UH v. Lewis

[roy]

Warriors Sweep Lewis in Outrigger Invitational


Recap Date: 01/06/05

HONOLULU - Hawai`i used a big block and got a solid hitting night to sweep Lewis 33-31, 30-25, 30-27 at the 11th Outrigger Invitational tonight in front of 2,501 (4,521 tickets issued) fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH rallied past Lewis in Game One, 33-31. The score seesawed throughout the game. UH led by as many as five (11-6) only to find themselves down by three (15-18) around the mid-way point.

The Warriors put down 21 kills in the game led by Pedro Azenha and Matt Bender's six apiece. Brian Beckwith spread the wealth around as Jose Delgado hammered down five kills along with Maulia La Barre's four. UH also outblocked Lewis four to one in the game.

Game Two went to Hawai`i 30-25. UH led most of the way and began to pull away at 15-11. But Lewis closed the gap to 22-21, but UH went on an 8-4 run to close it out. Azenha, Bender, and La Barre continued their torrid hitting pace leading the Warriors.

The Warriors closed out the match 30-27 in Game Three for the only sweep thus far in the invite. UH hit .352 overall led by Azenha's match-high 16 kills. Three other 'Bows were in double figures in the kills -- Delgado (14), Bender (13), and La Barre (11). Dio Dante had a solid blocking night with seven blocks.

Lewis hit .299 as a team led by Jeff Soler (15 kills) and Enrique Escalante (13).

Lewis (0-2) takes on Penn State (0-2) in the third-place match at 4 p.m. tomorrow followed by title match with Brigham Young (2-0) and Hawai`i (2-0).

[roy]

Very good win for the Warriors. A sweep was important as they have more time to rest up for BYU tonight.

Hawaii is benefiting for their depth. Dante was doing very well at the net. He is a strong blocker for the Warriors. Beckwith needs to work on his connection with him. Dante wasn't take really good swings at the ball. With hope, they will start to work on their connection.

Beckwith and La Barre connected really well tonight. It was good to see him get into the action. La Barre needs to work on his blocking more, but offensively, he is really what the Warriors need in the middle position.

Delgado cooled off tonight but he wasn't needed. The opposite tandem of Bender and Azenha was almost unstoppable. Passing was still a bit shakey, but they were hot and Hawaii didn't need great passing to get the ball to them. Hawaii has the luxury of depth. Hakala saw limited action and Carere wasn't called upon. Its nice to know that Hawaii can afford to leave them on the bench and call upon them when needed.

Still not the greatest volleball. A lot of service errors from both sides with few aces. We also saw more self inflicted wounds from both sides.

Lewis needs to work on their defense. Their back row has some potential but their blocking needs a lot of work. Credit Beckwith for finding Hawaii's hot hitters but 3 total blocks in a 3 game match isn't going to scare a lot of people. Soler is the go to guy and fun to watch. He needs some help out there. Sisk needs to find some of his other hitters. Hawaii didn't stop Soler but slowed him down enough to get the win. If Sisk can set the rest of his players a bit more and give Soler a little more of an opening, Lewis will do really well. I also like Escalante. Very fun player to watch and he does such a great job of hitting the quick set.

[warriordudette88]

the experiment wth bender and pedro is doing pretty well as long as the passing holds up. when the passing is bad then there are problems. the fact that hakala or carrere did not have to come in is a good sign.