‘Bows put down Cal Baptist in 4 sets

Hawaii weathered California Baptist’s frenetic start and then seized control en route to a 22-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-10 victory Wednesday night in the Stan Sheriff Center.

A crowd of 1,058 witnessed the Rainbow Warriors regain focus to earn their third consecutive victory and improve to 8-4 overall and 6-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

The undermanned Lancers fell to 3-8 and 2-7.

The rematch is Friday night.

The Lancers brought only nine of the MPSF-allotted 14 players on this two-match, four-night road trip. Two players were injured. Four were suspended, including three starters — outside hitter Rocky DeLyon, opposite Jonathan Tuttle and libero Michael Cate. CBU coach Wes Schneider did not want to use his only two reserves, who are redshirt candidates.

Still, the Lancers played their best volleyball of the season in the first set, touching the Warriors’ hardest spikes and finding digs with chest and foot saves.

"It’s a great group of guys," Schneider said. "It’s unfortunate some guys got injured when they did, and we had a couple of hiccups there at home."

The Lancers were forced to get creative with the lineup. Left-side hitter Johannes Brink moved to opposite. Jackson Burge, who played in three sets previously, started on the left side. Kevin Kustura, who made seven cameos this season, opened at libero.

"I think these guys showed some heart," Schneider said.

And some tonsils. Setter Brett Anderson, who is generously listed at 5-foot-10, provided running commentary that the Warriors could not hush.

UH opposite Brook Sedore recalled: "We had to let it go. We couldn’t let the setter get into our heads, which he did. He was getting a little vocal, and we let that get to us. We can’t let him get to us in our gym."

The Warriors rallied to win the second set, and then it was UH coach Charlie Wade’s turn to turn up the volume. In a paint-peeling speech, Wade implored the Warriors to match the Lancers’ energy.

"I thought it was an appropriate spot (for a pep talk)," Wade said. "We needed to light a fire. Really, it’s about respecting your opponent, respecting their game. That team came out and battled. You have to look across the net and respect that they’re playing really hard. They played with a lot of energy in the first set."

Wade then tinkered with the rotation, with middles Taylor Averill and Nick West switching spots. In the first two sets, CBU’s 6-11 middle, Kristopher Johnson, crushed six kills without an error in nine swings. In the third set, West, who was playing with a heavily wrapped left hand, blocked Johnson three times.

The Lancers would soon learn that adrenaline has an expiration point. Brink had five kills and hit .833 in the first set, but had nine kills and 12 errors in his next 27 swings. He hit minus-.111 in the final three sets.

Sedore, who did not get his first kill until the middle of the second set, finished with nine kills and only one error. Left-side hitter Siki Zarkovic had 12 kills, and outside hitter Jace Olsen and Averill had 11 each. Averill also was in on a career-high 12 blocks.

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). Service Aces — Cal Baptist 2 (Burge 2). Hawaii 6 (Averill 2, Sedore 2, Ramos, West).  Service errors — Cal Baptist 14 (Andreson 4, Lugo-Rodriguez 4, Blocksom 3, Burge 2, Brink). Hawaii 18 (Ramos 4, Sedore 4, Olsen 4, Averill 3, Zarkovic 2, West). Assists — Cal Baptist 35 (Anderson 33, Kustura 2). Hawaii 46 (Ramos 43, Olsen, Kanetake, Franciskovic). T — 2:00. Officials — Dickson Chun, Dan Hironaka.  A — 1,058

Wednesday

Hawaii def. Cal Baptist

Long Beach State def. UCLA, 25-16, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22

UC Santa Barbara def. Cal State Northridge, 25-18, 25-19, 25-16

Stanford def. Pacific, 25-18, 26-24, 25-17

Thursday

USC at UC Irvine