Box Score

HONOLULU - No. 3 Hawai`i was sluggish early out of the gate but managed to knocked off UC San Diego 38-36, 37-39, 30-20, 30-21 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match tonight at the Stan Sheriff Center in front of 3,561.

Hawai`i (20-4, 16-3 MPSF) got eight kills from Lauri Hakala in Game 1 and eeked by the Tritons, 38-36. UH took slim 4-3 and 6-4 leads early, but UCSD came back to go up 7-6 and held the lead until the Warriors reclaimed it at 26-25. UH staved off two set points at 29-28 and 30-29, before eventually winning 38-36.

UCSD (1-25, 0-19 MPSF) did not get untracked in Game 2 until UH held a 27-22 advantage. Then the Tritons went on a 6-1 run to tie it at 28. UCSD held off three game points by UH before winning it 39-37 on a UH hitting error.

The Warriors regrouped in Games 3 and 4 winning convincingly 30-20 and 30-21. The UH offense got unleashed as well as putting up a formidable block. UH hit .355 and .481 in the two games. The Warriors held the Tritons in check for the final two games as UCSD managed to hit only .030 and .103.

UH outhit (.340 to .205) and outblocked (15.0 to 6.0) UCSD in the match. The Warriors were led by Matt Carere's 21 kills, followed by Hakala's 20 and Matt Bender's 15. Outside hitter Jose Delgado was sick and did not play in tonight's match. Delgado leads the Warriors averaging 4.33 kills per game.

UCSD was led by Jon Daze who collected 15 kills followed by Mike Reuter's 11.

The two teams meet again Saturday evening with a 7:00 p.m. first serve. The Warriors can sew up at least second place in the regular season MPSF standings tomorrow with a victory over UCSD as Brigham Young lost for the second straight time to Long Beach State earlier tonight.