UH sweeps Stanford
Advertiser Staff
It took only 75 minutes, including the introductions and timeouts, for the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team to produce the most one-sided victory in the program's 26-season history last night at Stanford, Calif.
The average per-game margin was 12.67 points in the Warriors' 30-19, 30-14, 30-19 victory over Stanford before 679 fans in Maples Pavilion.
In the UC Santa Barbara Tournament in 1988, UH's average per-game margin was 13 against UC San Diego. But that pool-play match was only two games and under sideout rules. Last night, the Warriors faced a team that had knocked off No. 1 UCLA. "We had a nice night," UH coach Mike Wilton said.
UH middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre had a perfect match, with 11 kills in 11 swings. "I'm not sure if that was a record, but I imagine he at least tied it," Wilton said.
LaBarre credited passers Alfred Reft and Jose Delgado, setter Brian Beckwith and outside hitter Delano Thomas.
"They opened up a lot of things for the offense," said LaBarre, who had four block solos and five block assists. "Everybody played hard."
In practices and video-review sessions this week, Wilton emphasized the basics — serving tough and accurately passing the Cardinal's serves.
"The rudimentary skills," Wilton said. "That was the key to the match. From the get-go, we passed well and we served well. It was really smooth."
Delgado, the secondary outside hitter, continued his improvement as a passer, receiving 26 serves without an error. He was able to find Beckwith near the net, Wilton said, "and Brian had all of the options to set. When the passers do a nice job, it makes it easier for the hitters to do a nice job."
The Warriors hit .519, committing only nine errors. The Cardinal hit .075 and gave away 25 points on attack errors. Two Cardinal starters — Craig Buell and Ben Reddy — had more errors than kills. Reddy was pulled in Games 3 and 4 because of erratic play.
Thomas, UH's primary left-side hitter, buried a match-high 14 kills. He had two of the Warriors' three aces. When Thomas was serving, the Warriors scored 54 percent of the time (7 of 13).
"Delano served really well," LaBarre said. "His serves were coming down really tough. That helped us a lot."
With the rematch tonight, the Warriors had little time to celebrate.
"I'm concerned about (the rematch)," Wilton said. "Anytime a team loses like that, they'll be stung and ready to go the next night. They're better than the way they played."
LaBarre said: "We can't take anything for granted. In our league, everybody is tough. Stanford will come out ready to play."
