The stream worked tonight! Hooray!! Kind of weird colors though:
But hey, it works. Gonzalo Quiroga got the Bruins off strongly, with a serve leading to an out-of-system swing and a UCLA block, followed by an ace, and then another out-of-system play leading to a free ball and a kill for Robart Page. The run extended to 5-0 before Hawaii called time.
The commentator mentioned that the timeout could serve to ice Quiroga, as powerful jump-servers such as him will sometimes have trouble getting multiple serves in a row in bounds, especially when they were out of rhythm. And like a prophecy fulfilled, he netted his first serve after the timeout. Interestingly, Harrison Phelps was Hawaii’s defensive libero in this match, rather than Kolby Kanetake, who has held the mantle before. Matthew Cheape remained as passing libero.
Hawaii seemed to have recovered from their early lapses in execution, closing to within three after Brook Sedore and Sinisa Zarkovic both came up with points on serve. The rally ending 10-8 was interesting, as UCLA setter Steve O’Dell tried to dink it on two, but Hawaii had the block up. It looked like UCLA touched the ball about five times before sending it back over, but nothing was called. Hawaii did eventually take the point. Hawaii continued to chip away, with Joby Ramos‘ (who again got the nod as starter) serve getting the Bruins badly out of system and leading to a Hawaii block, to make it 12-11 and UCLA’s timeout. Hawaii came out strong again out of the timeout, stuffing Dane Worley for about the third or fourth time to knot the match at 12.
UCLA sided out to go up 13-12, and put Quiroga back on the service line. JP Marks made sure he would not go on a run again, to tie the match at 13. Sedore gave Hawaii their first lead of the match on the next point, at 14-13. A Bruin service error brought the match to the media timeout (which you’d figure should be negated by charged timeouts occurring beforehand, but it still happened) at 15-14 Warriors.
Hawaii decided to go to Johann Timmer coming out of the timeout, but UCLA managed to side out on his first serve (it was a good serve, but a better pass). UCLA went back ahead on Page’s serve, rattling off three in a row to go up 18-16 at Hawaii’s final timeout. On the first ball after the timeout, Ramos found Zarkovic for a tip shot that very nearly landed wide, but it still wound up in to give Hawaii the sideout. On a let-serve, Zarkovic brought the set even again at 18. When the next point also went to the Warriors, UCLA burned their last timeout. The run extended out of the timeout, putting Hawaii up 20-18. UCLA coach Speraw made a substitution to try to slow the set down, turning to Trent Kersten. Zarkovic’s next serve was still a good one, but UCLA managed to get the sideout to 20-19. The next substitution brought Kendall Partie in for O’Dell, meaning UCLA ran without a setter. They got the point on an awkward-looking play on the next rally to draw even at 20, then a Hawaii fault made it 21-20. Kersten’s service error made it 21-all, and O’Dell rotated back in for the Bruins.
UCLA got a fortuitous bounce on 22-all, with a joust ending with the ball bouncing off three different Hawaii players as it drifted away from the net. That rotated Quiroga back to the service line, and he got the Bruins set point at 24-22. Hawaii staved off the first, and Mark’s big jump-serve gave the Warriors a chance to draw it even and send the set to extra points, but Ramos made a pretty bad set choice going outside to the right-side hitter when a triple block (including the 7-footer Page) was ready and waiting. The triple block didn’t fail, and UCLA finished off a massively entertaining first set 25-23.
Hawaii came out in set 2 in an unusual formation, with Timmer starting on the left side and Sedore in the middle. It afforded him an early serving opportunity, but just as in the first set, it didn’t amount to much. He then tried to rotate out in favor of Davis Holt, but Holt entered in the wrong position and the Warriors were called for a pretty careless rotation fault. Nonetheless, the Warriors found the way to go ahead 6-4 following another block against Worley. The set went sideout after sideout for a while, when Timmer went back to the service line again (very interesting that they’d only have Holt in for a while), letting loose a nice one that led to a middle block to put Hawaii up 11-8. The rally ending 15-11 was contentious, as the up and down referees at first pointed different directions, but eventually the point was awarded to Hawaii (which appeared to be the correct call).
Hawaii came out very strong out of the media timeout, stuffing a dink attempt from O’Dell to go up 17-12 at UCLA’s first charged timeout. Hawaii got another point before UCLA were finally able to sideout. The Bruins made no inroads into the deficit. They called time trailing 23-16, and the Warriors knotted the match at one set aside with 25-18 the final.
Kene Izuchukwu came in to start set 3 for the Bruins. Quiroga’s first two serves yielded Hawaii overpasses, the second of which Izuchukwu ate up. Sedore’s hitting error, Hawaii’s first since the first set as they went a staggering 15/0/19 in set 2, made it 3-0. Hawaii staunched Quiroga’s run faster in set 3 than they did in set 1, getting the sideout at 3-1. Timmer again started on the court for set 3, and his serve brought the set back even at 4. My internet connection blinked out for a moment at that point, and I missed a few points 🙁 UCLA’s twitter account informs me that they ran out to 7-4, but Hawaii ran it back to 10-9.
A big serve from Ramos put the Warriors back on top 11-10. Izuchukwu made a great diving save to keep Ramos’ serve from landing as an ace, but O’Dell made a curious choice to go away from Page and straight into a Warrior double block. Sideout after sideout followed to the media timeout at 15-14 Hawaii. The Warriors flubbed coming out of the timeout, with three straight hitting errors putting the Bruins up 17-15 before Izuchukwu sided them out with a service error. It was sideout after sideout for a while until UCLA got one on O’Dell’s serve to go up 20-17, with a ball off Page’s hand falling harmlessly between Zarkovic and Cheape. As he’s wont to do, Zarkovic became a little demonstrative after the ball fell in, and Hawaii called time.
Neither side was really executing all that well in set 3, with Hawaii racking up six hitting errors to this point after not having any in set 2 or in the first part of set 3, hitting under .200. UCLA weren’t much better, only hitting in the .230’s, but it was enough to edge ahead. Marks was called for a double-hit to put UCLA up four at 21-17, but they won a long rally two balls later to close to 21-19 at UCLA’s timeout. Page sided the Bruins out coming out of it, sending Quiroga to the service line at 22-19, with three tall trees in the front row. Hawaii called a timeout down 23-19, but Quiroga wasn’t iced, sending the Bruins to set point at 24-19, with 25-19 the final. Six of UCLA’s last 10 points were Hawaii hitting errors.
After a long string of sideouts, Hawaii took the first point on serve to go up 5-4 as they denied O’Dell’s dink attempt for the second time in the match. At 5-all, Kersten made one of the first standing serves I’ve seen all season. It led to a weird rally, ultimately won by Hawaii. UCLA drew even again when O’Dell’s serve led to an easy overpass. Marks’ first ace of the night put Hawaii back on top in this seesaw fourth set. It was sideout after sideout then until Page got a back-row kill on his own serve to put UCLA up 11-10. It looked for a moment like the Bruins got the next point as well, but a touch was called on UCLA libero Evan Mottram to knot the set yet again. On and on the set went even. UCLA managed to take one on serve to go up 15-13 at the media timeout.
UCLA rotated Quiroga to the service line up 16-14. Hawaii were able to set Holt in the middle after a good pass, but he kind of whiffed and the ball didn’t clear the net. Zarkovic sided Hawaii out at 17-15 on the next ball, getting Timmer to the service line for Hawaii. On the subsequent ball, UCLA appeared to have a stuff block until Zarkovic came up with a waffle dig (like a pancake, but with your foot) to keep the ball alive. Hawaii took the point to draw back within a point. Hawaii got another kill from Zarkovic to tie the set at 18, prompting UCLA’s timeout.
The Bruins came out strong out of the timeout, with a kill from Izuchukwu and a block by Kersten, his first of the match, to go up 20-18. Hawaii sided out to send Zarkovic to the service line. It appeared that they had the block to go back up 2, but it hit Izuchukwu’s foot on the way out for a point to Hawaii. Kersten’s hitting error on the long rally to follow put Hawaii up 21-20 at UCLA’s last timeout. The Bruins got the crucial sideout to make it 21-all. Partee came in as a blocking substitution for O’Dell, leaving UCLA without a setter, but it wound up not mattering as Izuchukwu netted his serve. Hawaii brought in Max Wechsung as a serving sub, and his serve was good enough to get UCLA just out of system, leading to a kill for Marks to put Hawaii up 23-21.
The commentators speculated that UCLA should bring in a serving sub for Kersten on 23-22, as he doesn’t possess a very strong serve. His jump-float was fielded perfectly, leading to a kill for Marks making it set point for Hawaii. UCLA staved off the first to make it 24-23, and Hawaii called time to try to ice the UCLA serve O’Dell (and to set up the offense). O’Dell got the serve in, but the pass was picture-perfect, leading to a kill for Marks on the right side to send us to the race to 15.
Hawaii won the coin toss, making Quiroga the first server of the decider. Hawaii got one then on Marks’ serve, prompting UCLA to bring Worley back in for the first time since set 2. It didn’t do much good, as Hawaii took the next point, too, on a hitting error by Quiroga to prompt UCLA’s timeout very early. Spencer Rowe sided the Bruins out with his seventh kill on 8 errorless swings to make it 3-1. UCLA ran it back to 4-all following a right-side hitting error by Hawaii and a kill from the middle by Quiroga. Page’s wide serve put Hawaii up 5-4. That rotated Sedore to the service line, but he kind of stutter-stepped on a higher than usual toss, which resulted in the serve not clearing the net. Hawaii got the next two to go up 7-5, and after a couple of sideouts it was 8-6 Warriors at the side change.
Hawaii rotated Holt back in for blocking for Timmer at 8-6, with Taylor Averril serving. It didn’t really end up mattering, as UCLA got the sideout. 9-7 was a really long rally, ending with a kill for Page that looked like it was going long, but Phelps played it and it went out. Marks’ kill brought it to 10-8 Hawaii, sending him to the service line. He found a seam between Quiroga and Page for his second ace of the night. UCLA called time trailing 11-8. The ‘icing’ worked as Marks netted his first serve back. UCLA had their chance on the next rally, as they came up with a big dig and a chance to set the offense, but Hawaii took the point to go up 12-9. That brought Timmer back in to serve, but his one attempt went long. At 12-10, Zarkovic gobbled up an overpass to put Hawaii up three. Sideout volleyball continued to Averril’s kill at 13-11 on a ball that went long, but it got touched. Zarkovic served the first match point for the Warriors, but Quiroga staved it off. It sent Kersten to the service line, and Hawaii called their last timeout. The match ended rather anticlimactically, as Quiroga’s hitting error gave the victory to Hawaii.
#13 Hawaii d. #6 UCLA (23-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12)
And so these impresarios of the 5-set match play another (tonight was the 16th 5-setter between them, counting the two they’ve had with each other only once each). Was it jet lag a night ago? Because other than those first few points, and a short stretch at the end of set 3, Hawaii were playing quite well tonight. Maybe not quite so crisp as they were in their double shot with Pepperdine, but good enough to beat just about anyone. It’s a good sign for tonight, but it makes me wonder if they’re sorta fighting an uphill battle all season long, given their travel schedule
It’s also a good sign for Hawaii’s immediate future, as they aren’t headed straight home. Their next double-shot is with UC Irvine, on Monday and Tuesday next week, so they’ll surely stay on the mainland in the interim. UCLA also have a quick turnaround — their next match is with archrivals USC on Monday night.
Marks and Zarkovic were the big statistical kings tonight for Hawaii. Marks hit way above his season and career averages by going 18/3/36 for .417, and ‘Siki’ also topped .400 at 15/4/27. Zarkovic also came up with some of the match’s timeliest kills, either drawing Hawaii even, putting them ahead, or preventing them from falling down more than 2 points. UCLA were led by Quiroga and Page, which should come as no surprise. They combined for 38 of the Bruins’ 59 kills tonight.
And it was certainly interesting strategy on Hawaii’s part leaving Timmer on the floor as much as they did, having Holt only come in for an occasional blocking sub instead of Timmer being the occasional serving sub. We saw them do that in the fifth set against Stanford two weeks ago, in the match they won, but tonight they did it 4 sets out of 5. It’s definitely a risky ploy, because Timmer took all of one swing in this match (for an error) despite playing repeated front-row rotations, which allows the block to cheat to the other hitters. I’m not sure it’s a risk they can afford to take against a team like Irvine, because serving is kind of hit-and-miss by its very nature, and Timmer really wasn’t as effective serving tonight as he has been in the past — no aces, 3 errors, and only a few serves where it appeared to disrupt the UCLA offense.
The result puts the teams pretty close to even in conference standings, with UCLA just barely the better at 5-6 to Hawaii’s 4-6. Still a long way to go, and in this conference, in this season, where it really does look like anyone can beat anyone on any given night, I truly couldn’t even guess what’s coming next.
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