Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. – The Warrior freshman brigade of Jose Delgado, Delano Thomas and Daniel Rasay came to the rescue of second-ranked Hawaii tonight, providing energy and points over the last two sets of their 30-27, 29-31, 31-29, 30-26, Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinal win over No. 4 UC Santa Barbara tonight at Firestone Fieldhouse on the Pepperdine campus.

After taking the first set, 30-27, the Warriors began to sputter a bit, as the Gauchos stormed back for a 31-29 victory in the second set. Warrior coach Mike Wilton inserted Delgado at outside hitter to begin game three, and he proceeded to dominate offensively, slamming down eight kills in 10 swings. Thomas, who missed Hawaii's regular season series at UC Santa Barbara, added to the fire, putting down five kills in six swings himself in the third set win.

Over the course of the match the Warrior attack steadily picked-up steam behind junior All-MPSF setter Kimo Tuyay. After hitting just .162 in the first set, the Warriors regrouped under Tuyay to hit .314 in the second set, and then .405 in set number three.

But in the fourth and final set, the Warrior attack again began to struggle, prompting Wilton to insert freshman setter Daniel Rasay into the lineup. With Hawaii down 11-15 in the fourth set, Rasay entered and rallied the Warriors as they outscored the Gauchos, 19 to 11 en route to the victory. With Rasay in, Hawaii junior All-American outside hitter Costas Theocharidis got back on track, as he recorded six kills over the remainder of the contest.

On the night, Delgado, a starter for much of the season, finished with 11 kills on 17 swings over just two sets to hit .412, while Thomas, a 6-foot-7 middle from Sacramento, Calif., recorded nine kills of his own on a .538 hitting percentage. Rasay, a redshirt freshman from Kailua-Kona, had eight assists in just over half a set.

The energy provided by the freshman trio supplemented strong outings from veteran Warriors Theocharidis, Eyal Zimet and Dejan Miladinovic. Theocharidis, who was voted to the All-MPSF first-team earlier this week, had a match-high 21 kills on 51 swings and five block assists.

Zimet, a junior All-MPSF honorable mention selection, registered his third double-double effort of the season, putting down 11 kills (.429) while also posting a match-high 10 digs. Miladinovic, who became the second, four-time all-league performer this week, contributed seven kills and a match-high eight total blocks. Miladinovic's first four blocks of the evening were critical for the Warriors, as they cut Hawaii's game one deficit from 7-10, to 10-11.

With the win, the Warriors advance to the MPSF title match, where they will face host and top-ranked Pepperdine at 7:00 p.m., west coast time, with the winner earning the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Final Four next weekend. The match will be broadcast back to the 50th state on KCCN (1420 AM). Internet listeners can access the broadcast by Scott Robbs through the UH Athletics website, at http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu.