Bruins bruise Warriors

UCLA stops Hawaii in the first round of the MPSF playoffs

Ten years ago, it was for the NCAA championship.

Last night, it was to keep the season alive.

Last night was a killer.

UCLA   Hawaii 3 1 Next up: TBD

No team has broken Hawaii's heart more often in men's volleyball postseason play than UCLA. It took 2 hours and 6 minutes for the Bruins to do it yet another time.

No. 7 UCLA used a balanced attack and neutralized that of No. 2 Hawaii's, stunning the Warriors 18-30, 30-28, 30-22, 30-24 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation quarterfinal at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 5,966 saw Steve Klosterman and Nick Scheftic each put down 14 kills to lead the Bruins (22-12) to their 10th consecutive victory and into Thursday's semifinal against Pepperdine at Irvine, Calif. Hawaii (23-5), seeing its 19-match winning streak fizzle into the Manoa mist, will be rooting for top-ranked UC Irvine to win it, leaving hope that the selection committee will give the Warriors the at-large berth in the upcoming NCAA tournament.

"You hate to be in a situation where you can't prove it on the court," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "But the argument is we proved it on the court all year long. Just picked one heck of a time to play horrible.

"Tonight had nothing to do with UCLA. We imploded and couldn't put anything together. But I don't think it's over if Irvine wins."

There is precedent, set last year, of a team that doesn't reach the semifinals to earn the at-large berth. The committee chose UCLA last year.

But the Warriors wanted to prove it on the court. Last night, they fell flat.

"It's disappointing," UH senior hitter Jose Delgado said after putting down 15 kills, but just seven after Game 1. "They just played way better volleyball than we did. They were in system and we weren't."

Hawaii setter Brian Beckwith said one difference was when UCLA switched setters, replacing freshman Matt Wade with senior Dennis Gonzalez in Game 2. Gonzalez walked by the press table prior to the match, saying it was not going to be his last collegiate match.

"He's an emotional leader," Beckwith said of his counterpart. "He really got those guys emotionally involved and did a great job.

"It's tough to think about waiting on the at-large. It's something we'll have to deal with on Monday."

The Warriors return to the practice court tomorrow, starting a week of hard work and hope. The committee makes the selection next Sunday.

Hawaii, the top blocking team in the MPSF, finished with a 13.5-7.5 edge in blocks. But the Warriors never could sustain momentum after the first 24 minutes.

"We just stopped playing and I don't have a reason for it," said UH hitter Lauri Hakala, finishing with a match-high 17 kills. "We haven't played like that all season."

The Warriors opened the match looking like they had all season.

Hawaii took control of Game 1 early, the tone set when UCLA's David Russell hit the bottom of the net with his opening serve. Scates called a timeout a minute later, after Matt Carere's ace gave the Warriors a 4-0 lead.

The next 23 minutes was a Delgado-Hakala highlight reel, with Delgado putting down eight kills and Hakala perfect on his first five swings. Hawaii's defense and block kept UCLA hitting negative most of the game, and the Warriors raced out to a 28-22 lead behind six straight serves by Sean Carney.

The Bruins only stayed as close as they did when helped by six Warrior service errors. It was the third-fewest points scored by UCLA all season, only eclipsed by a 30-14 drubbing in Game 3 of a four-game loss to BYU and 30-17 in Game 2 at Cal State Northridge, a match UCLA won in four.

Gonzalez replaced Wade at setter, and the Bruins settled down. The Warriors continued to serve aggressively, but this time the errors (eight) came back to haunt them.

Hawaii held off two game points to close to 29-28 on two kills by Delgado but couldn't manage a tie when Delgado's netted his next attempt.

Whatever the teams took into the locker room came back out with them and continued the rest of the match.

UCLA broke away in the middle of both Games 3 and 4 and, except for a late rally in Game 3, the Warriors never had an answer.

"We weren't really shaken by that horrible first game," UCLA coach Al Scates said. "I told them we couldn't play any worse than we did."

In last night's other MPSF quarterfinals, Pepperdine beat Cal State Northridge 30-24, 30-25, 30-28 and Long Beach State beat Brigham Young 30-21, 30-23, 25-30, 30-25. UCLA plays Pepperdine and host UC Irvine plays LBSU on Thursday in the semifinals.

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