Box Score

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i men's volleyball team evened its overall record at 2-2 with a four-set win tonight over Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opponent, Pacific, with a 31-29, 30-22, 28-30, 30-24 victory at the Stan Sheriff Center in front of a crowd of 3,288.

UH had three attackers with double-digit kills tonight with Lauri Hakala leading the way with a match-high 18. Jim Clar slammed down 17, while Matt Vanzant added 12.

Middle blocker Dio Dante snuffed nine shot attempts by UOP, and Brian Beckwith handed out a season-best 55 assists.

The Warriors hit .360 as a team and sported a huge block up front posting 16.0 blocks to the Tigers' 5.5.

UOP was led by the trio of Pekka Seppanen's 17 kills, while Matt Cornell and Andreas Baboulidis posted 15 and 11 kills, respectively. Setter Garrett Morales dished out 53 assists. The Tigers had three players with double digit digs - Morales (13), Seppanen (13) and Cornell (11).

UH trailed early on but knotted the score at 17, then went up by as many as three (24-21) before UOP roared back and had game point, 29-28, before UH reeled off the final three points on a service error and two UOP attack miscues.

Hawai`i (2-2, 2-2 MPSF) never trailed in game two jumping out to a 10-5 lead and went up by as many as eight, 19-11, before finishing off UOP, 30-22.

Pacific (2-5, 1-3 MPSF) took an early 6-3 lead but UH rattled off 12 of the next 19 points to take a 15-13 advantage. But it was short-lived as UOP reeled off six of the next seven points to go up 19-16. UH came back to tie it at 20, but UOP went on another mini run to take a 25-22 lead. UH pulled to within 29-28, but a Matt Rawson service error gave UOP the win, 20-28.

Game four was another tight one. UH took a 15-14 lead at the halfway point and went up by four 23-19 to gain some cushion. UOP got as close as 26-23, but UH took the next two points on a UOP service error and attack error to lead by five. The Warriors closed out the match with a double block by Hakala and Rawson to win, 30-24.

Hawai`i hosts the 13th Outrigger Invitational next week Friday and Saturday, Jan. 26-27. The field includes Brigham Young, Loyola-Chicago and Penn State. Matches are slated for 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. with UH featured both nights in the late game.

-UH-