Warriors fall to Cougars in 4
POSTED: Friday, January 23, 2009
Smith Fieldhouse continued to be a road bump in Hawaii's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball ride.
It wasn't so much the lighter air and the altitude that was the problem. The 11th-ranked Warriors simply could not deal with Brigham Young's effective multi-faceted attack.
The ninth-ranked Cougars had three players with 19 kills or more in handing Hawaii its fifth straight loss. Junior opposite Mat Taylor led the way with a career-high 22 kills as BYU downed the Warriors 30-23, 30-23, 25-30, 30-22 in 2 hours and 16 minutes.
Sophomore hitter Kevin Sagers added a career-high 21 kills and junior hitter Andrew Stewart 19 for the Cougars, improving to 3-3 overall, 1-0 in MPSF. BYU ran its record to 17-3 at home against Hawaii, winning the last five dating back to 2003.
The Warriors (1-5, 0-3) got 19 kills from freshman Steven Hunt. Junior middle Steven Grgas added nine kills on 14 attempts, his second consecutive match without a hitting error, and sophomore Joshua Walker also had nine kills.
“;Our guys took a long time to get comfortable,”; Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. “;We couldn't stop their outsides.
“;There was a lot of good things happening on our side, just not enough. I sure would like to come out of here with a win tomorrow.”;
The teams meet again today at 4 p.m. Hawaii time.
The Cougars won the battle at the net, with an 8-6 edge in blocks. They also bombed away from the service line, finishing with eight aces to none for the Warriors.
“;I thought we passed OK most of the time, except for those eight aces,”; Wilton said. “;Our block was bad. Both teams' block was bad.
“;I thought we played well in (sets) 3 and 4. We just need to play better tomorrow and stay patient.”;
Hawaii hit .485 when winning Set 3. The Warriors were very efficient in Set 4 (.533); the problem was, the Cougars were even better (.667), with just one error in putting down 21 of 30 attempts.
Hawaii controlled Set 3 from the start, leading by as many as seven, the last at 29-22. BYU began to gain momentum when scoring three points in staving off game point before Grgas gave the Warriors the win.
BYU built on the late success of Set 3 to pull away early in Set 4, with Sagers' 19th kill giving the Cougars a 15-10 lead. Hawaii never got closer than five the rest of the way, the last at 24-19 on a kill by freshman hitter Gus Tuaniga.
The Cougars closed it out with a 5-3 run that included a third ace by setter Yamil Perez and the first by Stewart.
Hampering Hawaii's defense was the loss of junior libero Ric Cervantes, who left in Set 2 with flu-like symptoms. Replacing him was senior Mike China, who finished with five digs and his first career kill.
China's dig in Set 2 landed on BYU's side of the court to bring Hawaii to within 26-23. It was the Warriors' final point; the Cougars went on a 4-0 run to take a 2-0 lead.
“;I want to let it be known that Mike was superb tonight,”; Wilton said. “;He did have two receiving errors, but otherwise I liked what he did.”;
MPSF standings
| W | L | Pct. | GB | W-L |
||
| CSU Northridge | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | — | 5-0 |
|
| Pepperdine | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | — | 3-0 |
|
| Long Beach State | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | — | 3-2 |
|
| UC Irvine | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | — | 5-2 |
|
| Stanford | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1/2 | 5-1 |
|
| BYU | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1/2 | 3-3 |
|
| UCLA | 1 | 2 | .333 | 1 1/2 | 2-4 |
|
| USC | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 3-1 |
|
| Pacific | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1 1/2 | 2-4 |
|
| UC San Diego | 0 | 2 | .000 | 2 | 1-3 |
|
| UC Santa Barbara | 0 | 2 | .000 | 2 | 2-3 |
|
| Hawaii | 0 | 3 | .000 | 2 1/2 | 1-5 |
Wednesday
Long Beach State def. UCLA, 24-30, 30-24, 28-30, 30-22, 15-17
UC Irvine def. UC San Diego, 30-24, 30-22, 30-19
Yesterday
BYU def. Hawaii, 30-23, 30-23, 25-30, 30-22
Today
Hawaii at BYU, 4 p.m. Hawaii time
Pacific at Pepperdine
UC Santa Barbara at CSU Northridge
UC San Diego at UCLA
Stanford at USC
UC Irvine at Long Beach State
Tomorrow
Stanford at Pepperdine
Pacific at USC
BYU def. Hawaii
30-23, 30-23, 25-30, 30-22
Warriors (1-5, 0-3)
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
|
| Rawson | 4 | 8 | 1 | 14 | .500 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 9.5 |
| Grgas | 4 | 9 | 0 | 12 | .750 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 10.0 |
| Hunt | 4 | 19 | 4 | 34 | .441 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 19.5 |
| Carney | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | .167 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 3.0 |
| Tuaniga | 3 | 8 | 2 | 16 | .375 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8.5 |
| Dyer | 2 | 4 | 1 | 13 | .231 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 |
| Clar | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.5 |
| Walker | 3 | 9 | 7 | 24 | .083 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10.0 |
| Cervantes | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Zemljak | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| China | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.000 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
| Totals | 4 | 63 | 17 | 126 | .365 | 32 | 1 | 10 | 69.0 |
Cougars (3-3, 1-0)
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
|
| Souza | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | .000 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4.0 |
| Taylor | 4 | 22 | 4 | 37 | .486 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 25.0 |
| Sagers | 4 | 21 | 1 | 32 | .625 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 22.0 |
| Perez | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .500 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 5.0 |
| Stewart | 4 | 19 | 5 | 32 | .438 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 21.0 |
| Tavana | 4 | 9 | 4 | 17 | .294 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10.5 |
| Tuttle | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Chilton | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Silva | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Lavaja | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -1.000 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2.5 |
| Kauliakamoa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Totals | 4 | 74 | 18 | 131 | .427 | 38 | 2 | 12 | 90.0 |
Key—s: sets played; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills + blocks + aces)
Aces—Hawaii none. BYU (8): Perez 3, Taylor 2, Lavaja 2, Stewart. Assists—Hawaii (59): Carney 57, Tuaniga, Walker. BYU (69): Perez 62, Silva 4, Souza, Sagers, Stewart.
T—2:16. Officials—Les Calles, Tom Given, Trent Mano. A—N/A
