‘Bows ruin Bruins

Huge.

For many reasons.

Not only did No. 5 Hawaii knock off No. 1 UCLA — ending the Bruins’ undefeated season — the Rainbow Warriors did it by surviving one of their poorest serving nights of the year.

Led by freshman opposite Stijn van Tilburg’s career-high 21 kills and a season-high crowd in the Stan Sheriff Center, Hawaii gave coach Charlie Wade his 100th career victory in Manoa, 18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-18.

The Warriors (9-1, 4-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) needed 2 hours and 18 minutes to top the Bruins for the fifth consecutive time, tying a program-best streak against UCLA (10-1, 6-1). Hawaii also ran its home winning streak to 17 heading into today’s 7 p.m. rematch.

Although it was van Tilburg’s first taste of the longstanding rivalry, he understood the importance.

“Maybe I did not understand the history, but all you have to do is look at their ranking,” he said. “But people saying thank you, getting emotional about this … it means a lot to me.

“This is huge for our confidence.”

One play by van Tilburg gave Hawaii a huge lift in Set 4. The Dutch national flew backward to save a ball, then scrambled back for the first solo block of his career, his stuff of Hagen Smith giving the Warriors an 11-8 lead.

“That was a huge play for me. I’ve never had a solo so far,” van Tilburg said. “I’ve been working hard on my blocking.”

“That was an incredible play,” Hawaii junior setter Jennings Franciskovic said. “It was huge for our momentum.

“Anytime you beat a No. 1 team is big, and the fact that we beat a No. 1 team when making so many errors … this is one to remember.”

Set 1 was one to forget, as Hawaii had seven of its 20 service errors in the first 25 minutes. UCLA also held the top hitting team in the conference to negative-.050 with 4.5 blocks. The Bruins weren’t spectacular but were steady enough, with their 6-2 offense (both setters setting and hitting) keeping Hawaii’s block guessing.

“They run a pretty fast offense,” Franciskovic added “But our blockers were able to pick up their tendencies as the match went on. We had good in-game adjustments.”

Hawaii finished with a 13-9.5 edge in blocks, including 5-1 in pulling away in Set 4. Junior hitter Kupono Fey finished with five, including two solo, and junior middle Iain McKellar had five assists.

“This wasn’t about them being No. 1, this was about them being UCLA,” said senior libero Kolby Kanetake, who finished with a team-high 13 digs. “We have this rivalry with them and we’ve got this win streak over them. It’s amazing.

“And giving Charlie his 100th was great. I don’t want to ever lose to them.”

Senior hitter Siki Zarkovic finished with 15 kills and the match-ending ace for the Warriors, off to their best start since 2005.

Freshman setter-hitter Micah Ma’a, a Punahou product, led the Bruins with nine kills and had two of the team’s seven aces. Hawaii Baptist product Michael Fisher, a junior hitter, had two aces to go with six kills.

“It was probably our worst service night of the year,” Wade said. “We had so many errors in Set 1 and you’re not going to beat anyone in this league with that many errors.

“I kept telling the guys, ‘This crowd really wants us to win. Let’s give them something.’ We got in a rhythm and the crowd got into it. We were serving more effectively and plays like the one Stijn had the crowd really feeds on.”

As for hitting 100 wins?

“I just hope it’s not my last,” Wade said.

In Set 2, it was Zarkovic who had UCLA guessing, putting down six kills on nine swings with no errors. The MPSF kill leader (5.46 kps) gave Hawaii its first lead at 1-0, a crucial kill to give the Warriors separation at 22-19 and the capper on Hawaii’s second swing at ending it.

Set 3 was tight, with 15 ties and five lead changes. The Warriors’ serving woes continued, as Fey’s third error gave the Bruins what would be their last lead at 23-22.

Ma’a hit long on an overpass for the 15th tie and Hawaii closed it out on two more UCLA hitting errors.

Set 4 had four ties, the last at 5-5. Fey had a kill and a solo block to give Hawaii the lead for good. UCLA got as close as one four more times, the last at 18-17, but a service error by Ma’a and a hitting error by Smith gave the Warriors the separation they would need for the upset.

MPSF VOLLEYBALL

Friday

Hawaii def. UCLA 18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-18

Long Beach State def. Stanford, 21-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-23

UC Irvine def. USC, 26-24, 22-26, 25-18, 25-18

BYU def. UC Santa Barbara, 25-20, 25-16, 26-24

Cal Baptist def. UC San Diego, 25-21, 21-25, 25-15, 25-13

Today

UCLA at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center

USC at UC San Diego

Stanford at CSUN

Pepperdine at Long Beach State

UC Santa Barbara at BYU

Holy Names at Cal Baptist

Concordia at Cal Baptist

No. 5 Hawaii def. No. 1 UCLA 18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-18

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 — UCLA 7 (Fisher 2, Ma’a 2, Arnitz, Martin, Stahl). Hawaii 3 (Zarkovic 2, Franciscovic). Service errors — UCLA 16 (Fisher 5, Ma’a 3, Stahl 3. Arnitz 2, Smith 2, Bantle). Hawaii 20 (Franciskovic 7, Mol 4, Fey 3, McKellar 3, van Tilburg, Worsley, Zarkovic). Assists — UCLA 41 (Ma’a 23, Smith 17, Arnitz). Hawaii 4 (Franciskovic 38, Fey, McKellar, van Tilburg, Worsley, Zarkovic). T — 2:18. Officials — Ray Mink, Ernest Ho. A — 3,576.