BYU sweeps top-ranked Hawai'i in volleyball
Advertiser Staff
The dreams of the top-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team disappeared in the thin air of Provo, Utah, last night.
Dan Lund • Special to The Honolulu Advertiser
With a taunting, overflow crowd of more than 6,000 yelling "overrated" in the Smith Fieldhouse, Brigham Young surged to a 31-29, 30-28, 30-23 victory.
Hawai'i's Eyal Zimet hits over a BYU block. The Warriors need a victory in tonight's rematch to capture the MPSF Pacific Division title.
In improving to 19-3 overall and 13-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, the second-ranked Cougars earned the No. 1 seed in the league playoffs that begin next weekend. They will serve as host throughout the playoffs.
The Warriors, now 17-5 and 12-4, must win tonight's rematch to claim the Pacific Division title. Long Beach State has a 12-5 conference record, but won the only match between the teams this regular season.
A loss tonight will give the Warriors the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and, as UH coach Mike Wilton said, "the lower you drop, the tougher your first-round opponent will be."
UH already will serve as host for next Saturday's opening round. But Wilton said he believes BYU will win its first playoff match and, should the Warriors also win, "we'll be back on (the Smith) court again. We have to learn how to play from start to finish on this floor."
The Warriors served for game point at 29-26 in the first game and led 26-20 in the second before collapsing. Wilton said the wounds were self-inflicted.
"It was us," Wilton told his players in a morgue-quiet locker room after the match. "I leveled with them. I told them, 'I don't think BYU beat us. We beat ourselves. We let those two (games) get away from us. It wasn't what they did. It was what we didn't do.'"
The Warriors rallied from two eight-point deficits to tie it at 20 in the third game. But the Cougars scored 10 of the match's final 13 points.
Every BYU tactic seemed to work. Luka Slabe came in and served the final five points of first game. Jaime Mayol, who did not start, boosted the Cougars' outside hitting. Mac Wilson, another reserve, dominated the middle in the third game.
The Warriors had difficulty passing, which led to slow sets. Their hitters never had a chance. Opposite hitter Torry Tukuafu was lifted after the Cougars exposed his problems passing. Tony Ching came in to provide a lift, but in the third game, with UH out of timeouts, Tukuafu was brought back in as a momentum change. Nothing helped.
"We showed a lot of heart and courage to tie it at 20, but that wasn't enough," Wilton said. "We have to forget about it and think about (tonight's match). We need to play well."
The Warriors made 31 hitting errors in 116 swings and hit a season-low .086. Costas Theocharidis led UH with 20 kills, but he had nine hitting errors.
