UC Irvine sweeps UH again

The sixth-ranked University of Hawaii volleyball team went off script, then off its game in Wednesday night’s 25-16, 25-22, 25-21 road loss to No. 3 UC Irvine in the Bren Center.

The Warriors, who were swept in a meeting between the teams two weeks ago, had hoped for better results in this rematch between Mountain Pacific Sports Federation programs.

"From the beginning of the match, we didn’t quite do what we intended to do in terms of the scouting report," UH coach Charlie Wade said. "We didn’t follow it."

UH’s receiving was spotty, the setting inconsistent and the hitting predictable. The Warriors (5-2, 2-1) hit .084, their worst of the season.

The Warriors gave away 34 points on errors — 19 on attacks, 10 on serves, four on Anteater aces, and one on a block attempt. Of the Anteaters’ 75 points, 45 percent came on UH mistakes.

Wade said setter Jennings Franciskovic, a sophomore starting his first college road match, struggled in the "semi-system," the gray area when offense is not quite in rhythm.

"In Jennings’ defense, our serve-receive was not crisp," Wade said. "That’s one of the things (Franciskovic) has to learn. He’s been good on the nights when we received serve consistently well and can run the offense. … The offense never really got going. Some of that is on Jennings. He was tight and tentative with his setting and became very predictable. And some (of the problems) were on the hitters."

Wade noted the Warriors too often hit roll shots into the middle or swung away into well-formed blocks.

Alex Jones made a cameo at setter to provide stability. But Wade reiterated: "There’s no quarterback controversy in that regard. Jennings is still the starter. We’re going to help him learn how to become a better setter."

Wade also is willing to be patient with Kupono Fey, a primary passer and second outside hitter. Fey, a sophomore, had one kill against four errors — he was blocked three times — and hit minus-.429.

"I was trying to be a little more patient with young players on a young season," Wade said. "We’ll get another shot."

The rematch is Friday in the Bren Center.

The Anteaters (9-2, 4-1) launched thunderous serves, then set up an active block. They had 11.5 blocks, including seven block assists by Andrew Benz.

"They can put some service pressure on you," Wade said.

The scored was tied at 20 in the second set before UCI’s Tamir Hershko slammed consecutive kills.

In the third set, the Anteaters closed with a 7-1 run to surge from a 20-18 deficit.

Wednesday

UC Irvine def. Hawaii 25-16, 25-22, 25-21

CSUN def. Cal Baptist 36-34, 25-19, 

19-25, 25-19

USC def. LBSU 25-17, 25-18, 25-19

Princeton def. UC San Diego 25-18, 

29-27, 25-14 (nonconference)

Thursday

Stanford at UCLA

Friday

Hawaii at UC Irvine, 5 p.m. HT

UC San Diego at BYU

CSUN at USC

Pepperdine at UC Santa Barbara

No. 4 UC Irvine def. No. 6 Hawaii 25-16, 25-22, 25-21

Service Aces — Hawaii 4 (Averill 3, Sedore). UC Irvine 4 (Russell 2, Saeta, La Cavera). Service errors — Hawaii 10 (Averill 3, Sedore 2, Fey 2, Moi 2, Holt). UC Irvine 16 (Saeta 4, La Cavera 3, Benz 2, Hershko 2, Russell 2, Agopian, Woloson, Dominguez). Assists — Hawaii 22 (Franciskovic 18, Fey 2, Holt, Jones). UC Irvine 39 (Saeta 37, Hershko, Agopian). T — 1:30. A — 426. Referees — Joe Aguilar, Lydia Godshall, Jane Dong