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Warriors roll Pepperdine

Stephen Tsai
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BRUCE ASATO / BASATO@STARADVERTISER.COM
Joshua Walker had two of Hawaii's five aces against Pepperdine last night.

Hawaii volleyball was ailing.

Last night, Pepperdine felt worse.

Conquering a growing injury list, the Warriors cruised to a 25-19, 25-20, 25-20 victory last night before 1,937 in the Stan Sheriff Center.

The rematch is at 7 tonight.

In the 48 hours or so leading up to last night’s match, the Warriors incurred three ankle injuries and a hyper-extended knee. The biggest concern was opposite attacker Jonas Umlauft’s right ankle, which was sprained at Wednesday’s practice.

"It ballooned," UH coach Charlie Wade said.

But with treatment from an electrical stimulation machine, Umlauft was available to play.

"I was absolutely shocked to see him put weight on it," Wade said, "and he came and played. It was phenomenal. When I saw it Wednesday, I didn’t think he would be able to play. You see it now, it’s all discolored and still swollen, but it was really impressive for him to be out there."

Then during warmups, middle blocker Brennon Dyer sprained his ankle. He was on crutches, and will not play tonight.

"When it rains, it pours," Wade said.

Still, the Warriors weathered adversity, thanks to their pin hitters — opposite attacker Umlauft, and left-side hitters Joshua Walker and Steven Hunt.

Umlauft and Walker each slammed 15 kills while hitting .400 and .480, respectively. Hunt, who is the Warriors’ best outside passer, produced eight kills against one error and hit .538.

"Give them credit," Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy said. "They have some good players."

While Wade said the Warriors "have served better" — they put in 83.8 percent last night — when their serves were in play, they were disruptive. The Warriors scored 29 points on their 74 serves. In contrast, the Waves managed 14 points on 60 serves.

The Warriors also had five aces, three ricocheting off freshman libero Mike McMahon.

The Waves are traditionally accurate passers. But their best two passers completed their eligibility at the end of last season. One of the replacements, outside hitter Chase Ross, has missed the past five matches because of an ankle injury.

Unable to establish an offensive rhythm, the Waves often were forced into difficult hitting positions. Their most dangerous attacker, opposite Maurice Torres, had six errors in the first two sets and did not play in the third. The other starting outside hitters, Cory Riecks and Beau Vandeweghe, combined to hit .000.

"We just had an off night," Torres said. "They played better than us. They made good plays. They have solid players."

In the third set, the Warriors dominated at the net. Jarrod Lofy produced all five of his blocks, including a solo rejection, in the third set.

"I’ve been working on it," Lofy said. "It was a matter of putting it into the game."

And Shane Welch, who started in place of Dyer, added four blocks.

"I’m always ready to play," Welch said. "The more chances I can help the team, the happier I am. I’m always stoked."

 

¯¯¯¯¯

No. 10 Hawaii def. No. 9 Pepperdine 25-19, 25-20, 25-20

Waves (6-8, 4-8 MPSF)

  s k e att pct d bs ba pts
Jaynes 3 4 1 11 .273 0 1 1 5.5
Pollock 3 6 1 10 .500 0 0 3 7.5
Riecks 3 4 4 13 .000 2 0 2 6.0
Crider 3 1 0 3 .333 2 1 0 2.0
Torres 2 6 6 13 .000 1 0 1 8.5
Vandeweghe 3 4 4 13 .000 2 0 1 4.5
McMahon 3 1 0 1 1.000 6 0 0 1.0
Gerrans 2 0 0 0 .000 2 0 0 0
Kalmbach 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 0
Pedersen 2 4 2 11 .182 1 0 0 0
Van Uden 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 4.0
Totals 3 30 18 76 .158 16 2 8 39.0

Rainbow Warriors (7-9, 5-6 MPSF)

  s k e att pct d bs ba pts
Welch 3 2 3 5 -.200 1 0 4 4.0
Hunt 3 8 1 13 .538 5 0 3 9.5
Walker 3 15 3 25 .480 3 0 2 18.0
Umlauft 3 15 5 25 .400 4 1 2 17.0
Lofy 3 2 1 5 .200 1 1 4 5.0
Zemljak 3 1 1 3 .000 6 0 1 3.5
Castello 3 0 0 0 .000 1 0 0 0
Hartley 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Biscaro 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Carroll 2 0 0 0 .000 1 0 0 1.0
Totals 3 43 14 76 .382 22 2 16 58

Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills plus blocks plus aces)

Aces — PU (3): Torres 2, Riecks. Hawaii (5): Walker 2, Zemljak 2, Carroll. Service Errors — Hawaii (9): Vandeweghe 3, Torres 2, Pollock, Riecks, Pedersen, Van Uden. Hawaii (12): Umlauft 4, Zemljak 3, Walker 2, Welch, Biscaro, Carroll. Assists — PU (29): Crider 26, Jaynes 2, Riecks. Hawaii (41): Zemljak 35, Walker 3, Castello 3. T — 1:32. Officials — Dickson Chun, Ernie Ho. A — 1,937.

MPSF STANDINGS

  W L Pct. GB All
Southern Cal 11 1 .917 11-1
Stanford 10 4 .714 2 13-4
Brigham Young 9 4 .692 2 1/2 13-4
Long Beach State 8 5 .615 3 1/2 9-7
UC Santa Barbara 9 7 .562 4 11-8
UC Irvine 7 6 .538 4 1/2 10-9
UCLA 6 8 .429 6 11-9
Hawaii 5 6 .455 5 7-9
Pepperdine 4 8 .333 6 1/2 6-8
Pacific 3 9 .250 8 7-11
CSU Northridge 3 10 .231 8 1/2 4-14
UC San Diego 3 10 .231 8 1/2 6-13

Yesterday
Hawaii def. Pepperdine 25-19, 25-20, 25-20
USC def. BYU, 25-21, 17-25, 25-17, 21-25, 15-12
Stanford def. UC Irvine, 25-20, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23
UC Santa Barbara def CSU Northridge, 25-22, 25-23, 25-15
Pacific def. UC San Diego, 25-19, 31-29, 25-19
UCLA def. Long Beach State, 18-25, 25-16, 2-19, 23-25, 15-13

Today
Pepperdine at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
BYU at USC
Pacific at UC Irvine
Stanford at UC San Diego

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