No. 1 Warriors throttle UC San Diego

Not displaying the rust from last week’s bye, the Rainbow Warrior volleyball team beat UC San Diego in three sets, earned its 11th victory in a row, and clinched a berth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs.

A crowd of 289 at UCSD’S RIMRAC Arena witnessed Hawaii’s 25-10, 25-19, 25-14 victory.

The Rainbow Warriors had not played a league opponent since March 8, nor a match in 13 days. But a balanced attack and rhythm-busting serves (10 aces in 73 attempts) boosted the top-ranked Warriors to 18-3 overall and 13-2 in the MPSF.

The Warriors matched last year’s MPSF victory total, which was not enough to secure a spot in the eight-team 2014 league playoffs.

"It’s not a big topic of conversation now," said Charlie Wade of his fourth postseason berth in six years as UH’s coach. "We have our sights a little higher than just getting in."

The top four teams are first-round hosts. The highest remaining seed serves as host for the MPSF semifinals and championship match.

The Warriors did not use libero Kolby Kanetake, who is dealing with back issues.

"He’s a little dinged up," Wade said. "He took the night off. We rested him a little bit."

Garrett Komisarek, a fifth-year senior libero, had five digs — including two acrobatic saves in the first set — and passed seven serves without an error.

"We don’t miss much of a beat with (Komisarek) in there," Wade said. "He’s a senior and he’s played for a long time. And actually, against a team like this with a lot of float-servers, that’s kind of been the one thing he’s been a little bit better than Kolby at."

Scott Hartley led the Warriors with nine kills while hitting a career-best .636. He opened at the ball-handling outside position, then switched to the hitter’s role in the third set when Kupono Fey replaced Siki Zarkovic.

Fey had four kills and hit .800 in the third set. He also was the server when the Warriors expanded a three-point lead to 17-10. Fey had two aces.

Middle Taylor Averill and opposite Brook Sedore each had eight kills for the Warriors.

"We were able to give a little bit of rest to Siki and Brook," Wade said. "We got in and we got out quickly, which is good."

The Tritons were able to pass some of the Warriors’ toughest serves, but that did not translate into points. The Tritons’ three starting pin hitters each had negative attack efficiency.

"So far so good," Wade said of the first of a four-matches-in-five-nights road trip. "We were pretty efficient. We got some of the other guys playing time. Hopefully more of the same (on Saturday)."

The rematch is Saturday night. The Warriors will travel to Los Angeles on Sunday, then play matches against UCLA on Monday and Tuesday. Wade said he will wait until pre-match warm-ups to determine if Kanetake will play on Saturday.

NO. 1 HAWAII DEF. UC SAN DIEGO 25-10, 25-19, 25-14

Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists. Service Aces — Hawaii 10 (Averill 2, Fey 2, Franciskovic 2, Hartley 2, Sedore 2). UC San Diego 2 (Syftestad 2). Service errors — Hawaii 11 (Hartley 3, Mol 2, Sedore 2, Zarkovic 2, Fey, Franciskovic). UC San Diego 9 (Colbert 2, Syftestad 2, Zhu 2, Flowers, Schickling, Stojcic). Assists — Hawaii 34 (Franciskovic 28, Komisarek 3, Averill, Sedore, Zarkovic). UC San Diego 17 (Stojcic 16, Colbert). T — 1:11. A — 289. Referees — Patsy Malta, Jesse Martinez.