This time, the University of Hawaii volleyball sequel was just as dramatic.
The Rainbow Warriors rallied several times Saturday night before producing a 22-25, 25-18, 24-26, 25-16, 15-11 upset of third-ranked UCLA in the Stan Sheriff Center.
A season-high crowd of 2,715 saw the Warriors seize their second victory over the Bruins in as many nights to improve to 11-6 overall and 9-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
The Bruins, playing for the third time in six nights, fell to 13-5 and 10-4.
"This is exactly what we needed," UH setter Joby Ramos said. "We’re still hungry for more."
UH coach Charlie Wade, who worked to exhaustion, needed to sit down after the 2-hour, 38-minute match against the Warriors’ longtime rival.
"I’m really proud of our guys," Wade said. "Our staff — (assistant coaches) Jeff Hall and Milan (Zarkovic) — worked really hard this week putting together a scouting report and training the guys. We were there training in the practice gym on Monday, and we did a lot of stuff to prepare for (this series). I could not be prouder of the guys at how they worked, how hard the staff worked."
The Bruins were moving parts. Because of injuries and circumstances, the Bruins were down to their third setter, Hagen Smith. Michael Fisher started at opposite in place of Jackson Bantle, who struggled in Friday’s match. Then in the middle of Saturday’s first set, middle blocker Spencer Rowe suffered an apparent ankle injury when he landed awkwardly. He did not play the rest of the match.
3 HAWAII
2 UCLA
KEY: Hawaii hits .404 and makes just two hitting errors in the final two sets. NEXT: UC Irvine at Hawaii, 7 p.m. Friday
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Still, the substitutions did not alter the Bruins’ basic strategy: Feed left-side hitters Gonzalo Quiroga and Robart Page. Quiroga, an All-American the past two seasons, and Page, who is 7 feet, account for nearly 60 percent of the Bruins’ swings.
Page amassed 16 kills and Quiroga had 15, but they combined for only four in the fifth set.
Still, the Bruins jumped to leads of 3-0 and 6-3. But then the Warriors, with disruptive serving, managed to fight back. UH middle Nick West’s slam off an overpass tied it at 6. The fifth set would be tied five more times, the last at 11.
Then middle Taylor Averill slammed a kill to give the Warriors a 12-11 lead they would not relinquish.
On the next play, Page’s spike was rejected by Averill and opposite Brook Sedore.
After a timeout, UH outside hitter Siki Zarkovic sizzled a serve that ricocheted off Quiroga.
Then Fisher hit a crossing shot that Ramos was able to dig. Garrett Komisarek, UH’s second libero, fed Sedore on the right side. Sedore crushed aloha ball.
"You think I was going to take anything off the ball?" Sedore said. "I was going to rip it no matter what."
Sedore finished with 22 kills. He had 46 kills in the two matches.
"Brook was on fire," Ramos said. "But I felt I could set anybody and they would have put it away."
The Warriors had lost two road matches entering this series.
But this weekend, Ramos said, "I felt we were all in the zone. We were all fired up."
Sedore said: "It was good to beat a team we know we’re going to see later on when, or if, we make the postseason. We struck the fear in their hearts for when we play them next."
This was the first time UH swept a two-match series from the Bruins since 2006.
MPSF VOLLEYBALL
|
Conference |
|
|
|
Overall |
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L |
BYU |
12 |
1 |
.923 |
— |
12 |
3 |
UCLA |
10 |
4 |
.714 |
21⁄2 |
13 |
5 |
Long Beach St. |
10 |
4 |
.714 |
21⁄2 |
11 |
4 |
Pepperdine |
9 |
4 |
.692 |
3 |
9 |
4 |
Hawaii |
9 |
5 |
.642 |
31⁄2 |
11 |
6 |
UCSB |
9 |
5 |
.642 |
31⁄2 |
10 |
5 |
USC |
9 |
6 |
.600 |
4 |
10 |
6 |
UC Irvine |
8 |
7 |
.533 |
5 |
11 |
8 |
Stanford |
7 |
7 |
.500 |
51⁄2 |
10 |
7 |
CS Northridge |
5 |
9 |
.357 |
71⁄2 |
5 |
10 |
Cal Baptist |
2 |
11 |
.154 |
10 |
3 |
12 |
|
Pacific |
1 |
12 |
.077 |
11 |
2 |
14 |
UC San Diego |
0 |
15 |
.000 |
13 |
1 |
16 |
Saturday
Hawaii def. UCLA, 22-25, 25-18, 24-26, 25-16, 5-11
BYU def. Pepperdine, 25-22, 25-23, 25-22
Stanford def. CS Northridge, 25-20, 25-17, 25-22
UC Santa Barbara def. UC San Diego, 25-20, 25-16, 25-18
Long Beach State def. Pacific, 25-15, 25-19, 25-18
NO. 11 HAWAII DEF. NO. 3 UCLA 22-25, 25-18, 24-26, 25-16, 15-11
BRUINS (13-5, 10-4 MPSF) |
|
S |
K |
E |
ATT |
PCT |
D |
BS |
BA |
PTS |
Fisher |
5 |
13 |
7 |
27 |
.222 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
13.5 |
Kersten |
5 |
7 |
1 |
11 |
.545 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
9.0 |
Page |
5 |
16 |
6 |
38 |
.263 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
18.5 |
Rowe |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
-1.000 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0.5 |
Smith |
5 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
.500 |
4 |
0 |
2 |
2.0 |
Quiroga |
5 |
15 |
7 |
32 |
.250 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
16.5 |
Bantle |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Paullin |
4 |
2 |
0 |
9 |
.222 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3.5 |
Stahl |
2 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
-1.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.0 |
Sequeira |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Chalmers |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Totals |
5 |
54 |
24 |
122 |
.246 |
29 |
1 |
13 |
64.5 |
RAINBOW WARRIORS (11-6, 9-5 MPSF) |
|
S |
K |
E |
ATT |
PCT |
D |
BS |
BA |
PTS |
Ramos |
5 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
.667 |
8 |
0 |
2 |
3.0 |
West |
5 |
6 |
2 |
11 |
.364 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
11.0 |
Sedore |
5 |
22 |
6 |
40 |
.400 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
23.5 |
Averill |
5 |
10 |
2 |
13 |
.615 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
11.0 |
Zarkovic |
5 |
13 |
3 |
27 |
.370 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
17.0 |
Olsen |
5 |
8 |
2 |
20 |
.300 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
11.5 |
Komisarek |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Kanetake |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Timmer |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Franciskovic |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Fey |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Totals |
5 |
61 |
15 |
114 |
.404 |
34 |
2 |
16 |
77.0 |
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). Service Aces — UCLA 3 (Page, Quiroga, Stahl). Hawaii 6 (Zarkovic 3, Olsen 2, Sedore). Service errors — UCLA 20 (Fisher 5, Page 5, Paullin 3, Kersten 2, Smith 2, Quiroga 2, Stahl). Hawaii 22 (Sedore 6, Ramos 4, Zarkovic 4, Averill 3, Timmer 3, West, Olsen). Assists — UCLA 51 (Hagen 47, Fisher, Page, Quiroga, Paullin). Hawaii 58 (Ramos 51, Komisarek 3, Zarkovic 2, West, Olsen). T — 2:38. Officials — Burt Fuller, Dickson Chun. A — 2,715.