Box Score

Honolulu, HI –It took five games, but the top-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team managed to defeat the No. 2 UCLA Bruins, 3-2 (26-30, 30-28, 25-30, 30-26, 15-9) and extend their winning streak to nine. The Warriors are now 11-2, 8-1 MPSF on the season, while the Bruins drop to 12-3, 7-3 MPSF. The Warriors have now won the last five contests against the Bruins.

Leading the Warrior offense was outside hitter Pedro Azenha who put down 24 kills and served up two aces for the evening. Azenha also had eight digs and six block assists. Junior Delano Thomas was not far behind with 21 kills, one service ace, six digs and five blocks including two solo blocks. Setter Brian Beckwith had another stellar evening putting up 60 assists while middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre contributed eight block assists to lead the Warriors to 16.5 team blocks for the match.

In game one UCLA came on strong, taking the lead early and never letting up. The Bruins took game one, 26-30, largely off of the work of Kris Kraushaar who had four kills for the game and would go on to rack up 11 in the match. Bruins J.T. Wenger, Paul Johnson and Steve Klosterman also contributed three kills each in the first game.

The Warriors managed their first lead of the match in game two at 8-7 and managed to hold a tentative advantage over UCLA throughout the game. Outside hitter Jose Delgado, who was held to zero kills in game one, came to the Warriors rescue in the second game putting down three kills and hitting 1.000. Hawai'i took game two 30-28.

The Bruins took the court by storm in game three hitting .833 in the first half of the game. Hawai'i struggled to get back into their groove as the Bruins took the game, 30-25. But by the fourth game the Warriors were back on track and determined to win before a crowd of 5767 screaming fans. As UCLA struggled to get through the Hawai'i block, the Warriors managed to steal the game, 30-26 and push the match to a fifth game.

In game five the Warriors remained firmly in control of the match and frustrated the Bruins offense, who was held to a .000 hitting percentage in the final game. Hawai'i meanwhile hit .692 with Azenha getting five kills in the fifth game alone. The Warriors took the game five and the match from the Bruins, 15-9 off an Azenha ace.

Round two of the No. 1 Warriors versus the No. 2 Bruins will take place on Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center at 7:00pm.

Season Statistics

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