Warriors’ dream ends with loss to Penn State

STANFORD, Calif. » The Hawaii volleyball team’s championship dreams burst from a pair of Penn State pins.

Outside hitter Aaron Russell and opposite Nick Goodell provided the 1-2 punch from the pins to help the Nittany Lions outpoint the Warriors 25-22, 25-20, 17-25, 27-25 in a play-in match for the NCAA tournament in Maples Pavilion.

The Warriors’ season ends at 24-7.

The Nittany Lions advance to Thursday’s final-four match against top-seeded Lewis.

"Obviously, we knew Aaron Russell was a really good player coming in," UH libero Kolby Kanetake said. "When there’s another guy like Goodell going off, who are you going to stop?"

In practices Sunday and Monday, the Warriors moved Scott Hartley into the lineup in place of opposite Brook Sedore, who recently was named to the All-America second team. Although Sedore’s kill production had slipped in the past three games, the switch was a defensive tactic. Hartley was assigned to defend the 6-foot-9 Russell.

"That was strictly to shut down one of the best players in the country," Sedore said. "I go against Scott every day in practice. He’s helped make me the player I am today. I can’t thank him enough. I told him, ‘I have confidence in you, buddy. You’ll do awesome.’"

Russell pounded a match-high 20 kills, but committed nine attack errors and hit .239 — 156 points below his season average. In the previous four matches, Russell hit .560.

But the Warriors, who never led in the first two sets and trailed by as much as 19-10 in the opener, decided to scrap the plan in favor of the power and emotion that Sedore provides.

Of the strategy, UH coach Charlie Wade said: "We tried it early, but it wasn’t making a big enough impact that we were winning the match, so it made no sense to stick with it. Brook’s been one of our emotional leaders, and we got him back on the floor."

Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said he thought the momentum shifted when Sedore entered late in the second set. Wade also tweaked the rotation in the third and fourth sets to create more favorable matchups.

But the Nittany Lions were able to widen their attack, with the pin hitters accounting for 54 of the 59 kills. With the Warriors tilting the block in front of Russell, that freed Goodell (19 kills) and left-side hitter Chris Nugent (15 kills) to swing against one-on-one coverages. Goodell credited accurate passing that gave setter Taylor Hammond more options.

"It made it easier," Goodell said.

In a prototypical lineup, Goodell, who is 6 feet 4, and Russell would trade positions.

"I’ve always been the small guy," Goodell said. "When I go back home and hang with my friends, I’m the tall guy. When I’m back at the school with my team, I’m the short guy. It’s something I’ve been playing with for five years. I work on the shots to help get around the bigger (blockers)."

In recent weeks, Goodell has struggled hitting D sets from the back right. He worked extensively with Hammond to expand his repertoire. Goodell, who is accomplished hitting line, developed a sharp-angle shot. Against UH, nine of Goodell’s kills were launched from the back right.

"(Hammond) puts me in the best position possible," said Goodell,who can strike the ball at 11 feet 6. "That’s why I’ve been so successful."

After recovering from slow starts in the first two sets, the Warriors steadied their passing, allowing then to run their quick attack. Middle attacker Taylor Averill had 15 kills against one error and hit .609. Davis Holt, the other UH middle, contributed nine kills and hit .538.

And while the Warriors dominated at the net — they built a blocking advantage of 17.5 to 9.5 — they weren’t able to find the court with their hardest swings in the fourth set.

Siki Zarkovic soared to reject Jalen Penrose to ward off match point and tie the fourth set at 24.

But later, with UH trailing 26-25, Zarkovic’s blast from the right pin went long.

"We can talk about different things," Zarkovic said, "but what happened, happened. I’m really proud of this season. We proved we’re a good team. Tonight, Penn State was a better team."

"No regrets," UH left-side hitter Kupono Fey said.

Wade said: "I’m not gonna shoulda-woulda-coulda on anything in the match. I’m more focused on all the positive things that came out of the season."

The Warriors, who missed the playoffs in 2014, were ranked No. 1 for five weeks through the final weekend of the regular season. Although they lost to Pepperdine in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinals, they earned enough credits to qualify for the play-in match. It was their first NCAA postseason appearance since 2002.

"It was such a great journey," Wade said. "There were so many great stories coming out of this year — individual achievements, redemption, success. There was so much love. I’m certainly disappointed in losing this match, but really grateful for the many people who worked so hard on my staff and on the team to get Hawaii volleyball back on the national stage. That is not any small thing. It was important to capture the hearts and minds of people in Hawaii. Hawaii is such a special place to represent."

No. 7 Penn State DEF. NO. 4 hawaii 25-22, 25-20, 17-25, 27-25

Service Aces — Penn State 3 (Goodell, Russell, Callaway). Hawaii 3 (Fey, Holt, Sedore). Service errors — Penn State 11 (Russell 5, Seifert 3, Goodell, Callaway, Penrose). Hawaii 12 (Averill 5, Sedore 2, Hartley 2, Franciskovic, Zarkovic, Holt). Assists — Penn State 57 (Hammond 54, Curry 3). Hawaii 50 (Franciskovic 46, Fey 2, Hartley, Sedore). T — 2:03 A — 539. Referees — Jim Kuziela, Tony Chan, Jung Park.