Posted on: Saturday, February 5, 2005
Warriors sweep Cardinal
By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer
The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team turned mental weakness into physical dominance, sweeping Stanford, 30-21, 30-26, 30-23, last night at the Stan Sheriff Center in front of 3,016 fans.
One night after being extended by the Cardinal to a five-game match after winning the first two games, which they called a "mental loss," Hawai'i improved to 8-1 and 6-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, the first time since 2002 it opened the conference season with six consecutive wins.
"We knew we had to come here and make a statement that it wouldn't happen again," said Hawai'i junior outside hitter Pedro Azenha of Thursday night's match. "We were determined to come here and play at our level. We knew we were the better team, no offense to them."
Hawai'i outplayed Stanford (3-8, 2-6) in almost every aspect of the match, outhitting it .351 to .132, and outblocking it 12 to 4.5.
"Tonight, we just played some good Warrior volleyball," Hawai'i coach Mike Wilton said. "We were prepared, we watched tape, we did the mental homework."
The Warriors maintained a two-point lead early in Game 1, then pulled away to 20-14 behind the serving of outside hitter José José Delgado's four points, aided by blocks by middle blocker Dio Dante and outside hitter Matt Bender, and Dante and Azenha.
Hawai'i out-hit Stanford .448 to .091, forcing nine Cardinal hitting errors against 12 kills in Game 1.
"We were somewhat embarrassed (with Thursday's match)," said setter Brian Beckwith, who dished out 39 assists and had four blocks. "We wanted to show the crowd that (Thursday) night was a fluke and we did."
The Warriors opened another large lead in the middle of Game 2, leading 19-13, but the Cardinal outscored them 8-2 to tie the game at 21.
"They're good at coming back," Wilton said. "If you give them anything, they take advantage of it."
An Azenha kill on the next point gave the Warriors the lead for good, and sparked a 9-5 run to close out the game, which ended with a double block by Bender and Dante.
It set up a familiar situation, with the Warriors up two games.
"We did it a lot last year, winning the first two games and then losing," Bender said. "It was a lot of frustration for us. This year, we're a little more experienced and a lot more confident. It's not, 'Oh my gosh, we have to win the third game,' it's just another game we have to win."
Hawai'i accomplished that in Game 3, jumping out to a large lead, after scoring runs by servers Dante (six points) and Azenha (4) gave it an 18-8 advantage.
"We have to focus on winning those third games more," Beckwith said. "Good teams know how to win and close out a match."
"We just made too many unenforced errors," Stanford coach Don Shaw said. "Hawai'i just played a steady game."
Azenha led the Warriors with 17 kills, hitting .520, and junior middle blocker Maulia La Barre added 11.
"We still have a lot to work on, but we've been playing really good volleyball," Azenha said. "We're playing with really good energy, and I think the crowd is responding to the energy."
Stanford middle blocker Craig Buell had a team-high nine kills.
Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.
