Switch in strategy leads to another UH sweep

The start of Saturday night’s volleyball match was delayed 35 minutes.

Hawaii needed only 93 to finish off Long Beach State, 25-17, 27-25, 25-19, in the Walter Pyramid.

By defeating the 49ers on the road for the second consecutive night, the Rainbow Warriors moved into a two-way tie for second place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. UC Irvine has an 11-2 MPSF record. UH and Brigham Young are 10-2. Pepperdine is 9-2.

"I look at it as a four-way tie," said UH coach Charlie Wade, applying sports math. "There are four (teams) with two in the loss column. That’s the one thing you can’t change. You can put on more wins. You can’t take losses off."

Wade and assistant coaches Milan Zarkovic and Spencer McLachlin met after Friday’s match to edit the game plan. UH usually opens with outside hitter Siki Zarkovic in the back row. On Saturday, UH flipped the rotation, with outside hitter Kupono Fey in the back row and middle blocker Taylor Averill behind the service line. Averill usually is third in the serving rotation.

The strategy was twofold: 1) Change the matchup with 49er middles Bryce Yould and Taylor Gregory, and 2) Mess with the 49ers’ serving tactics.

In Friday’s match, the UH libero received only four of the 49ers’ 85 serves.

"Which means they very much had scripted who was going to serve where in what rotation," Wade said.

On Friday, Zarkovic received 43 serves and Fey was targeted 26 times. On Saturday, Zarkovic and Fey each received 17 serves, and libero Kolby Kanetake received 12.

The rotation tweak apparently affected the 49ers, who had three errors in their first four serves.

"That was a side benefit," Wade said.

The Warriors scored the first five points in dominating the first set. They squandered a 12-8 lead before rallying in the second set. They led 10-9 in the third when they scored five in a row — four with opposite Brook Sedore serving — to seize control.

The Warriors scored nine points on plays initiated with Averill serving.

"We’re going to be a lot better when we really get Taylor Averill serving for points," said Wade, who permitted Averill to blast away on serves. "It’s one more guy in the lineup having the big serve for us. That’s pretty significant."

Averill was hitting above .500 until late in the third set, when he hit long on attacks. He finished with nine kills, substantial because the 49ers often slid an outside defender to the middle to create a double wall.

Fey led the Warriors with 12 kills and hit .556.

"He played great," Wade said. "That’s good to see."

Wade praised his pin hitters’ defensive play. Sedore had seven digs.

"(Friday) night, when your libero is only touching the ball four times on serve/receive, the outside hitters passed a lot," Wade said. "Tonight, they were good again. That’s one of the things we needed to get the offense going: accurate passing."

Dan Glamack led the 49ers with 12 kills.

But the 49ers struggled for a rhythm, pulling starting setter Curtis Stallings early in the first set. The Warriors scored natural points on 41 of their serves.

"Wins on the road are significant," Wade said. "I’m proud of the guys. They were very businesslike. There was no letdown."

The Warriors return to Honolulu this afternoon.

NO. 6 HAWAII DEF. NO. 10 LONG BEACH STATE 25-17, 27-25, 25-19

Service Aces — Hawaii 4 (Averill , Fey, Sedore, Zarkovic). Long Beach State 2 (Ensing, Glamack). Service errors — Hawaii 8 (Sedore 2, Averill, Fey, Franciskovic, Holt, Mol, Zarkovic). Long Beach State 10 (Butler 2, Glamack 2, Gregory 2, Ensing, La Rusch, Whitt, Yould). Assists — Hawaii 40 (Franciskovic 37, Averill, Kanetake, Zarkovic). 

Long Beach State 32 (Butler 24, Stallings 6, Glamack, Whitt). T — 1:33. A — 1,197. Referees — Ron Stahl, Tom Saunders.