Hawaii's Kyle Klinger, left, and Jose Delgado collided after Klinger smacked one of his 13 kills against UC Santa Barbara last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Warriors outquick
Gauchos
A balanced attack carries No. 6
Hawaii past No. 5 UCSB
Speed kills.
And, in volleyball, it wins matches.
UC Santa Barbara had few answers for Hawaii's quick attack last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Pedro Azenha had 16 kills and Warrior middles Kyle Klinger and Mau LaBarre combined for 23 kills to lead No. 6 Hawaii past No. 5 UC Santa Barbara 30-23, 26-30, 30-20, 30-28.
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Sophomore All-American Evan Patak led the Gauchos with 25 kills. Adam Ulfers added 15.
"Patak is an amazing player. He hurt us the whole game," Azenha said. "The whole week in practice, I kept saying I wanted to block him. It finally happened at the end."
It happened at a crucial time in Game 4 after Azenha's kill broke a 26-26 tie, giving the Warriors the lead for good. Azenha and LaBarre teamed to stuff Patak for a 28-26 advantage.
Patak's kill brought his team to 28-27 only to see his serve go long -- the team's 21st service error -- giving Hawaii match point. A kill by Bryan Berman held the Warriors at bay for one play before Azenha nailed his final kill to end it after 2 hours and 19 minutes.
"Of course, I wanted the ball at that point," Azenha said. "I always want the ball."
Klinger finished with 13 kills and was in on eight of the team's 14.5 blocks. LaBarre added 10 kills. Libero Alfred Reft, a UCSB transfer, had 17 digs.
"This was a big steppingstone for us," Klinger said. "When we come together, we can beat anybody."
The Gauchos left the arena, feeling they had beaten themselves, especially with the service errors.
"We just committed too many errors," Patak said. "We didn't have the fire and we couldn't find the rhythm. We need to take care of our side."
Patak's first kill of the night pulled UCSB to 12-7 in Game 1. He WAS the offense the rest of the way, putting down seven of the Gauchos' 11 kills.
UCSB didn't make a game of Game 1 until late after trailing by as many as 10, the last at 21-11. Helping Hawaii stay in control was Klinger, who was perfect on all six of his swings and was in on three of the Warriors' five blocks.
Hawaii's Pedro Azenha tried to block a hit by UC Santa Barbara's Evan Patak during last night's game.
The teams traded sides and momentum, with Patak still carrying most of the load. He had seven of UCSB's 11 kills in a 16-14 lead.
Hawaii took its first lead at 18-17 and its second at 19-18. UCSB came back with four unanswered points -- a run capped by Theo Brunner's ace -- for a 22-19 advantage.
The Warriors were able to tie it at 23-23, but Patak put down three more kills and Ulfers two as the Gauchos closed it out with a 7-3 run to even the match.
Game 3 was a virtual repeat of Game 1, with Hawaii taking control early at 12-4. Reft continued his outstanding defense. His 11th dig set up Klinger's 10th kill for a 16-11 margin.
UCSB never got closer than five the rest of the way. Patak had half of his team's kills (20 of 40) with the Gauchos trailing at 21-16; he didn't have another in Game 3.
The Gauchos also suffered a slight meltdown when trying to substitute servers. The first substitution was not allowed and the second, which came after referee Ernie Ho had blown the whistle for the serve, resulted in a yellow card, giving the Warriors a point, the serve and a 23-17 lead.
At 29-19, UCSB held off two game points only to have Matt Bender finish it with his seventh kill.
The seesaw Game 4 looked like it would tilt the Gauchos' way when taking a 24-21 lead. The Warriors battled back, taking over for good on Azenha's 15th kill at 27-26. The stuff of Patak began to put the icing on the win.
"They set the middle and they hurt us way too much," UCSB coach Ken Preston. "They have quick attackers and we never got to them."
Notes: Top-ranked Pepperdine saw its winning streak halted at 15 Thursday night when they were swept by Long Beach State 31-29, 30-27, 30-26. The Waves led 26-24 in Game 3 only to have the 49ers close out the match with a 6-0 run. ... UC San Diego won its first conference match of the year Wednesday when topping USC in four.
MPSF standings
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pepperdine 17 2 .895 17 2 UCLA 14 3 .823 21 3 Hawaii 12 5 .706 16 6 BYU 11 6 .647 16 8 UCSB 11 6 .647 13 10 Long Beach State 10 7 .588 16 8 Stanford 9 9 .500 10 11 CS Northridge 7 10 .412 14 11 Pacific 6 12 .333 12 14 UC Irvine 4 13 .235 6 18 USC 3 16 .158 6 20 UC San Diego 1 16 .058 2 19 Yesterday
Hawaii def. UC Santa Barbara, 30-23, 26-30, 30-20, 30-28
BYU def. CSU Northridge, 30-21, 25-30, 30-20, 30-28
Stanford def. UC Irvine, 30-21, 30-24, 30-24
UCLA def. Pacific, 30-21, 30-20, 30-18
Today
UC Santa Barbara at Hawaii, 7 p.m
BYU at CSU Northridge
Pepperdine at UC San Diego
UC Irvine at Pacific
UCLA at Stanford
USC at Long Beach State
Hawaii def. UCSB
30-23, 26-30, 30-20, 30-28
Gauchos (13-10, 11-6 mpsf) g k e att pct. bs ba d Kowalski 4 0 0 1 .000 0 0 4 Berman 4 6 4 18 .111 0 1 5 Patak 4 25 11 63 .222 0 1 4 Ulfers 4 15 5 26 .385 0 2 4 Brunner 4 5 2 13 .231 0 2 1 Kennedy 4 6 2 15 .267 0 3 1 Nelson 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Jensen 4 0 0 0 .000 0 2 4 Wack 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Mansfield 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 12 Richman 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 1 Totals 4 58 24 137 .248 0 11 36 Warriors (16-6, 12-5 mpsf) g k e att pct. bs ba d Klinger 4 13 2 18 .611 1 7 4 Delgado 2 4 4 13 .000 0 0 3 Beckwith 4 2 0 3 .667 0 5 6 Azenha 4 16 6 36 .278 0 4 5 Bender 4 8 6 24 .083 0 2 4 La Barre 4 10 2 16 .500 0 5 1 Hakala 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Carere 2 4 4 12 .000 0 2 5 Reft 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 17 Schkud 2 5 1 7 .571 0 2 2 Rasay 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Dante 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 62 25 131 .282 1 27 47 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- UCSB (4): Berman 3, Brunner. Hawaii (6): Azenha 3, Beckwith, Bender, La Barre. Assists -- UCSB (57): Jensen 30, Kowalski 24, Kennedy 2, Mansfield. Hawaii (57): Beckwith 53, Carere 2, Azenha, Reft.
T -- 2:19. Officials -- Ernie Ho, Wayne Lee. A -- 2,845.
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