HAWAII BEATS LONG BEACH AGAIN ! (press article)
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Advertiser/Star Bulletin...Enjoy!
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"UH Beats Another No. 2 Team": Long Beach State loses again in 4 games
By Dayton Morinaga, Advertiser Staff Writer
Any more No. 2's out there?
The top-ranked Hawaii men's volleyball team disposed of No. 2 Long
Beach State, 15-9, 15-6, 9-
15, 15-5 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match last night at the
Special Events Arena. It was the
fourth time this season the No. 1 Rainbows have defeated the No. 2 team.
What has become the normal Saturday night party-gathering of 8,414
watched the Rainbows
keep their unbeaten season going at 9-0 overall and 6-0 in the MPSF. The
49ers fell to 7-2 and 4-2 - both
losses here this week.
"I'm feeling real good about my guys," said Hawaii coach Mike
Wilton. "Our serving was good
and we passed real well. All the guns were firing."
For the second consecutive match, the Rainbows relied on laser
jump serves to stymie Long
Beach. Last night, Hawaii had 10 aces, giving it 24 in two nights versus
the Beach.
"The serving was the difference," said Long Beach coach Ray
Ratelle. "As long as they keep
getting their jump serves in like that, they're unbeatable."
After the success they had Thursday, Wilton said, he specifically
told each of this players to use
jump serves again last night because it would be "like pouring gasoline on
a fire."
And Long Beach burned. At times last night, the 49ers appeared so
concerned with Hawaii's
serve that it forgot about its offense.
"Well, when you're passing all over the gym like we were, it's
hard for the offense to get in a
rhythm," Ratelle said.
So Hawaii took advantage. Yuval Katz had 37 kills and Aaron
Wilton finished with a career-
high 25 kills. From the start, it was those two who led the Rainbows.
Hawaii reeled off eight straight points during one stretch of Game
1 to take a 9-1 lead. Katz
collected three of those points with emphatic kills.
Long Beach got as close as 11-7, but Katz added five more kills
down the stretch to put the game
away. Katz, a 6-5 sophomore, had 11 kills in the first game.
Hawaii again started hot in the second game, jumping to an 8-1
lead. Wilton's solo block of
Martin Wagner then gave the Rainbows a 10-2 lead that was never
threatened. Wilton, who had 14 kills
by the end of Game 2, roared at Wagner after the play. "It was a high
intensity game," Wilton said.
But just as it had Thursday night, Long Beach rallied in Game 3.
Tom Hoff led the 49er charge
with eight kills in the third game.
"We perhaps tried too hard to end it," said Mike Wilton.
But the 'Bows steadied in Game 4. By the time Katz put down his
37th kill of the match, Hawaii
had a 12-4 lead. Moments later, Sivan Leoni fittingly ended the match
with an ace.
"I think I could have done some things better," said Aaron Wilton,
who hit for a .488 percentage
and added two aces, seven digs and three blocks.
But teammate Rick Tune chimed in, "He's being modest. He played
awesome."
Tune and Naveh Milo added 12 kills each for Hawaii. Hoff used all
of his 6-7 frame to pound 24
kills for Long Beach.
Next week, Hawaii will travel to Los Angeles to play Southern
California twice and LaVerne
once. The Rainbows return home for matches with UCLA March 1 and 2.
Could another No. 1 vs. No. 2
match be on the horizon?
"How many more can you dish out?" asked Tune. "We'll play 'em
all."
STATS:
Long Beach State
G K E A Pct. BS BA D A
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Moore 1 0 0 0 --- 0 0 0 0
Cheney 4 2 1 4 .250 0 1 4 0
Mendel 4 5 5 13 .000 1 7 5 0
Wagner 4 20 7 45 .289 0 3 5 2
Hoff 4 24 3 41 .512 0 4 8 2
Barr 2 0 0 1 .000 0 3 1 0
Cryst 4 9 9 29 .000 0 4 6 1
Amar 2 4 1 6 .500 0 4 4 2
Walker 1 0 0 1 .000 1 1 3 0
Mariano 2 0 0 0 --- 0 0 1 0
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TOTALS 64 26 140 .271 2 27 37 7
Hawaii
G K E A Pct. BS BA D A
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Pichel 4 1 1 2 .000 0 2 5 2
Katz 4 37 11 68 .382 0 1 14 1
Lee 4 0 0 0 --- 0 1 3 0
Kuo 1 0 0 0 --- 0 0 0 0
Wilton 4 25 5 41 .488 1 2 7 2
Milo 4 12 8 31 .129 0 4 7 1
Leoni 4 7 1 14 .429 1 4 4 3
Tune 4 12 3 18 .500 1 3 5 1
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TOTALS 94 29 174 .374 3 17 45 10
Key -- G: Games. K-E-A: Kills-Errors-Attempts. Pct.: Hitting percentage
(kills minus errors divided by
attempts). BS: Block solo. BA: Block assist. D: Dig. A: Ace.
LBSU (7-2,4-2) 9 6 15 5
HAWAII (9-0, 6-0) 15 15 9 15
Team blocks- LBS: 15, UH 11. Assist leaders - LBS: 62 (Cheney 50), Hawaii
90 (Pichel 86). Time -
2:23. Att. 8,414.
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C y'all @ the UH-UCLA games in a couple weeks!
Roland