Box Score

LOS ANGELES - The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team (10-11, 7-9 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) overcame a horrendous games two and three in a 30-28, 16-30, 17-30, 32-30, 17-15 victory over 12th-ranked USC, Saturday at the Galen Center. The Warriors leapfrogged the Trojans in the MPSF standings and moved into eighth place.

Freshman Brennon Dyer, who started for James Clar on the outside, led the Warriors with a career-high 15 kills. Joshua Walker added 14 kills, six blocks, and four digs. Steven Grgas posted five kills and eight blocks while Keali'i Frank had seven kills on eight swings.

The Trojans (10-13, 7-10) were led by Murphy Troy's 32 kills, his second straight 30-kills match against the Warriors. Juan Figueroa pounded 27 kills on 39 percent hitting.

USC led every statistical category, out-hitting UH, .306-.217, had 70 digs compared to 39 for the Warriors, and served up 10 aces to Hawai'i's three.

In the tightly-contested first game, UH scored the last two points on a double block by Grgas and Dyer and a Trojan hitting error for the 30-28 victory.

USC jumped out to a 17-7 lead in game two and were never threatened in a 30-16 win. UH hit a miserable .000 (7 kills and 7 errors) while the Trojans hit .536 with 20 kills on 28 attempts. Game three was equally frustrating for the Warriors who actually led 10-9. But the Trojans steamrolled the rest of the way and used a 14-5 run to put the game out of reach.

The Warriors found some fight in them in the fourth leading throughout. UH forged ahead 24-20 before the Trojans inched their way back. Hawai'i led 29-26 before the Trojans scored three straight with a kill by Figuaroa, triple-blocked Dyer, and had a lucky ace by Figueroa, which clipped the top of the tape and rolled over. However, on UH's fifth game point, Sean Carney fed Dyer to send the match to a fifth.

UH built leads of 5-1 and 8-5 in the deciding set. Moments later, Carney solo-blocked Figueroa for a 10-7 lead. The Trojans inched their way back to within one at 13-12 forcing UH head coach Mike Wilton to call timeout.

A USC service error gave UH its first match point but the Trojans answered with consecutive kills to even the match at 14-14. USC snuffed UH's second match point but the Warriors' block of Figueroa gave them their third aloha ball. Troy hit long to snap UH's three-match road losing streak.

The Warriors continues their road swing with a two-match series with No. 1 Cal State Northridge, Tuesday, March 25 and Wednesday, March 26 at the Matadome in Northridge, Calif.

-UH-