Undermanned but not undeterred, Hawaii battled its way to a 25-20, 15-25, 25-21, 25-23 volleyball road victory over UC San Diego in RIMAC Arena on Friday night.
"We knew it was a must-win if we wanted to continue the season," said UH coach Charlie Wade, whose Warriors improved to 9-14 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
The Warriors and Northridge have the same MPSF record entering tonight’s regular-season finale for both teams. But the Matadors own the tie-breaker, meaning the Warriors can qualify for the eight-team MPSF playoffs only if they win the rematch against UCSD and the Matadors lose to Long Beach State.
The Warriors were without their two usual left-side hitters. Siki Zarkovic was rested because of an ankle injury, and JP Marks remained in Honolulu while questions about his eligibility were addressed. There are no concerns about Marks’ eligibility prior to this past week.
Marks’ absence meant Jace Olsen would start as a primary passer on the left side. Johann Timmer, who was used as a serving specialist, opened at Zarkovic’s spot on the left side. Although Timmer was an opposite in 2012, it was decided to leave Brook Sedore on the right side.
"The idea is to have the least amount of moving parts," Wade said.
Sedore responded with a team-high 19 kills.
Olsen and Timmer struggled with their offense, but they provided active defense and accurate passing.
The Warriors received unexpected boosts from backup setter Max Wechsung and freshman opposite Ian McKellar.
In the first two sets, the Tritons repeatedly tried to hit over setter Joby Ramos when he was a front-row blocker.
In the third set, Wechsung was brought in as a blocking substitute. In the past, Wechsung would stay in for one play, but this time, Wade wanted to use Wechsung for three front-row turns. Wechsung then stayed in and served four consecutive points to give the Warriors a 20-17 lead.
"After that great serving turn, it was, ‘OK, let’s see him bring it home,’ " Wade said.
Wechsung played the entire fourth set.
McKellar is a 6-foot-7 freshman who is redshirting this season. He replaced Marks on the travel roster, and was used in Thursday’s practice as an opposite on the scout team.
"The one lineup change San Diego made was to move this big 6-7 lefty (Johl Awerkamp) to opposite," Wade said. ‘We actually had a guy to practice against. We brought our 6-7 lefty (McKellar) to simulate what (Awerkamp) does."
Awerkamp had 11 kills but committed five errors in 32 swings and hit .188.
Wade said he made sure to keep McKellar off the match’s active roster.
"I didn’t want to be tempted to bring him in as a blocker," Wade said.
On Thursday night, the Warriors attended the baseball game in which the Padres and Dodgers brawled. That incident became inspiration for the pre-match speech.
"Rather than the regular tactical stuff, we knew San Diego was a really gritty team," Wade said. "They’re very comfortable playing the spoiler. I did make reference to the baseball game. We talked about how much of a street fight it would be. We had to be ready to go out there and scratch and fight. They battled, and they battled hard all night."
