Warriors disrupt Cardinal

Starve a volleyball losing streak.

Feed the go-to hitter known as "Boomlauft."

Opposite attacker Jonas Umlauft slammed 22 kills and hit .500 to power 13th-ranked Hawaii to a 25-22, 25-21, 25-17 rout of second-ranked Stanford last night in the Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 2,521 saw the Warriors win their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener and exorcise an 0-3 implosion in last weekend’s Outrigger Invitational.

It was Umlauft, who missed the previous match because of what was termed a stomach virus, leading the way against the defending national champion. Stanford eliminated the Warriors in the semifinals of the MPSF tournament last year.

Umlauft connected on his first seven swings, finding success from the front corners and the back right.

"Why did I keep setting him?" setter Nejc Zemljak said. "Simple. He was putting the ball away. He started off 7-of-7. If you’re hitting that well, you keep getting sets, right?"

In reviewing the final statistical sheet, UH head coach Charlie Wade marveled at Umlauft’s performance.

Wade, who concocted the "Boomlauft" nickname, said: "I’d like to call him ‘son.’ After that performance, anyone would want to adopt him."

Umlauft committed only four attack errors in 36 swings. Left-side hitter Joshua Walker, who put down eight kills, took 20 swings.

"Jonas looked good all week in practice," Zemljak said. He recovered pretty well from that illness he had. I just knew I had to feed the big guy."

In the practices leading to the Outrigger Invitational, the Warriors worked on running a quick-to-the-pins attack, an offense, fittingly, modeled after the Cardinal’s hurry-up scheme. But after it appeared the Warriors were forcing the tempo, this week’s practice focused on matching the pace to the pass.

"If the pass is not perfect, we set it higher, to get (the outside hitters) a good range," Umlauft said. "That worked out."

Indeed, the 6-foot-9 Umlauft, Walker, who has a 44-inch vertical jump, and left-side attacker Steven Hunt are effective high-set hitters. With a rotation that allowed Walker to often hit pipe sets from the middle of the back row and Umlauft to attack D sets from the back right, Stanford could not plant its block.

UH’s strategy negated Stanford’s best asset — an active ball-control transition game. When in system, Stanford runs one of the nation’s quickest offenses.

But the Warriors’ disruptive serves kept Stanford from finding a rhythm. The Warriors scored 27 points on 73 serves. Stanford scored 14 points on 62 serves.

One of UH’s most effective servers was middle blocker Brennon Dyer, whose availability was determined during last night’s warmups. Dyer suffered a sprained ankle when he landed awkwardly during Wednesday’s practice. He received intensive treatment Thursday and yesterday, then declared himself physically fit.

"You gotta play, you gotta play," Dyer said.

But Dyer, who can blast serves at up to 65 mph, had trouble pushing off on his approach. Instead, he abandoned his jump serve in favor of a float serve.

The Warriors scored five points on Dyer’s 13 serves. He did not have a service error.

"Not a lot of people do that," Dyer said of his flutter serve. "It’s something you have to throw out once in a while."

But in the end, all of that was possible because of Umlauft’s powerful swing.

"He makes people around him play better," Wade said. "He’s able to do a lot of the heavy lifting for us. He bails us out in tight situations, and allows people to focus on their game. … He doesn’t talk a lot, but when he does, it’s relevant. It’s nice to see him emerge as a leader in the locker room as well."