Posted on: Saturday, February 2, 2008

Warriors fall to UC Santa Barbara in five games

Advertiser Staff

The University of Hawai'i volleyball team fell short on style � and actual � points last night in losing to host UC Santa Barbara, 29-31, 30-26, 25-30, 30-21, 15-13.

"We were up and down and around and around," UH coach Mike Wilton said of the Warriors' first road match of the season. "Sometimes volleyball is not pretty. It wasn't pretty by both teams, but they were prettier than us."

UC Santa Barbara improved to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Hawai'i fell to 3-5 and 2-4.

The score was tied at 13 in the first-to-15 decisive game. Then Theo Brunner buried a kill to move the Gauchos to match point. After a UCSB timeout, Max Lineman and Scott Slaughter teamed to block UH outside attacker Jim Clar's spike attempt.

"It was a good fight all the way," Wilton said. "I don't think there was any more than a two-point differential in Game 5."

But for the Warriors, the events leading to the final game were hardly aesthetically pleasing.

Clar, who did not start, finished with a team-high 19 kills. But he also committed 11 errors and hit .151. Second-year freshman Joshua Walker's 18 kills were offset by 12 attack errors.

"We all struggled," Wilton said.

It was the first conference road trip for Walker, middle blocker Keali'i Frank, setter Nejc Zemljak and outside attacker Brennon Dyer. All but libero Ric Cervantes and outside hitter Jake Schkud were making their first road starts.

"It was a tough match," Wilton said. "This is road match No. 1 for some of the young guys. For some, it's their first road match in the league. Instead of kindly ladies in the stands giving them leis and candy, you have freshmen and sophomore yelling epithets at them. It's a different deal."

Of the Gauchos' notoriously rowdy male fans, Wilton said, "Many of them were sporting no shirts on with letters on their bellies. That's college sports. It was good. Some need to spend some time in the gym, but they had a good time. I think they had a good time."

For the Warriors, the good times � a 9-3 lead in Game 1 � did not roll for very long. They lost the lead, forcing them to scramble for combinations the rest of the night.

In Game 1, Clar was summoned at outside hitter. Soon after, Matt "Dragon" Rawson replaced Frank.

"I made so many substitutions I lost count," Wilton said. "My wrist is actually kind of sore from making the substitution signal to the ref. Lightbulbs kept clicking on and off."

In Game 3, co-captain Sean Carney, who started at outside hitter, replaced Zemljak at setter. Carney was a setter until last week.

"He looked OK," Wilton said of Carney's setting. "His location was a little spotty at times. That wasn't the reason we were struggling."

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