Hawaii never hit
its stride in 2005

Hawaii, which lost to Long Beach
State in the quarterfinals, returns
a strong group next season

It was a ride that simply ran out of road.

The Hawaii volleyball team will be haunted by the what-ifs of the season, which ended with painful suddenness in Saturday's quarterfinal against Long Beach State.

On April 8, the Warriors defeated the 49ers when they had to keep their home playoff hopes alive. They couldn't pull it off three weeks later at the Stan Sheriff Center when they needed to keep the season going.

Harder yet is to look at two of the teams that remain in contention in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament: Cal State Northridge, which Hawaii swept in three games twice, and UC Santa Barbara, which gained a split with the Warriors thanks to a remarkable Game 5 rally the second night.

With UCLA and Brigham Young out of the way, the MPSF title was up for grabs. For Hawaii, which has never won the conference championship, it remained out of reach.

"The path was definitely falling into place," UH assistant coach Aaron Wilton said yesterday. "Not to take anything away from Long Beach -- they played well. But I still think we're the better team.

"We just never could get going. It felt like we were riding a bike and the tire was always wobbling. It never felt comfortable. We struggled in so many different ways, but especially with our passing. And we never hit our stride serving."

Saturday apparently was the last match for Wilton, who is waiting to hear back on graduate school acceptance. The former Warrior, an assistant the past four years, is looking at Cal State Sacramento and may end up as an assistant for the Hornets women's volleyball team.

Wilton said he will continue to recruit for Hawaii this summer before moving to the mainland.

The main focus for recruiting will be to secure at least one primary passer who can also "bang on the outside," his father, Warriors head coach Mike Wilton, said.

The other need is filling the void of departing senior Pedro Azenha. The opposite accounted for nearly 30 percent of the kills (459), 47 percent of the aces (52) and 28 percent of the blocking (89.5).

Hawaii loses seniors Azenha and reserve setter Daniel Rasay. There's a chance that seldom-used hitter Lauri Hakala, a first-year player from Finland, also won't be back.

"It's basically financial," said Hakala, who is trying to complete a degree in 3 1/2 years. "If it were up to me, I'd stay. I love Hawaii."

Either way, the Warriors have a strong nucleus of returnees. It will be a senior-laden group that comes back in fall, all with starting experience: hitters Matt Bender, Matt Carere and Jose Delgado, libero Alfred Reft and middle Mauli'a LaBarre.

Also back for their junior years will be setter Brian Beckwith, middle Dio Dante and reserve libero Eric Kalima. Middle Kyle Klinger, who started toward the end of the season, will return for his sophomore season, as will middle/hitter Jake Schkud and libero Brian Villaroman.

Four redshirts have potential to contribute, either next season or the year after. Backing up Beckwith at setter is Sean Carney, an all-state pick out of Iolani who transferred from Lewis, and Brandon Ricard from California.

Looking for a chance at outside are Jim Clar from New York and Jamie Sawicki from New Jersey. One island product who sat out this season was 2003 Big Island player of the year Kyle Teves, an outside hitter.

Hawaii has a commitment from a middle blocker and is looking at several foreign players. Mike Wilton said he'd likely only be able to bring in one of the foreign players.

"We'll miss Pedro and Danny a lot," Wilton said, who is 260-114 in 13 seasons at UH. "We're going to have to figure out who is going to play opposite (Azenha's position) but we have a good bunch of guys coming back who will be a year better."

Reft sets mark: Alfred Reft finished with nine digs Saturday, giving him the UH single-season dig record with 272. The previous mark of 266 was set in 1998 by Naveh Milo.

Kneubuhl plays key role: Kamehameha Schools graduate Isaac Kneubuhl served for the final five points in Cal State Northridge's upset of UCLA on Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion. The Matadors trailed 14-10 in Game 5 and held off three match points en route to shocking the Bruins 30-25, 30-27, 18-30, 22-30, 16-14.

Northridge (19-13) faces top-ranked Pepperdine (21-2) in Thursday's first semifinal at Malibu, Calif.

The second semifinal pits Long Beach State (21-9) against UC Santa Barbara (16-13). The Gauchos upset third-seeded Brigham Young in Provo on Saturday 30-25, 30-21, 29-31, 23-30, 15-13.

The defending NCAA champion Cougars (20-10) lost middle blocker Michael Burke, their senior captain, in Game 2 with a separated shoulder.