has the tiebreaker on UCLA. Pepperdine (11-1, 11-1) lost to UCLA in three earlier this year and will host the Bruins on March 12.

"I'm somewhat aware of the standings, but we're just now halfway through the season," Dunphy said. "If I had a dollar for every time I've heard people say, 'This is a big match,' I'd have a lot of money.

"This is a test of where we are right now. At the end of the year, we want to be as good as possible, but that's so far way.

"Just like they say in baseball that the most important pitch is the next pitch, in volleyball the most important serve is the next one. And our most important match is the next one. We just want to play as hard as we can and as well as we can against Hawaii and see how the game plays out."

The Warriors could see a change in the lineup at one outside hitter position after this week. Junior Jose Delgado and sophomore Lauri Hakala struggled Wednesday -- Delgado with eight kills and hitting .200, Hakala with two, hitting negative .286 before being subbed out permanently for Delgado in Game 2.

The alternative is junior Matt Carere, who made a brief appearance Wednesday, serving twice.

"That one (outside) spot is a concern," UH head coach Mike Wilton said.

So was the Warriors' lack of discipline on the block, according to Wilton. The game tape showed the UH blockers drifting against the Pepperdine attack, which created gaps the Waves exploited.

"We weren't closing the gaps, and that's what we're working on today," Wilton said. "We can do something about that. And we need to be smarter where we set the ball."

Hawaii's defense kept the Warriors in the match, as they finished with a 52-36 edge in digs over the Waves. Leading the way was junior libero Alfred Reft, who finished with a career-high 22 digs.

"I thought both teams brought their 'A' game," Reft said. "We had chances to win. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's luck."

The Warriors are now 4-1 in five-game matches. Pepperdine is 4-0.

Mentally, Hawaii has to prepare to again get blocked by Pepperdine. Take away converted hitter John Mayer -- generously listed at 6-foot-2 -- and the Waves average nearly 6-9 with middles Andy Hein (6-11) and Tom Hulse (6-8), hitters Rooney (6-9) and John Parfitt (6-7) and setter Jonathan Winder (6-8).

"They have a big block and we just need to be quicker," Azenha said. "We knew they had solid blocking. We kept swinging.

"I got a little frustrated (13 hitting errors) but I kept swinging. They're going to get their blocks, but we need to get our blocks, too. They are beatable. Whoever saw the match saw that."

Note: The "Be In Green, Save Some Green" promotion will be in effect again tonight. UH students and children high school-aged and under will be admitted free when wearing a green shirt. Just 183 took advantage of the free admission Wednesday.