Warriors want
to bounce back
against Tritons

Changes in altitude, changes in attitude? The Hawaii volleyball team hopes that is the case when the Warriors come back down to sea level this week against UC San Diego.

No. 3 Hawaii at UC San Diego When: Tomorrow and Friday, 5 p.m. Hawaii time Radio: Both matches live, KKEA (1420-AM) TV: None Series: Hawaii leads 31-0

Hawaii got rocked in the thinner air at BYU, being swept by the hard-serving Cougars twice last week. It was the first time the Warriors had gone down in three all season and "it was pretty horrible," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said last night in a phone call from San Diego.

"BYU played well and we couldn't put any pressure on them with our serves," he added. "They, on the other had, put all kinds of pressure on us with theirs."

The Cougars had a combined nine aces to none for the Warriors. Also, there were a number of serves that Hawaii overpassed, which BYU turned into easy kills.

The Warriors (13-6, 9-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) are hoping to get their serving legs back against the Tritons (1-17, 0-14).

Although UCSD hasn't won a conference match this season, the Tritons have thrown scares into a number of teams.

Against Long Beach State on March 11 -- UCSD's last match before spring break -- the Tritons had a 2-0 lead on the 49ers only to lose in five. They've also taken UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine to five and lost in four to Penn State.

"San Diego plays hard every match and are always extremely well-prepared," Wilton said.

The Warriors, 31-0 all-time against the Tritons, practiced at the RIMAC Arena yesterday. It lasted nearly 3 hours, with Wilton still toying with some changes in the lineup.

Hawaii was without middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre for Saturday's match against BYU. The junior missed a team meeting and "who knows if he would have made a difference," Wilton said. "We'll never know."

The one thing Hawaii does know is it likely has to win out in order to keep a top-4 seeding for the MPSF Tournament. The Warriors are currently tied for fourth with BYU; if there were a tie, the Cougars have the tiebreaker.

After the UCSD series, Hawaii has home matches against UC Santa Barbara, currently in third, and Pacific, in ninth. The Warriors are at sixth-place Long Beach State next month.

"All of our matches are critical," Wilton said. "The most important one is our next match and we need to give our best effort in that moment."

Notes: BYU setter Rob Neilson was named the National Player of the Week for his performance in the wins over Hawaii. Neilson had a career-high seven block assists in Friday's win, then broke that mark with nine block assists the next night ... In yesterday's Volleyball magazine poll, the Warriors slipped from third to sixth.