UCLA
Hawaii
Bruins Defeat Warriors in Four
February 29, 2004 | Men's Volleyball
Feb. 28, 2004
The second-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team avenged five straight losses to the University of Hawaii by defeating the Warriors 3-1 Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
The Bruins won 30-15, 21-30, 30-27, 30-23 in two hours and six minutes before 7,305 spectators, UH's largest crowd of the season. With the victory, the Bruins improved to 13-3 overall, 8-3 in conference play. The Warriors, who saw their 10-match winning streak end, fell to 11-3 overall, 8-2 in league play.
The victory enabled UCLA to keep pace with BYU and Hawaii in the league race. The Cougars lead the league with a 9-1 record after beating UC Irvine Saturday, and the Warriors are second with two MPSF losses.
Saturday' match turned in Game 3 when the Bruins rallied from a three-point deficit to seize the momentum. Trailing 23-20, the Bruins took advantage of a UH service error by Josh Stanhiser and an attack error by Jose Delgado sandwiched around an ace by UCLA's Matt Shubin. After a Hawaii timeout, the Warriors took a 24-23 lead on a kill by Delano Thomas. The Bruins took the lead on kills by Steve Klosterman and Chris Pena, then Hawaii tied it at 25-25 on a kill by Stanhiser. A block by Pena and Klosterman on Pedro Azenha's attempt, a kill by Klosterman and a hitting error by Delgado gave the Bruins the lead at 28-25. The two teams traded points until UCLA's Kris Kraushaar put down the final kill to win the game.
In Game 4 the Bruins never trailed after setter Dennis Gonzalez's ace to begin the game. After a pair of aces by Pena gave the Bruins a nine-point lead at 26-17, the Warriors never seriously threatened.
Klosterman led the Bruins with 16.5 points on 15 kills (.379) and three block assists, followed by Pena and Kraushaar who added 10 kills apiece. Freshman Damien Scott came off the bench and put down nine kills (.353) and recorded an ace and three total blocks.
For the match, the Bruins hit .314, served nine aces and recorded 10 total blocks. Hawaii hit .241, served five aces and recorded 10.5 blocks.
Next week the Bruins host Lewis (Mar. 3), Pacific (Mar. 5) and Stanford (Mar. 6). All matches begin at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.
