Hawaii wins 1 and loses 1

The Warriors fall to UCLA in five games, but still win the Outrigger Hotels Volleyball Invitational

Left off the guest list the past three years, UCLA made its return a very successful one.

The fifth-ranked Bruins crashed Hawaii's party last night, holding off the No. 7 Warriors 30-26, 30-26, 25-30, 27-30, 16-14 in the last match of the Outrigger Hotels Volleyball Invitational in front of a vocal Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,451.

UCLA: 3 Hawaii: 2 Next Up vs. UC Irvine, Wednesday All-Tournament Team » David Russell, UCLA » Lauri Hakala, Hawaii » Alfred Reft, Hawaii » Matt Proper, Penn State » Stu Katz, Ohio State » Brian Beckwith, Hawaii Most Outstanding Player » Dennis Gonzalez, UCLA

By virtue of game differential, Hawaii (3-2 overall, 2-1 OHVI) earned the title, its fifth in the 12-year history of the event. UCLA (4-3, 2-1) finished second with Ohio State (7-1 2-1) third and Penn State (1-4, 0-3) fourth.

Picking up the championship bowl was a hollow victory for the Warriors, who had match point at 14-13 but couldn't close it. The Bruins scored the final three points, including Sean O'Malley's slam of an overpass by UH's All-American libero Alfred Reft that gave UCLA match point at 15-14.

"That last pass will be with me for a long time," said Reft. "I've got to be sharper than that. My team did what they had to do at the end to get us in position to win and I need to be able to contribute.

"I WILL use that as motivation for the rest of the season. It will be interesting to see how the two teams develop over the next few months until we see them again."

UCLA makes a return visit for matches March 10 and 11. Hawaii hitter Lauri Hakala will be replaying his match-ending hitting error from now until then.

"It was all me, it was a good set," said Hakala, who joined Reft and UH setter Brian Beckwith on the all-tournament team. It's always a tough swing in a tight match, but no excuses. It's either in or it's out and it was out.

"It's definitely a learning experience."

Matt Carere led Hawaii with 16 kills and Hakala added 11. Eric Kalima came off the bench for 10 kills, earning praise from UCLA coach Al Scates.

"Kalima did a good job, hit .429," Scates said. "I was happy about our hitting, too (.323). That's two straight nights we've been over .300. We had been hitting around .250."

Boosting UCLA's average was Nick Scheftic, who had 17 kills and hit .519. Paul George added 15 and David Russell 14.

Hawaii jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in Game 5, only to be caught at 6-6 when Scott blocked Kalima. Kalima pushed the Warriors ahead with his 10th kill, but kills by Scott and Scheftic gave the Bruins their first lead.

Hawaii regained it on kills by Jake Schkud and Hakala, with a hitting error by Scott putting the Warriors up at 10-8.

UCLA tied it at 10 when Carere's 3-meter attack hit the tape and rolled out and George's serve landed inside the back line for an ace. Sean O'Malley put down two straight kills from the left to put the Bruins up 12-10.

The teams twice traded points before Dio Dante and Hakala teamed to stuff O'Malley twice to give Hawaii match point at 14-13. UCLA staved off one attempt when setter Dennis Gonzalez, the tourney MVP, put down his fourth kill.

O'Malley slammed back Reft's overpass to give the Bruins a swing at ending it. The marathon ended when Hakala hit wide.

"I wouldn't say that we played our best volleyball," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "What's neat is we figured out a way to compete and get it in."

During the early part of the match, Hawaii's inconsistent passing made it difficult for setter Brian Beckwith to run the up-tempo offense that had been so impressive against Ohio State and Penn State earlier in the week.

Until Game 3, the only thing that looked like it would be quick would be the Warriors' exit. UCLA wasn't dominating ... just better when it counted. Russell and Scheftic were untouchable, combining for 16 kills with no errors on 24 swings.

The Warriors block, unreal in Thursday's victory over the Buckeyes, didn't really materialize until Game 3. Hawaii doubled its block total to six with three in Game 3.

Warrior coach Mike Wilton revamped his lineup after the break, replacing Hakala with Jake Schkud. Both Schkud and Kalima, who replaced Jose Delgado midway through Game 2, re-energized the UH offense.

Schkud, Beckwith's high school and club teammate, put down six of his eight attempts in helping the Warriors claim Game 3.

Hawaii yanked the momentum away in the seesaw Game 4, breaking away from a 21-21 tie to take a 25-22 lead behind kills by Kalima and Carere. Two UCLA hitting gave the Warriors a 27-23 advantage, but the Bruins rallied to within 28-26.

Another Carere kill gave Hawaii game point. UCLA was able to hold off the Warriors for one play, thanks to a kill by Damien Scott, but Kalima came flying in from the left-side for his ninth kill to even the match.

Ohio State 3, Penn State 2

The Buckeyes (7-1, 2-1) held off two match points in rallying past the Nittany Lions (1-4, 0-3).

Stuart Katz led Ohio State with 28 kills and Sam Stevens added 14 in hitting .560. Matt Proper had 27 kills and Nate Meerstein 21 for Penn State, which has lost four in a row.

The Nittany Lions led 8-3 and 9-4 in Game 5 only to have the Buckeyes chip away. Penn State had two swings to end it, at 14-12 and 14-13, but Ohio State held, tying it at 14-14 on an ace by Andrew Price.

Price appeared to commit foot faults on the game-tying serve as well as his next serve, both of which were not called, and the Buckeyes went ahead at 15-14. A kill by PSU's Alex Gutor tied it at 15, but Ohio State closed it out on Robert Klein's 10th kill and a block of Gutor by Klein and John Albertson.