Hawaii sweeps UCLA

Hawaii's 3-0 victory completes the Warriors' fourth season sweep of the Bruins in 26 years

And there wasn't even a blue moon.

On a night that saw UC Irvine again take down No. 1 Brigham Young and take over the conference lead, Hawaii turned in an equally impressive -- and very rare -- feat.

HAWAII UCLA 3 0 NEXT UP vs. Loyola-Chicago, Friday

The fourth-ranked Warriors swept the league series against UCLA for just the fourth time in the 26-year rivalry, and moved into second in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings via a 30-24, 30-23, 30-28 victory over the No. 9 Bruins. It was also just the fourth time that Hawaii downed UCLA in three.

The Warriors (13-4, 11-3 MPSF) again rode the arms of their quick outside attackers, with Lauri Hakala putting down a match-high 16 kills and Matt Carere 14, including the match-ender. Jose Delgado added 11 kills in Hawaii's ninth straight victory in front of 3,821 (4,737 tickets) at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"We were emotionally flat tonight," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton. "We did some nice playing when we needed to. We seemed a day late and a dollar short throughout Game 3.

"Once again, they did what needed to be done. UCLA is a good volleyball team. They're not done yet. They're dangerous."

The Bruins (12-11, 5-9), losing their fifth consecutive MPSF match, are fighting to make the playoffs and are tied for ninth with Pacific. Only the top eight teams advance to the MPSF postseason tournament.

That, however, is not Hawaii's worry. The Warriors remained in contention for their first regular-season MPSF title since 1996 by being efficient early in Games 1 and 2, and playing with emotion when having to rally late in Game 3.

Down 2-0 for the second night in a row, UCLA led Game 3 from the first serve until it was 26-26. A kill by Hakala put Hawaii out in front for the first time at 27-26 and, following a Bruin timeout, Carere and Dio Dante teamed to stuff Sean O'Malley for Hawaii's ninth block and a two-point lead.

Steve Klosterman put down his 10th kill to pull the Bruins to within a point only to have Carere's kill give Hawaii its first shot at match point at 29-27. Nick Scheftic's kill again brought UCLA to within one, but Carere finished it off with his last kill.

"It was intense," said Carere, who had two of the team's four aces. "It took us until about 20 (in Game 3) to wake up.

"To win against a quality opponent like UCLA is always big."

"It's huge," added UH setter Brian Beckwith. "We had that slow start at the end of Game 3 and luckily that push at the end was enough this time. But it was almost too close for comfort.

"It's just a hunger and we don't want to disappoint ourselves, first and foremost. We play for each other and for the fans. Without a doubt, we have to give the fans a lot of the last few points."

Hawaii trailed by as many as four points (22-18) before making a surge. At that point, the Warriors had committed five hitting errors, the last when Dante hit wide on an open look.

They didn't have another error the rest of the way, putting down nine kills with no errors in 14 swings.

"We wanted to win in three really badly," Dante said. "It made us angry that we gave them a game (Friday). We needed to step up our game at the end."

Hakala was in on five of the team's nine blocks. UCLA had three blocks.

The Bruins won the dig battle 40-31. UCLA libero Tony Ker had 10 digs, Hawaii's libero Alfred Reft had 11.

With senior setter Dennis Gonzalez sidelined (sprained left ankle), the Bruins went with freshman Matt Wade, the son of former Wahine All-American Rocky Elias.

"Hawaii came up with the big plays at the end," Ker said. "Toward the end, we started losing momentum. There was a lot of pressure on Matt. We didn't have another backup (setter) and I think he did well."

Notes: Hawaii has eight MPSF matches remaining. Should the Warriors end up tying with UC Irvine, Hawaii has the tie-breaker on point differential; the teams split in January, with each winning in a sweep. ... Hawaii also swept the series with UCLA in 1988 in Klum Gym, in 2002 at the Sheriff Center and 2003 in Pauley Pavilion.

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