Zarkovic helps Hawaii survive in 5

Elusive thing, momentum. Easy to lose, not so easy to regain.

No. 9 Hawaii definitely gave the Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 2,268 its money’s worth Friday night, finding the momentum at the right time. Led by senior Siki Zarkovic’s career-high 29 kills and a block that showed up at the end, the Rainbow Warriors turned back No. 14 Cal Baptist, 25-21, 25-20, 25-27, 18-25, 15-9 after 2 hours and 24 minutes.

Junior hitter Kupono Fey added 16 kills and 13 digs, and had a 6-0 serving run in Set 5 that allowed Hawaii to prevail heading into today’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season volleyball finale.

The Warriors (15-11, 10-11) had three chances at ending it in three but couldn’t manage the sweep against the Lancers (14-15, 6-15). Cal Baptist still has a chance at earning the eighth and final berth in next week’s MPSF tournament with a win over Hawaii today and a loss by UC Irvine at Long Beach State.

“I think we lost focus,” Zarkovic said. “That won’t be a problem tomorrow.”

Today will be senior night for Zarkovic, libero Kolby Kanetake and reserve hitter Brandon Hiehle.

Fey’s serving helped turn the momentum in Set 5, moving back to the service line with the Warriors holding a 6-5 lead. When he was done, Hawaii had a 12-5 lead.

“At the end, we were able to get the momentum,” Fey said. “This was huge because we are looking for momentum for the playoffs.”

The Warriors will be on the road on April 16 as the seventh seed but will not know where until today’s matches are done on the mainland.

Leading Cal Baptist was senior hitter Rocky DeLyon, a Seabury Hall product, who had a career-high 19 kills. Roy Powell added 16 and Enrique de Diego Garcia 12 as the Lancers won the block war 20.5-13.

Kamehameha-Hawaii product Emmett Enriques, Cal Baptist’s freshman libero, finished with a match-high 17 digs. Kanetake had 13 for the Warriors.

Five of Hawaii’s blocks came in the deciding fifth set.

Hawaii broke away midway through a tight Set 1, using a 4-0 run to break the 10th and last tie at 15 and take control at 18-15. The most notable occurrence was freshman middle Nainoa Frank committing his first error in four matches, having put down 24 kills in his previous 37 swings.

There was little drama in Set 2 except for when it came to the Warriors’ serving. Hawaii helped keep things closer than the score likely should have been with seven service errors.

Zarkovic had 10 kills through Set 2, his first double-digit performance since the last home match on March 26 against UC Irvine, when he matched his career high with 25. He played sparingly on the road last week, hitting negative both nights at UC Santa Barbara with a combined six kills and eight errors.

Zarkovic added nine more in Set 3 and Hawaii was poised for its eighth sweep, serving for the match three times, the last at 25-24. Powell’s two kills gave Cal Baptist its first set point of the night; it would be the only one the Lancers needed as they blocked Zarkovic to force a fourth.

The Warriors never found a rhythm, trailing early and looking bad doing it. Two aces by Fey and a kill by Zarkovic pulled Hawaii to 16-15 but no closer, with DeLyon’s 3-0 serving run helping the Lancers to a 20-16 lead, forcing the Warriors into their third consecutive five-setter at home.