Two of their best players — opposite hitter Dan Rhodes (sprained right hand) and outside hitter Cary Hanson (strained right elbow) — are ailing.

For tonight's rematch, the Matadors will be without starting libero Sebastian Pedraza, who left for Florida to meet with officials from the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Pedraza, who was born in Colombia and raised in Florida, is seeking U.S. citizenship. Northridge assistant coach Greg Harasymowycz said Pedraza did not want to risk hurting his application by postponing or canceling the meeting.

"He's important to our team, but it's more important that he goes (to Florida)," Harasymowycz said.

Matt Levoe, a sophomore who transferred from Moorpark Junior College, or Hanson will play libero.

Hanson, who wears heavy padding on his swinging arm, cannot bend his right elbow without grimacing. But because a libero is prohibited from being used as an attacker, Hanson can play the defensive position despite the injury.

"He's one of our best passers," Harasymowycz said.

In Wednesday's match, the Matadors had difficulty accurately passing the Warriors' serves to the wings. The poor passes limited Jeff Conover's opportunities to set quickly to the middle attackers.

With Rhodes hitting erratically because of the hand injury and the Matadors reluctant to attack from the back row — they were successful on one of the four pipe sets — the Warriors were able to plant the block and set up their defense.

The Matadors spent most of yesterday's two-hour practice working on their passing. They hope that improved passing will create better hitting situations for the middles and corner attackers.

Rhodes is confident that the match's excitement will dull the pain in his right hand. He wore a thick ice pack after Wednesday's match.

"It's not broken, thank God," Rhodes said. "It's a really bad sprain. I tape it up every now and then. I went with a less of a tape job (on Wednesday) so I could move my wrist more. (But) it affects how you play, somewhat."

The Matadors entered Wednesday's match averaging 3.5 service errors per game in two MPSF matches. Against UH, the Matadors missed eight serves in each of the first two games and finished with 21 service errors. Middle blocker Brian Waite missed eight of 10 serves.

"You have to tell yourself, 'They had a bad night, but that's not how they play,'" UH middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre said. "Some nights you're on. Some nights you're off. We know they're going to come back and play their hardest."

Despite effective passing and serving, the Warriors hit .278 in the first match.

"We have to do better than that," UH coach Mike Wilton said.

Instead of tinkering with the lineup, Wilton decided to shake up the routine. The Warriors usually watch videotapes and then practice for at least two hours. Yesterday, they practiced for 90 minutes, then watched videotapes.

The video session "helps with our mental preparation," UH setter Brian Beckwith said, "and in this sport, it all comes down to mental preparation."

During practice, Wilton also implored libero Alfred Reft and outside hitters José José Delgado and Matt Bender to loft exceptionally high passes to allow Beckwith to jump-set.

The jump-set technique works well in feeding the middle attackers quickly.

"It's pretty crucial to use my height," said Beckwith, who is 6 feet 6. "If they can pass it up high, I can jump-set it that much better. It's more effective. It gives (opposing) blockers one more thing to think about."

In the opening match, Beckwith received high passes about 80 percent of the time. "That was a pretty good percentage," he said. "It's the other 20 percent we're worried about."