Posted on: Saturday, February 26, 2005
No. 1 UCLA holds off Hawai'i in volleyball
| • | Game statistics |
| • | WAC standings |
By Joseph D'Hippolito
Special to The Advertiser
LOS ANGELES — Winning eight consecutive matches, being undefeated in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and holding third place in the national men's volleyball rankings proved irrelevant for the University of Hawai'i last night.
UCLA, the nation's top-rated team, repelled a late charge by the Warriors to earn a four-game victory in front of 1,288 at Pauley Pavilion.
The 30-22, 30-26, 28-30, 37-35 victory gave the Bruins (15-1, 11-1) their own eight-match winning streak and put them into first place in the MPSF. The Warriors (10-2, 8-1) fell to third place behind UCLA and idle Pepperdine.
Yet UH almost forced a fifth game. The Warriors held a 29-27 lead in the fourth game when UCLA's Steve Klosterman and Paul Johnson combined to block José José Delgado. Then Brian Beckwith committed a violation that tied the score at 29.
UH took leads of 30-29 and 31-30 but the Bruins forced ties both times. Then with the score tied at 35, UCLA's Kris Kraushaar punched a kill down the Warriors' left side off a block, and Delgado pounded an attempted kill beyond the end line to finish the match.
The Warriors' late recovery almost compensated for their early performance.
"We played poorly in the first two games," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "We had a little tunnel vision. Maybe we were a little bit nervous and overexcited about the match. When that happens, you don't read so well when you block."
The Warriors hit only .167 while committing nine hitting errors in the first game. But two substitutes, Delgado and freshman middle blocker Kyle Klinger, enabled UH to recover.
The pair held UCLA to just one block in the second and third games. Delgado also had 14 kills and solidified UH's defense against quick sets, while Klinger finished with 10 kills and three block assists.
"José gave us a lot," said Wilton.
Meanwhile, Klinger impressed UCLA coach Al Scates.
"We weren't aware of what his shots were," Scates said. "He hurt us pretty bad."
But the Bruins' serving proved pivotal. UCLA had eight aces, with Johnson getting four from a jump serve that combined velocity, rapid downward movement and furious rotation.
"When you have a big serve, you can always come back," Scates said. "Everybody was hot for a while. Kraushaar was hot for awhile. (Allan) Vince was hot for awhile.
"But in the end, it was Johnson. He had his serve working tonight and he got us some crucial points."
Said Wilton: "When you serve efficiently, that creates pressure for the other team. I would've liked for us to have been able to put more pressure on them from the outside."
Pedro Azenha led UH with 17 kills and tied Alfred Reft for the team lead in digs with nine. Matt Bender added 16 kills, seven digs and four block assists, while Beckwith passed for 63 assists.
Klosterman finished with a match-high 20 kills and Johnson added 17 kills and five block assists, as the Bruins hit .366. Dennis Gonzalez contributed 52 assists and 13 digs.
The teams meet again today at 5 p.m. Hawai'i time.
