Warriors gear up for another shot at Irvine

In crafting a counter-strategy, Hawaii volleyball coach Charlie Wade noted the high word count.

"It’s not a simple thing you can write in a few sentences," said Wade, whose Rainbow Warriors face UC Irvine in a 5 p.m. rematch Sunday in the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Warriors won the first set and took an 8-1 lead in the second before fading in Friday’s four-set loss to the Anteaters. The Warriors’ passing and serving crumbled, and their blocking then collapsed into the rubble.

"We’ve always talked about sustained execution," Wade said. "Not only do you have to play well at a high level, you have to play at a high level for a long time. One set does not a match make. One and a half sets does not a match make."

On Saturday, the Warriors spent much of their three-hour practice studying cut-up videos of Friday’s match and working on passing, serving and focusing.

"It really comes down to everyone has to do their job," Wade said. "Passers have to pass. Servers have to serve. Blockers have to block. Setters have to set. We got off track. We tried to do well. We lost a little bit of it."

The Anteaters’ surge began when opposite Zack La Cavera and setter Daniel Stork replaced Tamir Hershko and Roberto Frazzoni in the second set. La Cavera finished with 12 kills nine were launched from the back right and hit .391. The Anteaters scored seven natural points on La Cavera’s 13 serves.

Using La Cavera and Stork "can only explain how they did better," Wade said, "but not how we did worse."

The Warriors were surprised when La Cavera, who entered as the Anteaters’ kill leader, did not start.

"They basically did what they do," Wade said. "La Cavera has a very good serve. When he came in, he’s very good at what he does. But we thought he’d be in there from the beginning. There wasn’t anything new they did."

UH outside hitter Siki Zarkovic said: "We need to work on passing and being more consistent on serving. Those are the two main reasons we lost. Plus, we didn’t play as a team so great."

The Warriors tried the dual-libero strategy against Anteaters’ mix of push-float and jump-spin servers.

"It didn’t help us," Wade said.

The Warriors sided out at 50 percent the final three sets. They were aced six times. Too often, the Anteaters’ block was able to touch the Warriors’ most powerful spikes. Irvine libero Michael Brinkley parlayed the tips into 17 digs.

"It was pretty easy for him," UH opposite Brook Sedore said. "We got taken out of our rhythm and they got into theirs. We have to learn to not let it rattle us. I felt they were digging everything. It got me out of my rhythm. They kind of stayed steady, if not increased it."

Friday’s loss ended the Warriors’ seven-match winning streak in the Sheriff Center.

"Hopefully, it’s a lesson learned and, and we can go out there and compete," Wade said. "If (the Anteaters are) going to win, they’re going to have to play exceptional to do so. We’re going to do everything we can to keep that from happening."