"He did a real nice job," Ball State coach Joel Walton said, "not only in attacking, but in passing as well. We were trying to serve some balls at him, and he did a good job getting the ball up to (UH setter Brian) Beckwith at the net."

It was a remarkable performance for a player who redshirted last season and was unavailable for seven weeks after aggravating a bulging disc during a December exhibition match.

With the Warriors (12-4) struggling to find consistency in the dual role of passer and attacker at the second left-side position, UH coach Mike Wilton this week opened the competition to José José Delgado, Lauri Hakala, Jake Schkud and Carere.

Using a scoring system factoring four disciplines, Wilton awarded the starting job to a player who had zero kills in five previous games this season and had not cleared the net on either of his two kill attempts.

"I knew he could do the job," Wilton said of Carere, a junior who transferred to UH in August 2003 after playing at a junior college. "I watched him all of last year, when he redshirted, and he was starting for us in the fall (training camp) before he got hurt."

Matt Carere made the most of his first UH career start with 11 kills. He also made 23 passes without an error in the win over Ball State. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"He's an awesome player," said UH's other left-side hitter, Matt Bender, who hammered a team-high 13 kills. "You have to be a good player to be on the team. He plays hard. On top of that, he has one of the best attitudes on the team."

Asked about Carere's feisty play, Bender turned to student assistant coach and Canada resident Jake Muise, and said, "Maybe it's the water up there."

Carere did not commit an error in his first 10 swings. He was able to navigate the block with ricochets and angle shots.

"I was a little nervous at the start, but after I got a few passes and serves, I was comfortable," Carere said. "I worked really hard in practice to try to get back from the back injury. I always had confidence in myself. I know Coach (Wilton) has confidence in me. I'm getting a lot of support from the team, so it was really easy."

Carere quelled questions about his stamina, noting he is a distance runner. Besides, the match — which lasted 91 minutes — was destined to be brief once Carere, Bender and opposite hitter Pedro Azenha took charge.

Azenha seized the momentum with jump serves in Game 1. He blasted consecutive aces to put the Warriors ahead, 6-5, and slammed two more aces to make it 17-13. The Warriors scored points on six of Azenha's first eight serves. Once, the Cardinals used five passers when Azenha was serving.

"We were playing pretty well in Game 1, and then Pedro got on that big run," BSU's Walton said. "They opened up a gap, and we weren't able to respond."

Azenha, who swings away following a towering toss, said: "Everybody knows my serve is one of the team's weapons. I'm trying to bring it every match, because serving and passing are the most important parts of volleyball. If I can bring a good serve every night, it's going to make it a lot easier for my team."

The Warriors scored on 55 percent of the plays started by Bender's serves (11 of 20); the goal is to score 35 percent of the time.

"It was confidence," said Bender, who had been limited because of a sore right (swinging) shoulder earlier in the season. "My shoulder is feeling a lot better."

The Warriors were without starting middle blocker Kyle Klinger (sore left foot) last night, and Wilton said he still is evaluating the second left-side position.

"That competition will continue," he said. "I think that will be healthy for us the rest of the year."