It’s a fieldhouse of dreams, and where many of those belonging to good volleyball teams go to die. It happened in Smith Fieldhouse to No. 4 Hawaii on Friday, where the Rainbow Warriors saw their 15-match winning streak snapped when they were swept by No. 3 Brigham Young in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match 28-26, 25-18, 25-20.
Hawaii (20-3, 10-3 MPSF), which hadn’t lost since being swept at Long Beach State on Jan. 20, also saw its sets-won streak end at 32, dating to a Set 2 loss to UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 4. The Warriors haven’t won in Provo, Utah, since 2003 and now have dropped 14 in a row to the Cougars (18-2, 12-1). Hawaii is 3-24 all-time in Smith.
A crowd of 4,544, the second largest of the year, saw BYU out-block the nation’s top blocking team 12-4. The dozen blocks was a season high for the Cougars in a 3-0 win, as was their .440 hitting percentage.
BYU has won 12 straight heading into today’s 3 p.m. rematch.
Sophomore hitter Stijn van Tilburg again led the Warriors, putting down a match-high 16 kills, and senior hitter Kupono Fey added 10. Senior middle Hendrik Mol was in on all four blocks and finished with five kills.
“We had a lot of opportunities to win Set 1 and didn’t convert,” Hawaii assistant coach Joshua Walker said in a postmatch phone call. “We had four blocks (three in Set 1) and just four digs after that first set.
“After (Set 1), their hitters got hot. In the end, you can’t let that happen, not let someone hit almost .500 (Jake Langlois hit .450, Brenden Sander .440). For us, we weren’t balanced enough offensively.”
Warriors coach Charlie Wade said he wanted to see better production out of his left-side hitters today. While Fey had 10 kills, he also had seven errors in 23 attempts; sophomore hitter Brett Rosenmeier had one kill, hitting negative .400; and freshman Austin Matautia had no kills with one error on two swings.
“(Rosenmeier) took ownership in the locker room,” Wade said. “He said he’d play better tomorrow.
“We’ve been on a good run and we didn’t do what we’ve been doing tonight. We were not as good defensively as we have been.”
Hawaii, third nationally in hitting percentage (.339), finished with a season-low .188.
Prior to the match, BYU coach Shawn Olmstead said the goal would be to be patient and play sound volleyball.
“Our guys did a lot of good things,” Olmstead said after the 101-minute match. “We executed our game plan well. I thought we took good swings, in transition especially. We made smart shots.
“They are a good team.”
But not good enough, particularly on the road, where all three of Hawaii’s losses have come.
The Warriors led for much of Set 1, including at 21-19. A service error by van Tilburg started a 3-0 run for BYU and Hawaii was chasing the rest of the way.
The Warriors managed to tie from 21 through 26, holding off four set points. Sander’s sixth kill gave the Cougars their fifth shot at ending it and Langlois did with his fourth kill.
It ended Hawaii’s sets-won streak at 32, and for the first time since losing in five at Long Beach State on Jan. 18, the Warriors dropped two sets in a row. They trailed for all of Set 2 against the Cougars.
Van Tilburg was triple blocked, giving BYU its largest lead at 20-13. A kill by Fey and an ace by reserve setter Joe Worsley cut it to 20-15, forcing the Cougars to call time out.
Again down by seven (23-16), the Warriors again cut the margin to five on a BYU serving error and a stuff of Joseph Grosh, Hawaii’s first block of Set 2. The Cougars closed it out on kills by Langlois and Miki Jauhiainen.
In Set 3, Hawaii led at 17-16, but BYU took the lead for good with four straight points, two on blocks of van Tilburg and Rosenmeier. Van Tilburg’s final kill pulled the Warriors to 23-20, but the Cougars picked up their 13th sweep of the year on Rosenmeier’s service error and a block of van Tilburg.
Hawaii remains in third place in the MPSF behind No. 1 Long Beach State (20-2, 14-1) and BYU.
