Other stuff did happen today, and I’ll touch on it in my power rankings post, but this was all I was able to see firsthand. This was the first time I’ve watched a Hawaii webcast where they didn’t have an actual singer on hand to sing the Star-Spangled Banner and the Hawaiian state song. They had the pep band play ’em. It’s just not the same.
The very first rally of the match may have been one of the longest all night, as Pacific quite miraculously kept a ball alive such that I literally said “No way!” aloud. But as usually happens on such a point, the team that just barely keeps the ball alive can’t set their offense, and Hawaii took the point. Hawaii seized the early advantage, with Johann Timmer, again the starting “middle blocker,” rotating to the service line at 3-1, and he got two points on serve (I’m not convinced anyone but Howard Dashefsky calls them “natural points”) to give the Warriors the early advantage. Pacific took four of the next five to close back to 6-5 with a triple block up the middle against Taylor Averill, forcing a hitting error for Averill for the first time this weekend.
Dashefsky totally called it at 7-6, detailing that Pacific are not a very good serving team, with only a handful of aces on the season. The next serve, for Pacific’s Adam Troy? An ace. Pretty much in Dash’s lap. The Tigers took their first lead at 8-7, and it was sideout after sideout to reach 10-all with JP Marks on the service line, representing one full rotation since the beginning of the match. Pacific went up two for the first time at 12-10 when they came up with the dig against Davis Holt‘s middle hit, and then coming back with one of their own. Matthew Houlihan gave back the advantage after the Hawaii sideout, by hitting the ball straight into the net. 13-all was a nice rally, with both sides coming up with some impossible-looking digs (major reflexes on display). It ended with a kill for Brook Sedore, his fifth of the set already. Siki Zarkovic‘s left-side kill off the block touch and out made it 15-14 Hawaii and the media timeout.
Pacific came up with back-to-back points after the timeout that were both more to the detriment of Hawaii. Sedore managed to track down a wayward ball from above the score table, and hit it back to Hawaii’s court — where his teammates just surrounded it and watched it fall in. On the next ball, Adam Troy’s second ace of the set landed in to put the Tigers back up a point. A couple of rallies later, something very similar happened, with a sprawling Sedore dig just falling in harmlessly. Nobody’s perfect, and everyone knows that, but that’s gotta cheese you off just a little.
On the 17-all rally, it appeared that Sedore got away with a net fault, with the net fault instead being called on Pacific’s left-side hitter. He looked stunned to be called for it. On 19-18 Hawaii, after a Warrior sideout, Joby Ramos headed back to the service line despite the fact that it was Marks’ turn in rotation. Luckily for Hawaii, coach Charlie Wade caught it, and got his men back in their proper rotation. Sedore ran straight into the double block from Troy and Tommy Carmody, but got it back on his next ball. The tight first set reached 20-all, and Pacific’s ill-fated serving sub from last night Peter Edwards entered for another chance. This time he kept the ball in, but but Zarkovic’s kill got Hawaii the sideout. That sent Sedore back to serve, and he let loose one of Hawaii’s better serves of the first set to get the Tigers out of system. He scored the kill, from right-back, to give Hawaii the big 2-point edge at 22-20 and prompt Hawaii’s timeout.
Jace Olsen entered as a blocking sub on 23-21, but he and Averill kind of fell all over each other, in a pretty ugly play, as both went up for a joust. Pacific drew even at 23’s, prompting Hawaii’s timeout. Troy came back from the timeout to score his third ace of the set, and immediately force Hawaii’s second and final timeout. His next serve was very nearly yet another ace. Hawaii did legally return it, but never set their offense, and effectively squandered that 23-21 edge they had held as Pacific took the set by rattling off 4 straight points.
Hawaii switched it up a little to start set 2, with Holt and Olsen both starting in the front row. The Warriors took the first three points of the 2nd, including an ace from Olsen that managed to befuddle Pacific libero Javier Caceres — no small feat. After Taylor Hughes came up with a right-side solo block to draw the Tigers back within one at 4-3, he then made one of the most awkward serves you’re ever gonna see, as the toss went well out in front of him and it was basically just a roll shot from the service line. The Warriors got the sideout, and then the Tigers got it back on a Brook Sedore serve that appeared to land in but was called long. That rotated Pacific’s best server Troy to the service line, and Hawaii got him off after one attempt
Pacific took their first lead of the set at 7-6 when Ramos tried for a dump but was easily blocked. Troy’s kill on the next rally put the Tigers up two, and Coach Wade started to look a little stressed. Hawaii responded with three straight on the serve of Averill of all people (not an intimidating server at all) to go up a point before Pacific got the sideout. Pacific then responded with three of four to go back on top, that mini-run culminating with a solo block for Carmody against Holt, who continued to have a difficult weekend. The Tigers reached 15 first, making it 15-12 Pacific at the media timeout.
Hawaii went on a run coming out of the timeout. It looked like Pacific were going to go up four with a hitting error of the hand of Zarkovic, but the tiniest of touches was called on the way out. A Taylor Averill block got them back on top at 16-15 before Sedore’s run on serve finally ended with an error. On 17-16, Pacific appeared to get away with a ball handling error or three, and got the point to draw back even. Adam Troy’s third ace of the set makes it set point Pacific, and immediately Hawaii’s last timeout. Max Wechsung entered as a serving sub for Averill at 18-17, leading to a left-side kill for Olsen at the end of a rally featuring another jaw-dropping dig from Caceres. After trailing much of the set, Hawaii reached 20 first at 20-18 on a Pacific service error. The next rally featured two excellent digs from Hawaii libero Matthew Cheape, ending with a double block for Sedore and Holt. Cheape came up with another great dig on the next ball, but the point went to Pacific. The Tigers closed back to within 21-20, prompting Hawaii’s first timeout of the set.
At the end of a long rally on 22-21, Pacific got called for a lift when they appeared to have an equalizing block. Pacific coach Joe Wortmann protested the call briefly, but it stood. At 23-22, Pacific turned to Edwards again as a serving sub. It was very nearly an ace, landing inches wide for an error. That brought in Hawaii’s “ace” serving sub Timmer for set point, but he too came up with an error. With one more set point in hand at 24-23 on service reception, Hawaii called their last timeout. Call it the icing on the cake, as Taylor Hughes’ jump-float went into the net to knot the match at a set apiece.
Hawaii changed it up again to start set 3, with Nick West in for Davis Holt. The set also involved Kolby Kanetake‘s first action at libero for the night. The teams traded points for a long stretch at the outset of the 3rd, splitting the first 12 before Hawaii went ahead 8-6. Olsen’s block on that rally was ruled out, and he reacted quite demonstratively to the call. He very easily could have been yellow-carded, but the referee kept the card in his pocket. Olsen’s long hit a few balls later knotted the set at 9’s. Chris McLachlin noted what seemed to be a rotation error on Hawaii’s part, but nothing was called. On 11-10, Hawaii nearly got caught with their hands in the cookie jar, as they started to celebrate a kill before the ball was actually dead. A diving dig from Ramos and a brilliant shot from Sedore finding the seam in the triple block re-established Hawaii’s 2-point lead. Hawaii reached 15 first, getting us to the media timeout at 15-13.
Hawaii went on a little run coming out of the timeout, with Olsen and West teaming up for double-blocks to put the Warriors up four at 17-13. The 16-13 rally should have ended with the point for Pacific on at least 2 different points. West’s solo block gave Hawaii the 5-point edge at 18-13, and Pacific’s timeout. Tigers setter Patrick Tunnell finally sided his team out at 19-14, but in a match where the first two sets were decided by 2 points each, that constituted a big lead. Hawaii reached 21 first for the third straight set, and for the third straight set they sputtered upon reaching that mark. Coach Wade called time at 21-18, as Pacific had found a serving sub that worked in Marty Ross. Zarkovic got the Warriors the sideout after the timeout, and from there it was mostly sideout after sideout. A rare unforced error from Troy gave Hawaii set point at 24-19, and the Warriors converted on their second attempt.
Hawaii took the early advantage in the 4th, with an odd little service ace for Averill giving them a 3-point lead at 5-2. The ball flew well long, but grazed somebody’s jersey or something. I didn’t see who or where it hit, but nobody complained, so apparently it was an obvious call. Pacific came back to tie the set at 5’s, ending with a hitting error from Olsen on a ball hitting the antenna (he sure seems to do that a lot). Further ties occurred at every numeral score through 10 before Sedore committed two straight hitting errors to put the Tigers up 12-10. Pacific reached 15 first at 15-12 with an emphatic left-side kill from Houlihan. They got scoring contributions from the other side of the net as much as their own to this point in the 4th, with 8 Warrior hitting errors in set 4.
Hawaii rallied to tie the set again at 16’s, behind West’s serve. Zarkovic’s kill from the left side put them up for the first time in a while, prompting Pacific’s timeout. The run continued after the timeout, with Zarkovic finding a kill from the middle after an overpass. Houlihan at last got the Tigers the sideout at 18-17, ending a run of five straight on serve for West. Sedore’s kill to make it 19-17 was his 21st of the night — setting a new career high. That sent him back to serve, and he got his first ace of the night to put the Warriors up three at 20-17, and prompt Pacific’s last timeout.
Hawaii scored a rather miraculous point after bringing Wechsung in as a blocking substitution on 21-18, with Max coming up with a double block on a point that liked it was Pacific’s a couple of different times. The Tigers got two straight to bring the margin down to two at 22-20, with JP Marks this time hitting the antenna on the left side. That prompted Hawaii’s first timeout of the set. Marks redeemed himself coming out of the timeout with two left-side kills to bring us to Aloha Ball at 24-20. Averill’s jump-float elicited an overpass (funny how that works) and West ate it up to end the match.
#12 Hawaii d. Pacific (23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-20)
Much the same story as last night. A win’s a win, but boy this was an ugly match. Not a high caliber of volleyball being played. But it’s job done for Hawaii. They maintain 2 behind Northridge and Santa Barabara in the loss column, 3 teams for 2 spots in the playoffs with Cal Baptist ineligible as NCAA debutants. It stands to make next week’s UCSB/UH double shot all the more crucial. With UCSB coming in at 8-10 in the MPSF with two matches in hand to Hawaii’s 8-12, a split would favor the Gauchos. Hawaii again need to win both.
It was another good night for Pacific’s Adam Troy, with 14 kills and 3 aces, though all 3 came in set 1. Zarkovic led the Warriors in efficiency at .371, on 18 kills. Sedore’s career-high in kills came with double-digit errors, so his efficiency was still fairly pedestrian.
UCSB await the Hawaii Warriors next weekend. Pacific still have 7 matches before they close out their season, 5 of them at home. Next week they draw Long Beach State and Cal State Northridge.
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