Warriors serve up MPSF opening sweep

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

A perfect volleyball storm of chaos-inducing serves, an akamai block and dead-on passes helped No. 4 Hawai'i overwhelm No. 6 Cal State Northridge, 30-23, 31-29, 30-19, last night.

UH's Jose Jose Delgado challenges the Northridge double block of Matt Bellante, center, and Dan Rhodes. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"Whoa, I was impressed," UH outside hitter Jose Jose Delgado said. "We played exceptional. I was enjoying it so much."

The Matadors entered as one of the league's most effective jump-serving teams. In two previous MPSF matches, the Matadors averaged 3.5 service errors per game, and placed 87 percent of their serves in fair territory.

Last night, they struggled with their control. They missed eight serves in each of the first two games, and finished with 21 service errors. Middle blocker Brian Waite, who is usually accurate, committed errors on eight of his 10 serves. He was replaced for one serve.

"Personally," Waite said, "I served horrible. I think, maybe, I let myself break down mentally. I have to personally figure out how to deal with pressure. It wasn't the arena or the outside influences. I was mentally not strong."

When the Matadors put a serve in play, UH libero Alfred Reft or Delgado usually parlayed it into a high pass to setter Brian Beckwith. Benefitting were corner hitters Matt Bender (13 kills) and Pedro Azenha (13 kills) and middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre (six kills in nine swings).

In turn, the Warriors kept the Matadors out of sync with a mixture of jump serves and floaters aimed at anybody but libero Sebastian Pedraza or outside hitter Isaac Kneubuhl. UH committed six service errors and placed 93 percent of their serves in play.

The Matadors' quick attack relies heavily on setter Jeff Conover accepting accurate passes and then feeding Waite or Matt Bellante in the middle. UH's serves to the wings forced Conover to scramble for passes, and by the time he was ready to set, the middle option was covered.

Adding injury to insult, outside hitter Cary Hanson, the Matadors' best attacker, was unable to start because of an injured right elbow, and opposite hitter Dan Rhodes was erratic because of a sprained right hand. Realizing the Matadors are not comfortable with pipe plays (an attack from the middle of the back row), UH middle blockers LaBarre and Dionisio Dante were able to track the hitters and get their fingerprints on nearly every shot.

"We wanted to touch as many as we could so Alfred (Reft) and Jose (Delgado) could pick them up," LaBarre said. "Sometimes being there and taking up space causes problems. (Opponents) have a higher shot or they have to hit around the block. If they're hitting away from the block, we're doing our job."

Reft said: "Our blockers were so stable. They were up early and they weren't floating. It makes it easier as a defender to play behind a block like that."

Northridge coach Jeff Campbell said his players were not relaxed. "There are a lot of new guys on our team," he said, referring to the new starters at four positions. "They're not young guys, but they haven't played before. They have to deal with issues about pressure and playing in front of crowds."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.