Warriors dig deep

No. 5 Hawaii outlasts Pacific to sweep the series with the Tigers

Sometimes good is good enough.

The Hawaii men's volleyball team wasn't spectacular last night when picking up its second consecutive victory. But the Warriors played smart when they had to and dug deep when they needed to.

Hawaii    Pacific 3 1 Next Up vs. Loyola-Chicago on Friday

Senior Lauri Hakala led three teammates in double figures with 18 kills and fifth-ranked Hawaii oublocked No. 11 Pacific 16-5.5 en route to a 31-29, 30-22, 28-30, 30-24 victory in 2 hours and 16 minutes last night. A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 2,107 (3,288 tickets) saw the Warriors even their record to 2-2 overall as well as in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

It was a particularly rewarding performance for Hakala whose father, Tauno, was seeing his son play for the first time as a Warrior.

"I think serving and passing was the key," said Hakala, who has moved over to left-side hitter this season. "We didn't serve that well (24 errors) but we made it up for in passing. Once we started getting our serves in, we were fine. The way Brian (setter Beckwith) was able to spread out the game was really beautiful.

"It was one of the hardest matches I've played in my life. It was the first time he's seen me play, other than on tape. He's an ophthalmologist and been on Kauai for a convention."

What Tauno Hakala and the rest of the crowd saw was a match with impressive defense on both sides. UOP outdug Hawaii 49-34, with Garrett Morales and Pekka Seppanen both coming up with 13 digs.

"We're going to live and die by being fast and serving hard," UOP coach Joe Wortmann said. "Hawaii read-blocks really well and when they serve hard, you're off the net.

"It was good rallies for volleyball, period, not just for a men's match. The game is fast and the rallies are fast. There are balls that are being hit ... I don't know what the speed ... and they're getting them up."

But not often enough as sophomore Jim Clar was able to put down 17 kills and freshman Matt Vanzant 12 for the Warriors, who hit a solid .360 for the match. Hawaii's middles, senior Dio Dante and freshman Matt Rawson, combined for 13 kills with just one error between them; Rawson also had three solo and three block assists, Dante one solo and eight block assists.

"I thought we did great," Vanzant said. "They had great passers and great diggers. Both teams kept banging away to see who would break first."

Pacific served first to end Game 1 at 29-28 only to have Seppanen serve halfway to Diamond Head to tie it. Hawaii finished it off when a dig of Vanzant's kill landed just out and Rawson blocked Dan Hammer's attempt on an overpass.

The Warriors didn't commit a hitting error in their first 12 swings, putting down eight of the attempts. The perfect run ended when Clar was blocked by Seppanen to pull the Tigers to within 15-11.

Hawaii quickly pulled away on four unanswered points, highlighted by Beckwith and Dante stuffing Maor Nutkevitch for the Warriors' 10th block. UOP never got closer than five, the last at 26-21, with Hawaii closing it out on a 4-1 run, capped by Dante's ace.

The Tigers revamped their lineup, swapping liberos and slowed down the Warriors 'X' plays coming out of the back row. Pacific led for most of the way, its largest margin at 22-19 when Hammer blocked Rawson.

Unlike Thursday when the Warriors' service errors didn't come at critical times, their miscues accounted for three of the Tigers' final five points, and two of the last three. At 28-27, Hakala served into the net to give Pacific its first game point; one sideout later, Rawson served long to give the Tigers the game, UH's ninth serving error of the game, 19th of the match.

In Game 4, it was the Tigers' serving that betrayed them, with service errors killing their chances at comebacks. The Warriors gradually pulled away in the middle, turning a 14-14 tie into a 26-20 lead.

Pacific closed to 26-23, the last point coming despite an impressive defensive stand by Hawaii, including three digs by Clar. The Warriors finished it off on a 4-1 run, punctuated by Beckwith's redirect of a overpass for match point and Rawson and Hakala teaming to block Matt Cornell.

Seppanen finished with 16 kills and Cornell 15 for Pacific (2-5, 1-3).

Hawaii next hosts the 13th Outrigger Hotels Invitational, next Friday and Saturday. Also competing are Penn State, Loyola-Chicago and Brigham Young.

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