The scores were 27-30, 30-24, 30-24, 30-17.

The Warriors improved to 6-2. The Cardinals, who entered the two-match series as the nation's only undefeated team, fell to 6-2.

While UH outside hitters Pedro Azenha (24 kills, .571 hitting percentage) and Delano Thomas (19 kills, .529) provided their expected firepower, it was middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre's dancing jump floaters that frustrated the Cardinals.

LaBarre, who served four key points in the momentum-shifting third game, tried to place his jump floaters to the right and left shoulders on the Cardinals' side of the court. The strategy had two effects. It forced Jary Delgado, the Cardinals' best outside hitter, to side-swipe passes, taking him out of the offense. Because those passes forced setter Keith Schunzel away from the net, the Cardinals' middle hitters were not available for quick attacks.

"LaBarre was our nemesis," BSU coach Joel Walton said. "His serve killed us all week long."

Delgado said the Cardinals practiced receiving jump floaters during yesterday afternoon's walk-through practice, "but it didn't help."

LaBarre said the coaches implore him to use the floater, which he launches after a running start. LaBarre equates his serve to baseball's knuckleball. UH coach Mike Wilton said, "You don't really know where it's going to go."

"Because my serve isn't like a Nolan Ryan fastball — like a Delano or Pedro serve — I have to try and fool people," LaBarre said. "If I can cause the setter to come off the net, maybe they can't run the middle, which gives our block an easier read. That's one less hitter to worry about."

Adding to the effectiveness, said Schunzel, BSU's setter, is that the 6-foot-8 LaBarre "jumps and he hits a pretty high trajectory. (The serve is) coming down and gets to you a little quicker than you think. And it's moving like a knuckleball. It's a tough serve. It's a really good serve."

BSU's Walton added: "We didn't pass very well, and as the night went along, it became a little bit of a mental block for us."

Although the Cardinals dominated the first game and built leads in Games 2 and 3, their hopes were written in smoke.

Delgado, even with a 40-inch vertical jump, struggled against the UH block. And opposite hitter Nick Meyer endured a disturbing freshman hazing, finishing with more hitting errors (17) than kills (16).

"We do well in certain parts, but then we don't have the consistency," Delgado said.

During video-review sessions this week, UH's Wilton noticed that the Cardinals' middle hitters would "cut" their shots. Right-handed Zoran Grabovac would pull shots to the left and left-handed Andrew Braley would hook shots to the right.

"Our middles, if they were playing a shell game, they were losing," Wilton said. "Our middles were really fooled a lot."

Wilton benched LaBarre for two rotations in the middle games, giving him an outsider's perspective of the Cardinals' hitting tendencies. After falling behind 14-10 in Game 3, Wilton said, "our middles caught on and executed our game plan."

The Warriors contained both the middle and outside attacks in amassing 17 blocks. UH middle Joshua Stanhiser had one solo block and assisted on nine others.

With the block in place, Azenha and Thomas were able to swing away. "I'm feeling confident," said Azenha, who appears to have fully recovered from a sprained left ankle. Azenha accompanied each kill with a scream.

"I used to have a coach who was a psychiatrist," Azenha said. "He used to tell me it would be good to yell when I hit, to have that release. Now, it just comes out naturally."

After that, for the Cardinals, it really was over except for the shouting. "They turned their game up in Games 3 and 4, and that's what great teams do," BSU's Schunzel said. "When it's 'go' time, they push on, and then you're in trouble."

The Warriors will practice today and take off the this weekend. They open a four-match road trip next week.