Box Score

HONOLULU - The 12th-ranked University of Hawai`i men's volleyball team lost in five sets tonight 27-30, 30-20, 24-30, 30-23, 15-13 to No. 14 USC.

With the loss, UH falls to 2-9 on the season and 2-7 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while USC improves to 4-8 and 3-6 in the MPSF. The Warriors dropped their seventh straight, while USC stopped a three-match skid and ended the losing streak to UH at 12.

The Valentine's match did not disappoint the 2,982 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center who stayed until the end.

UH fell behind in Game 1 9-6, but reeled off seven-straight points to lead, 13-9. The Warriors increased their margin to five on two occasions to 17-12 and 23-18 before the Trojans mounted a comeback tying the score at 25 and eventually winning, 30-27.

Game 2 started like the first one with UH trailing 9-6, but the Warriors fought back to tie it at 10 and took an 18-15 lead before outscoring USC 12-5 to win it 30-20.

Hawai`i jumped out to a 7-2 lead in Game 3 before USC scratched its way back to an eight all tie. The Trojans then went on a 10-5 run to take control of the set and go on to win, 30-24.

The fourth set was tied at 22 until the Warriors went on an 8-1 run to tie the match at two sets apiece.

In Game 5, USC streaked to leads of 4-0 and 6-3 before UH rattled off six unanswered points to hold a 9-6 advantage. USC battled back and tied the match at 11. The two teams played side out until 13 when USC got a Juan Figueroa kill and a UH error to close it out, 15-13.

The Warriors outhit (.245 to .235) and outblocked (20 to 10.5) the Trojans, but came up short on the scoreboard.

UH was led by Jim Clar's 15 kills while Jacob Schkud had 14 and Matt Vanzant added 13. Brian Beckwith, who set the Warriors the first three sets, dished out 32 assists. Sean Carney came off the bench to hand out 22 assists in the final two sets. Eric Kalima and Schkud each posted eight digs, while Dio Dante sported a match-high 10 blocks.

USC was led by Figueroa's career-high 35 kills. Andrew Vernon posted 11 kills whilte C.J. Schellenberg added 10. JImmy Killian led the way with 68 assists, while Luke Morris had a match-high 13 digs.

The two teams finish up the two-match series on Friday night at 7:05 p.m.

-UH-