UC Irvine sweeps past Hawaii
POSTED: Friday, March 27, 2009
Hawaii's steep climb to gain a playoff berth may have been ended by a landslide last night as No. 1 UC Irvine buried the Warriors in 94 minutes at the Bren Center.
| UC IRVINE | 3 |
| HAWAII | 0 |
| ———
NEXT UP
at UC Irvine today
|
Led by senior hitter Taylor Wilson's 15 kills and tough serving that kept Hawaii off balance all night, the Anteaters won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball contest in Irvine, Calif., 30-17, 30-25, 30-26. UCI (18-3, 13-2 MPSF) remained tied for the conference lead with Pepperdine, while the Warriors (6-14, 3-12) fell into a tie with UC Santa Barbara for 10th.
Only the top eight teams will advance to next month's playoffs. The Warriors have not missed the postseason in consecutive years since 1984-85.
Hawaii, 0-7 on the road this season, isn't concentrating on that in today's rematch (4 p.m. Hawaii time). The Warriors' focus is on cleaning up their sloppy serve-receive that allowed nine Anteater aces and led to a predictable offense that rarely fooled UCI.
“;You've got to give it to them, they deserve to be No. 1,”; Warriors senior Sean Carney said. “;They served really well and we weren't aggressive with our serves.
“;Our team didn't give up, but I'd like to see us not give up so many runs. Our passing definitely needs to be better.”;
Carney was the only Hawaii attacker with more than five kills, putting down 11 in hitting .231.
UCI's balanced attack had six players with six kills or more in hitting .369. Anchoring the Anteaters' defense was senior libero Brent Asuka ('Iolani '05), who had a match-high seven digs.
“;It was nightmarish mixed with some good play,”; Warriors coach Mike Wilton said. “;Basically, Irvine outserved and outpassed us.
“;You look at Game 2 and we were having a nice battle. Then (Jon) Stellar goes back to serve what seemed like a billion aces. And that was that.”;
Hawaii trailed 23-21 in Set 2 when Stellar went back to serve. The senior opposite had two consecutive aces, followed by two kills in a row by Wilson, and the Warriors found themselves down 27-21.
The meltdown carried over into Set 3, with the Warriors quickly falling behind 6-0. The Anteaters led by as much as 21-11 before Hawaii got help from five UCI service errors in pulling to 26-21.
Two kills by Carney and a block of Wilson by Matt Rawson and Nejc Zemljak brought the Warriors to within 28-25. But it was too little, too late; Stellar put down his team's last two kills to extend UCI's win streak to six.
Wilton used all 12 of his travel roster in trying to find some consistency. He likely will start Carney and Gus Tuaniga today in place of yesterday's starting outsides Jim Clar and Josh Walker.
The Anteaters had 20 service errors, including eight in Set 1 that accounted for nearly half of Hawaii's 17 points.
UCI's fifth service error brought the Warriors to within 13-9. By the time the Anteaters committed their seventh, they were enjoying a 22-11 lead.
MPSF standings
| W | L | Pct. | GB | W-L | ||
| Pepperdine | 13 | 2 | .867 | — | 15-2 | |
| UC Irvine | 13 | 2 | .867 | — | 18-3 | |
| CSU Northridge | 12 | 3 | .800 | 1/2 | 19-3 | |
| USC | 10 | 5 | .667 | 3 | 14-6 | |
| BYU | 9 | 5 | .643 | 3 1/2 | 13-8 | |
| Stanford | 7 | 6 | .538 | 5 | 14-8 | |
| Long Beach State | 7 | 9 | .437 | 6 1/2 | 10-11 | |
| UC San Diego | 6 | 10 | .375 | 7 1/2 | 10-11 | |
| UCLA | 5 | 9 | .357 | 7 1/2 | 9-12 | |
| Hawaii | 3 | 12 | .200 | 10 | 6-14 | |
| UC Santa Barbara | 3 | 12 | .200 | 10 | 7-13 | |
| Pacific | 0 | 13 | .000 | 12 | 3-19 |
Yesterday
UC Irvine def. Hawaii, 30-17, 30-25, 30-26
USC def. Long Beach State, 31-33, 30-17, 30-19, 30-25
Pepperdine def. UC San Diego, 30-26, 30-20, 30-13
Today
Hawaii at UC Irvine, 4 p.m. Hawaii time
CSU Northridge at Stanford
UCLA at BYU
UC Santa Barbara at Pacific
UC Irvine def. Hawaii
30-17, 30-25, 30-26
Warriors (6-14, 3-12)
| S | K | E | ATT | PCT | D | BS | BA | PTS | |
| Grgas | 3 | 3 | 2 | 7 | .143 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4.0 |
| Clar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Walker | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Lofy | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 |
| Zemljak | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Dyer | 3 | 5 | 6 | 16 | -.062 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5.5 |
| Rawson | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3.5 |
| Carney | 3 | 11 | 5 | 26 | .231 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 13.0 |
| Tuaniga | 3 | 5 | 3 | 15 | .133 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 8.0 |
| Cervantes | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Strotman | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.5 |
| China | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Totals | 3 | 30 | 20 | 80 | .125 | 22 | 0 | 10 | 39.0 |
Anteaters (18-3, 13-2)
| S | K | E | ATT | PCT | D | BS | BA | PTS | |
| Wilson | 3 | 15 | 3 | 30 | .400 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 19.5 |
| Ammerman | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3.5 |
| DuFault | 3 | 9 | 2 | 19 | .368 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 11.0 |
| Clark | 2 | 7 | 5 | 14 | .143 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 |
| D'Amore | 3 | 6 | 0 | 8 | .750 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 10.0 |
| Wynne | 3 | 6 | 1 | 10 | .500 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7.5 |
| Steller | 3 | 6 | 2 | 14 | .286 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8.5 |
| Spittle, A. | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Reinholm | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | .286 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3.0 |
| Spittle, N. | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Asuka | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Totals | 3 | 52 | 14 | 103 | .369 | 23 | 0 | 18 | 70.0 |
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 (4): Tuaniga 3, Carney. Irvine (9): Wilson 3, Ammerman 2, Steller 2, DuFault, Wynne. Assists — Hawaii (27): Zemljak 27. Irvine (47): Ammerman 38, Spittle, A. 6, Wilson, D'Amore, Wynne.
T — 1:34. Officials — Verna Klubnikin, Kim Pickering. A — 825.
