Warriors take down Waves in volleyball

Wins in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball are hard to come by. Even harder are picking up wins on the road.

And in Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse? Elusive, according to Rainbow Warriors coach Charlie Wade.

But Saturday, No. 5 Hawaii caught what had been uncatchable in its past five trips to Malibu, Calif. Led by senior hitter Siki Zarkovic’s career highs of 24 kills and a .571 hitting percentage, the Warriors defeated the Waves at home for the first time since 2012 — 25-22, 16-25, 25-19, 25-13.

Freshman opposite Stijn van Tilburg added 15 kills — his fifth straight match in double figures — as the Warriors (4-1, 1-1 MPSF) rebounded from their first loss of the season in an emphatic way.

“I’m really proud of the team tonight,” Wade said in a phone call. “We took a big step forward as a team. Siki really stepped it up tonight, especially on serve-receive, where they were targeting him more.

“We were much more disciplined on our block and the guys executed the game plan. We served better and were able to take them out of system. It was a big win.”

Coming up big in the middle was junior Iain McKellar, a converted opposite. He finished with seven kills, hitting .455, with two of Hawaii’s seven blocks. The Warriors had been outblocked 11-3 on Friday but closed the gap to 10-7 Saturday.

Matt Tarantino led the Waves (4-1, 1-1) with 16 kills and David Wieczorek added 13.

Hawaii outdug Pepperdine 34-22, with senior libero Kolby Kanetake finishing with a match-high nine and junior hitter Kupono Fey eight to go with eight kills.

Hawaii took its first set of the series, breaking the 10th tie of Set 1 at 21-21 on one of van Tilburg’s five kills. Hendrik Mol stuffed Colby Harriman and Harriman then hit wide to give the Warriors set point at 24-21.

The Waves held off one set point, courtesy of van Tilburg’s service error, but not a second as Fey put down his third kill.

Pepperdine pulled away early in Set 2, breaking a 6-6 tie on Mitchell Penning’s kill. Tarantino, who broke away for 13 kills with no errors on Friday, got loose again for three straight as the Waves pulled away for good at 13-7.

Hawaii got as close as 16-11 but no closer, with Pepperdine using a balanced attack — four different players involved in the final nine points — to even the match.

The Warriors grabbed the momentum early in Set 3 with two kills from Zarkovic, giving Hawaii an 8-5 lead. The Waves never got closer than two, the last at 14-12 on a block by McKeller.

Zarkovic and van Tilburg combined for Hawaii’s next seven kills, with van Tilburg’s seventh kill of the set giving the Warriors set point at 24-19. A lift called on reserve setter Soren Dion-Kindem ended it.

The outcome of Set 4 — and the match — was rarely in doubt in the final 20 minutes. Hawaii opened up a 4-0 lead behind the serving of sophomore setter Jennings Franciskovic.

The Warriors blocked Wieczorek twice en route to a 12-5 lead. The Waves rallied behind a kill from Tarantino and a stuff of Zarkovic to come within five at 12-7.

Pepperdine never got closer than five despite three service errors by Hawaii. At 19-12, the Warriors finished it out on a 6-2 run, capped by Zarkovic’s last kill.

Hawaii returns home for a six-match stand beginning with a nonconference series against Grand Canyon on Thursday and Friday. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Saturday

Hawaii def. Pepperdine 25-22, 16-25, 25-19, 25-13

BYU def. Stanford 16-25, 25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 15-10

UCLA def. UC San Diego 25-18, 25-17, 25-14

Long Beach State def. USC 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-17

UC Irvine def. UC Santa Barbara 25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 25-22

Wednesday

UC San Diego at Pepperdine

Cal Lutheran at Cal State Northridge

UCLA at Cal Baptist

Thursday

Grand Canyon at Hawaii, 7 p.m.

UC Santa Barbara at USC

No. 5 Hawaii def. ANo. 12 Pepperdine 25-22, 16-25, 25-19, 25-13

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 — Hawaii 2 (McKellar, van Tilburg). Pepperdine 3 (Harriman, Stewart, Tarantino). Service errors — Hawaii 14 (Zarkovic 5, Franciskovic 3, van Tilburg 3, Cowell, Fey, Mol). Pepperdine 10 (Harriman 4, Wieczorek 3, Tarantino 2, States). Assists — Hawaii 54 (Franciskovic 50, Fey, van Tilburg, Worsley, Zarkovic). Pepperdine 44 (Stewart 36, Barnes 4, Dion-Kindem, Harriman, Penning, Tarantino). T — 1:54. Officials — Joe Aguilar, Robert Okimura. A — 1,655.