Siki, Warriors destroy UC Santa Barbara

Hawaii erased a year-old IOU with a statement-making 22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-19 volleyball victory over No. 3 UC Santa Barbara on Sunday night.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 2,078 witnessed the Rainbow Warriors sweep the two-match series to improve to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

The Gauchos fell to 4-2 and 0-2.

"It’s so crazy," libero Kolby Kanetake said of the Warriors’ first series sweep of the Gauchos since 2003. "All we could think about coming into this weekend was revenge. They swept us at their place (in January 2014), and that should not have happened. We’ve been waiting a year for this. We came out with an attitude, that mentality, we’re going to get revenge on them."

For the Warriors, the emphasis was on defense during Saturday’s 90-minute practice. In Friday’s match, left-side hitter Siki Zarkovic managed two digs in four sets.

"We challenged them (on Saturday), especially Siki," UH coach Charlie Wade said.

"Challenge accepted," said Zarkovic, who had 15 digs in Sunday’s rematch.

"I was more focused on defense," Zarkovic added. "I wasn’t as much focused in the previous match. It’s all about focus and how willing you are to play defense and the movements."

Zarkovic and outside hitter Kupono Fey, who had 11 digs, parlayed the Gauchos’ best shots into workable passes to setter Jennings Franciskovic.

Franciskovic had a full menu of options. Taylor Averill was his usual accurate threat, slamming 10 kills and hitting .562.

But it was the second middle, the underrated Davis Holt, who also put down 10 kills, and contributed to five of the Warriors’ nine blocks.

More importantly, Averill and Holt consistently got fingerprints on the Gauchos’ spikes, aiding the back-row defense.

"Once we got a good block up, all we had to do was fill the seams," Fey said.

The Gauchos run one of the fastest and most diverse offenses. Jonah Seif, a 6-foot-8 setter, is skilled at feeding quick sets to the pins and behind the 3-meter line. But the Gauchos, who hit .311 on Friday night, had difficulty finding the floor. They hit .269 on Sunday, including .207 in the fourth set.

Zarkovic, who played middle back for three rotations was the leading cause of the Gauchos’ frustrations.

"It’s all about aggressiveness, how bad you want the ball," Zarkovic said. "If you want the ball, the ball comes to you."

Wade said: "When Siki plays middle-back defense like that, it gets the whole thing going. It fires everybody else up."

Zarkovic also was an offensive force, producing a a team-high 17 kills on a variety of shots. He scored on a left-handed push, three roll shots, and cutting spikes from the left side that squeezed inside the right sideline.

His secret? "I eat my vegetables," Zarkovic said, smiling. "I use everything I have. I didn’t always crush it. I tried to hit high hands and get something off the block. They’re a good blocking team. I tried to use that to my advantage."

Fey, who usually hits exclusively from the pins, had five kills on pipe sets.

"We ran that a lot," said Fey, who had a career-high 14 kills. "Coach wanted us to be a little more unpredictable."

Wade said what should be consistent is the Warriors’ aggressive defense.

"That tough-minded defense travels well," Wade said. "That you can take on the road. That kind of stuff, that’s going to be who we are — our gym, anybody’s gym. That’s something the guys have been talking a lot about. It’s nice to see them come out and do it."

MPSF VOLLEYBALL

Sunday
Hawaii def. UC Santa Barbara, 22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-19
Monday
Stanford at USC

NO. 9 HAWAII DEF. NO. 3 UC SANTA BARBARA
22-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-19

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 — UCSB 2 (Nielsen, Delson). Hawaii 2 (Zarkovic, Leung). Service errors — UCSB 10 (Seif 3, Nieslen 2, Delson, Staahl, Donohue, Boehle, Hardy). Hawaii 14 (Fey 4, Sedore 4, Averill 2, Zarkovic 2, Franciskovic, Leung). Assists — UCSB 49 (Seif 44, Boehle 4, Donohue). Hawaii 63 (Fracniskovic 58, Kanetake 2, Jones 2, Zarkovic). T — 2:15. Referees — Bill Forrester, Dan Hironaka. A — 2,078.