Hawaii takes Long Beach in four!
Brian Godwin
Rainbows came out on top in four games 15-9, 15-8, 13-15, and 16-14.
In the first 2 games the score was close up until about 8. Then Hawaii
ran away and finished the Beach off rather easily. In game 3, Hawaii
fell behind 8-1 and 9-2 before rallying to take a 12-10 lead and
looked ready to close out the match. The Bows went away from the
strong serving game, opting for some floaters and played right into
the strength of the Long Beach squad. The 49'ers roared back and took
game 3 with a strong finish. The teams kept the same strategies
thoughout the fourth game until Coach Wilton cut loose the jump serve
at the end. throughout the match, the Bows dominated with tough
serving, keeping the 49'ers off balance and disrupting the passing
game.
In front of 4,843 screaming fans the Rainbows "served" up 14 aces (and
22 service errors, live by the sword...) Yuval Katz led the way
knocking down 40 kills on 76 swings. At least 3 others had high
double figure kills. Eric Pichel led the way with what appears to be
a school record 7 aces (including 3 of the final four points). Wagner
had 30 kills, Chryst 26, and Hoff 18 to lead Long Beach. Beach had 2
service aces for the night.
In somewhat of an irony, the shorter Bows outblocked Long Beach 14 to
13. So far they have shown that speed and defense wins over height
and power and even managed to outblock most at the same time.
The teams match up again Saturday night for another knock-down
drag-out slug-fest. One last note...the Bows lost starting middle
blocker Jason Ring for probably a week, when he landed on a ball in
practice and tore some ligaments in his ankle. Rick Tune filled his
shoes quite nicely tonight.
Till later,
Brian