Updated at 9:44 p.m., Thursday, March 8, 2007
No. 1 Pepperdine sweeps Warriors in volleyball
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
A crowd of 1,730 watched the Waves win their 12th in a row to improve to 15-1 overall and 12-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Warriors fell to 3-12 and 3-10.
The rematch is Saturday, beginning at 3 p.m.
Inconsistent passing led to the Warriors' struggles.
"When we pass well, we're very good," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "When we don't, we have problems."
The Warriors tinkered with their lineup, moving Lauri Hakala back to opposite attacker, where he hits on the right side in five of the six rotations. But an opposite's passing responsibilities are reduced. The Warriors did not get equal value in the tradeoff of Hakala's offense (match-high 18 kills) for diminished left-side passing.
The Warriors rallied in the third game. But Hakala, who had a streak of five consecutive points for UH, hit wide on aloha ball.
Matt Vanzant contributed 10 kills for the Warriors.
Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.
