UH takes eye for
an eye from 49ers

One day after being swept by
Long Beach State, the Warriors
come back with a sweep
of their own

At least for one night, the Ghost of Matches Past did not return to haunt the Hawaii Warriors volleyball team.

HAWAII 3 L. BEACH ST. 0 NEXT UP vs. Pacific, Friday and Saturday

In a stunning reversal of their performance Thursday, the Warriors repaid being swept by Long Beach State by sweeping the 49ers last night. Pedro Azenha put down a match-high 16 kills and Hawaii outblocked The Beach 13-4.5 for a 31-29, 30-22, 30-28 victory at The Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, Calif.

It took 85 minutes for Hawaii to improve to 17-8 overall and edge a bit closer to nailing down a home playoff match. The Warriors are in third place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation at 13-7, a half-game ahead of Brigham Young and UC Santa Barbara, and a full game ahead of the 49ers (18-9, 12-8).

It was just the second home loss for Long Beach State in 13 matches, snapping a 10-match home winning streak. It was also just the fourth time the 49ers had lost 3-0.

"I'm so proud and happy for our guys," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "They exorcised some demons, mostly those on our side of the court. They came out ready to play. What I liked about tonight is we didn't beat ourselves. It's a great thing to build on."

Hawaii can secure a first-round playoff home match with two wins against Pacific next Friday and Saturday. The Tigers (12-16, 6-14) were all but eliminated from playoff contention last night after being swept by Stanford.

The 49ers, also trying to earn a home playoff match, close out the regular season by hosting second-place UCLA and traveling to UC Irvine.

"We can't dwell on the loss," Long Beach coach Alan Knipe said. "Hawaii served well tonight and we didn't. We couldn't create opportunities for our blocking defense."

The Warriors' blocking won Game 1 and restored their faith in being able to close out a game. Hawaii led 24-20 only to give up five straight points on a serving run by Yassir Sliti.

Sliti, who had five aces Thursday, had just one last night. It gave the 49ers a 25-24 lead that they expanded to 28-26.

For one of the few times this season, Hawaii refused to fold. The Warriors pulled to a 28-28 tie, held off one game point at 29-28, and tied it at 29 on a kill by Matt Carere.

Hawaii finished it off with two straight blocks of Robert Tarr, the second on a solo block by Azenha.

The Warriors took control midway through Game 2, using six blocks and an ace by Carere for an 18-14 lead. Setter Brian Beckwith served for two aces and Carere another in pulling away at 27-20.

The seesaw Game 3 saw four lead changes and 10 ties, the last at 23-23. Hawaii scored three straight, jump-starting a 6-2 run that gave the Warriors their first swing at match point at 29-25.

They would need three more as the 49ers fought back to within 29-28. Kyle Klinger finally ended it with his sixth kill.

"It was nip and tuck at the end," Wilton said. "Long Beach had that little run and that could have resowed some seeds of doubt if we had lost that one. The last month has been tough, we've had some sicknesses and some injuries. We lost our confidence and our ability to hang in there late, an ability that was so good early. Tonight, we were in system. The boys are back."

MPSF standings

	Conference			Overall
	W	L	Pct.	W	L
x- Pepperdine	18	2	.900	18	2
x- UCLA	16	3	.842	23	3
x- Hawaii	13	7	.650	17	8
x- Brigham Young	12	7	.632	17	9
x- UC Santa Barbara	12	7	.632	14	11
x- Long Beach State	12	8	.600	18	9
x- Stanford	10	10	.500	11	12
CS Northridge	8	11	.421	15	12
UC Irvine	6	13	.316	8	18
Pacific	6	14	.300	12	16
USC	3	17	.150	6	21
UC San Diego	1	18	.052	2	21

x-clinched MPSF Tournament berth

Yesterday
Hawaii def. Long Beach State, 31-29, 30-22, 30-28
Stanford def. Pacific, 30-27, 36-34, 31-29
BYU def. UC San Diego, 30-19, 30-24, 30-24
Today
CS Northridge at UC Irvine
UC San Diego at BYU
UC Santa Barbara at UCLA

Hawaii def. Long Beach St.

31-29, 30-22, 30-28

Warriors (17-8, 13-7 mpsf)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Klinger	3	6	2	12	.333	0	3	0
Carere	3	9	3	14	.429	0	2	2
Beckwith	3	1	0	1	1.000	0	0	3
Azenha	3	16	6	28	.357	1	4	4
Bender	3	9	1	22	.364	0	7	1
Dante	3	8	0	12	.667	0	8	1
Reft	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	4
Totals	3	49	12	89	.416	1	24	15
49ers (18-9, 12-8 mpsf)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Lotman	3	7	1	13	.462	0	1	3
Hildebrand	3	3	0	4	.750	0	3	2
Liles	3	6	2	8	.500	0	2	0
Sliti	3	14	10	29	.138	0	1	3
Budinger	3	6	2	15	.267	0	2	3
Tarr	3	14	7	26	.269	0	0	3
Caldwell	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	2
Hagstrom	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Munoz	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	9
Totals	3	50	22	95	.295	0	9	26

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (7): Beckwith 2, Carere 2, Azenha, Bender, Klinger. LBSU (2): Budinger, Sliti. Assists -- Hawaii (44): Beckwith 43, Reft. LBSU (47): Hildebrand 42, Munoz 4, Budinger.
T -- 1:25. Officials -- Scott Hogue, Bob Oshita. A -- 1,089.