Warriors open with loss to top team

Hawaii hopes it was just getting warmed up before meeting UC Irvine again today

IRVINE, Calif. » The advantages were many: home court, height, experience -- both in playing together this season and for most of the past four years -- and the ability to hang onto momentum.

UC Irvine    Hawaii 3 0 Next Up at UC Irvine today

The top-ranked UC Irvine men's volleyball team used all those last night when sweeping No. 4 Hawaii 30-28, 30-26, 30-21 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener for both teams. A Bren Events Center crowd of 2,370 saw senior hitter Jason Jablonsky, the reigning national player of the year, put down a match-high 12 kills and senior middle David Smith add 11 for the Anteaters (5-0, 1-0).

The Warriors (0-1, 0-1) got a team-high nine kills from senior hitter Lauri Hakala, who, still recovering from illness, hit just .034.

The teams meet again at 5:30 p.m. today Hawaii time, the second half of a doubleheader that opens with UCI women's basketball hosting Pacific.

Last night, Hawaii was still trying to regroup after having a number of starters out sick the past seven days. The reshuffled lineup had Hakala move to the left and freshman Steven Grgas take his place at opposite.

Warriors coach Mike Wilton used 12 of his 13 players, starting three freshmen (Grgas, middle Matt Rawson and libero Ric Cervantes), and using two others (hitters Ernie Vidinha and Matt Vanzant) during the course of the 90 minutes.

"I thought, all things considered, we did some good playing," Wilton said. "We just didn't do enough of it steadily. And we started breaking down late.

"I told our guys that we're going to be a really nice team and to keep our chins up. It's early and we're going to get better."

Both coaches were not happy with the number of serves missed. UCI had 23 service errors, Hawaii 21.

But the Warriors' mistakes came at critical times and brought whatever momentum they had to a screeching halt. It happened from the start, in a tight Game 1, where the Anteaters' two-point margin of victory was the difference in the number of service errors (UH 7, UCI 5).

"I thought Hawaii was winning the serve-and-pass game in Game 1," Anteater coach John Speraw said. "There was not a whole lot that we did well in Game 1 other than come up with the extra points.

"Hawaii is going to be good. You could see they were still trying to put it together. Grgas didn't look that comfortable out there, but I like his upside. It's hard to be a freshman in this conferrence."

The Warriors looked poised to even the match, leading at 16-12 in Game 2. The Anteaters, getting a spark off the bench from 6-foot-7 sophomore opposite Jon Steller, caught Hawaii at 17.

It was tied three more times before UCI pulled away for good at 22-20 on a kill and an ace by Steller.

As quick as one could say "bad rotation," Hawaii found itself in a 6-1 hole after giving up six straight points on Jablonsky's serve. The Warriors got a little spark from sophomore reserve hitter Jim Clar to pull to 26-21 but the Anteaters finished off the sweep with 4-0 run.

"We had too many serving errors," Speraw said. "Tomorrow, we'll need to serve and pass better to start, hit for a higher percentage because we know Hawaii will be better tomorrow."

Anteaters to host: UCI has been selected to host the 2008 NCAA men's volleyball championship. The semifinal matches are scheduled for May 1, with the final on May 3 at the 5,000-seat Bren Events Center.

This is the first time UCI will host the event and "it's very cool," Speraw said. "It's a big step in the right direction for this program."

This year's final four is at Ohio State.

Around the league: Freshman hitter Will Erhman (Punahou '06) had a team-high 12 kills, but it wasn't enough as UC San Diego fell to No. 10 Long Beach State in three last night. ... Jon Grobe (Iolani '02) had nine kills and seven digs to help Pepperdine over USC in four. ... Junior Isaac Kneubuhl (Kamehameha '03) had 14 kills in Cal State Northridge's 3-1 win at Stanford. Setting for the Cardinal was freshman Kawika Shoji (Iolani '06), who had 47 assists and an ace.

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