Hawaii wins its fifth in a row

The University of Hawaii solved Pyramid schemes for a 25-22, 24-26, 25-14, 25-22 road victory over Long Beach State on Friday night.

A crowd of 1,056 in the Pyramid saw the Rainbow Warriors overcome injuries, illness and inconsistency to win their fifth in a row and improve to 12-3 overall and 9-2 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

The 49ers fell to 8-7 and 5-7.

The rematch is Saturday, with first serve at 5 p.m.

"They’re all important, man," UH coach Charlie Wade said. "They all count the same. We’ve got nine (MPSF victories). It’s like, the most we can get is 20. The most important one will be 10. You just know on any given night in this league, anybody can win. You’ve got to be able to play your best. Winning games on the road is hard to do."

The Warriors, who are 4-1 in road matches this season, had a preview of the spacious Pyramid when they participated in an exhibition tournament there in the fall. What the Warriors did not expect for Friday’s match was outside hitter Scott Hartley being unavailable because of flu-like symptoms, libero Kolby Kanetake crashing into a sideline chair, and prolific opposite Brook Sedore struggling for points.

Hartley’s illness meant Siki Zarkovic, who is recovering from a high-ankle sprain, would need to play extensively. Zarkovic responded with nine kills, nine digs and four blocks.

Sedore’s nine kills were offset by nine attack errors. But he produced seven digs and his 38 swings prevented the 49ers from over-committing on UH’s left-side hitters.

"He struggled a little bit," said Wade, who predicted, "he’ll play better (Saturday)."

The Warriors were able to rally from a 14-9 deficit to win the first set. Middle blocker Taylor Averill keyed the surge with consecutive aces during a 5-0 run that tied it at 14-all.

Later, Hendrik Mol, serving in place of middle Davis Holt, had back-to-back aces in a mini-run that gave the Warriors a 21-20 lead.

In the second set, the Warriors again surged from a five-point deficit to seize leads of 23-21 and 24-22. But the 49ers fought off set point twice to even the match.

The Warriors dominated the third set, then called in the reserves to close out the match.

Setter Jennings Franciskovic, who played well through the first three sets, gave way to Alex Jones after the 49ers took a 7-5 lead in the fourth set. Jones provided accurate sets — and an emotional boost.

"Alex Jones gave us a big lift in the fourth set," Wade said. "He came in that fourth set and was fiery and played really well. He connected well with the middles."

Averill led the Warriors with 14 kills and nine blocks.

Holt added seven kills, hit .455 and contributed a career-high eight blocks.

Kanetake finished with 10 digs and a noticeable bruise on his deltoid and left biceps. Franciskovic assisted on six blocks and had three kills on second-touch dump shots.

The Warriors scored four points, including three on aces, in Mol’s eight serves.

Dan Glamack led the 49ers with 13 kills. One of their best attackers, Cody Martin, had more errors (six) than kills (five).

Friday

Hawaii def.  Long Beach State, 25-22, 24-26, 25-14, 25-22

Pepperdine def. Stanford, 25-17, 25-19, 25-18

UC Irvine def. UCLA,  25-19, 25-17, 25-17

UC Santa Barbara def. UC San Diego, 25-14, 25-15, 25-15

BYU def. Ball State, 25-22, 25-19, 25-23

Cal Baptist def. UC Merced, 25-13, 25-16, 25-19

Saturday

Hawaii at Long Beach State, 5:30 p.m.

UCLA at UC San Diego

UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine

Ball State at BYU

Holy Names at Stanford

No. 6 Hawaii def. No. 10 Long Beach State 25-22, 24-26, 25-14, 25-22

Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists. Service Aces — Hawaii 8 (Averill 3, Mol 3, Fey, Sedore). Long Beach State 3 (Glamack 2, Stallings). Service errors — Hawaii 13 (Averill 5, Fey 3, Sedore 2, Franciskovic, Mol, Zarkovic). Long Beach State 8 (Glamack 3, La Rusch, Gregory, Yould, Martin, Whitt). Assists — Hawaii 50 (Franciskovic 31, Jones 12, Fey 4, Sedore, Zarkovic). Long Beach State 44 (Stallings 21, Butler 19, La Rusch, Martin, Windisch, Richard). T — 2:08. A — 1,056. Referees — Verna Klubnikin, Louis Ventura.