Hawaii turns it around on Alberta
POSTED: Sunday, February 14, 2010
A little knowledge may be a dangerous thing, but a lot of knowledge—particularly in the form of game film—can be very, very useful.
Armed with the tape from Friday's exhibition loss to Alberta, the Hawaii men's volleyball team made all the right adjustments in last night's rematch.
A balanced attack, led by Jonas Umlauft and Joshua Walker, and an impressive serving game that kept the Golden Bears off-balance, was more than enough as the Warriors recovered their rhythm and pride by sweeping the visitors from Canada.
As a turnstile crowd of 1,523 watched at the Stan Sheriff Center, Umlauft put down 22 kills and Walker added 15 kills and three of Hawaii's eight aces in a 30-24, 37-35, 30-28 victory. Toronto native Steven Hunt added 10 kills in the 2-hour, 4-minute win.
“;We came back focused tonight,”; said Walker, who had just nine kills and no aces Friday. “;The difference was we took it one play at a time and stepped it up when we needed to, especially getting our serves in.
“;We knew we could play a lot better than we did (Friday).”;
“;I was really happy that we stayed focused in the tight situations,”; added Hawaii coach Charlie Wade. “;At 28-28 (in Set 3) we got the ball to the right guys.”;
Walker's last kill set up match point and a hitting error by Thomas Jarnoc gave the Warriors the win. Jarnoc led the Golden Bears with 14 kills and Spencer Leiske 13.
Unlike Friday's opening set—which had 24 ties and seven lead changes—last night's Set 1 had two ties, the second at 7-7. The Warriors' serving steadied out from the previous night, with two aces by Walker and another by Hunt helping Hawaii pull away at 27-19.
Alberta got as close as five by holding off set point at 29-24, only to have Umlauft finish it off with his sixth kill.
Set 2 was reminiscent of Friday's Set 2 marathon that the Golden Bears won 35-33. This time, it would be Hawaii that hung tough late in the set that featured 21 ties and plenty of drama.
The Warriors played catch-up most of the set, finally catching the Golden Bears at 26. Umlauft hit wide to give Alberta the first of what would be three set points but a serving rotation error proved costly on the Canadians' third attempt, with Justin Merta incorrectly serving at 31-30.
The mistake knotted it at 31 and turned the momentum to Hawaii's side of the court. The Warriors needed five swings at taking a 2-0 lead, but finally got it when Hunt's kill broke a 35-35 tie and Brennon Dyer stuffed Merta to end it.
Hawaii def. Alberta 30-24, 37-35, 30-28
| Golden Bears | |||||||||
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | ||
| Leiske | 3 | 13 | 9 | 29 | .138 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| Nault | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Lidster | 3 | 8 | 0 | 10 | .800 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| J.DeRocco | 3 | 8 | 2 | 14 | .429 | 6 | 1 | 0 | |
| Jamroc | 3 | 14 | 2 | 27 | .444 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Merta | 3 | 7 | 3 | 14 | .286 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| M.DeRocco | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mattson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 8 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tokarik | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Olmstead | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Totals | 3 | 54 | 16 | 98 | .388 | 20 | 1 | 12 | |
| Warriors | |||||||||
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | ||
| Rawson | 3 | 4 | 0 | 5 | .800 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| Hunt | 3 | 10 | 4 | 21 | .286 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Walker | 3 | 15 | 5 | 28 | .357 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| Umlauft | 3 | 22 | 5 | 34 | .500 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Zemljak | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Dyer | 3 | 5 | 1 | 7 | .571 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Tuaniga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cervantes | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 11 | 0 | 0 | |
| Strotman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 3 | 57 | 16 | 98 | .418 | 23 | 3 | 2 |
Key —s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills plus blocks plus aces)
Aces—Alberta (3): Nault, Lidster, Merta. Hawaii (8): Zemlijak 4, Walker 3, Hunt. Service Errors—Alberta (16): Leiske 5, J.DeRocco 3, Jamroc 3, Merta 2, Lidster, Tokarik, Olmstead. Hawaii (14): Zemlijak 4, Walker 3, Dyer 3, Hunt 2, Umlauft 2. Assists—Alberta (51): Nault 40, M. DeRocco 6, Mattson 3, Lidster, J.DeRocco. Hawaii (53): Zemljak 50, Cervantes 2, Umlauft. T—2:04. Officials—Dickson Chun, Ernie Ho. A—1,523.
