UH and news about Patak

[vbfan4life]

WARRIORS VOLLEYBALL

art
FL MORRIS / [e-mail]
Hawaii's Lauri Hakala and Dio Dante blocked a shot by UC San Diego during the first game of last night's match.

Hawaii sweeps Tritons
The Warriors win so easily they empty their bench in Game 3
By Cindy Luis
[e-mail]

All one needs to know about last night's volleyball match between Hawaii and UC San Diego can be summed up in the first 3 minutes.

That's how long it took Triton coach Kevin Ring to call his first timeout. That's how long the Warriors needed to take a 6-1 lead and pretty much dictate the rest of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest at the Stan Sheriff Center.

HAWAII

UCSD
3 0

Next Up vs. BYU, Friday

Hawaii played up to its No. 3 ranking, using an 11-3 edge in blocks to hold UCSD to a negative hitting percentage for Games 1 and 3. Add 13 kills from Matt Carere and 12 by Lauri Hakala and the Warriors got what they had expected Friday night but didn't get -- a sweep.

It took 89 minutes for Hawaii to beat UC San Diego 30-20, 30-25, 30-18 and continue its series dominance over the Tritons to 35-0. A crowd of 2,699 also saw the Warriors (21-4, 17-3) extend their school-best winning streak to 17 when handing the Tritons (1-26, 0-20) their 19th consecutive loss.

"The difference was the emotional preparation for the match," junior setter Brian Beckwith said. "We bounced back tonight. We put the emotional investment into it tonight.

"We were ourselves tonight, especially with next week coming up. We really want to fine-tune our game."

Hawaii hosts BYU next Friday and Saturday to conclude the regular season and will have a rare Monday practice, according to coach Mike Wilton. The Warriors still have a shot at winning the MPSF title, trailing No. 1 UC Irvine by a game.

"We've got to get better at some things quickly," Wilton said. "We have to get better at serving and passing, get that back up to more acceptable levels."

Senior hitter Jose Delgado, who stayed home Friday with the flu, made it down to the arena last night. He felt better and thought his team played better.

"I think our guys really underestimated (UCSD) Friday," said Delgado, who had started 22 of 23 matches before missing Friday's. "We came mentally prepared tonight, played better volleyball and I'm happy to see that."

The Warrior offense reverted to its efficient self, outhitting the Tritons .341-.042.

UCSD finishes out the year hosting two teams who also won't be advancing to the playoffs: Stanford and Pacific. The Tritons hope to avoid a winless conference season by playing the way they did Friday and not last night.

"The biggest factor was our inability to serve and pass at a high enough level to keep us in it," said Ring, whose team played very well in losing in four Friday. "We were playing catch-up very early on. Hawaii certainly was doing some nice things, but it was more about what we were doing on our side of the net. We didn't serve well, pass well, set well.

"It was just fundamentals and we just got outplayed. And Hawaii's offense was much faster to the pins and we had a tough time getting out there and get up on those guys."

Even Hawaii's "second team" played well in Game 3, behind the setting of freshman Sean Carney and the blocking of sophomore Jake Schkud. Schkud had more block assists (six) when playing in just one game than any of the starters did when playing in two games, including teaming with Eric Kalima for the final two points of the match.

Jon Daze led UCSD with 12 kills.

Notes: UC Santa Barbara All-America opposite Evan Patak may be done for the year. The junior has not played the last two matches and is out indefinitely, according to Gaucho coach Ken Preston. Patak doesn't have enough credits to be eligible this quarter, which began last Monday. ... With two matches remaining in league play, UCLA and UCSB have clinched the last two seeds for the upcoming MPSF tournament. Since Long Beach State has the tiebreaker over UCLA, the Bruins can finish no better than seventh. The April 19 play-in match will be between UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. The two teams meet Wednesday in a conference match that will decide who will host the play-in match.

Hawaii def. UC San Diego
30-20, 30-25, 30-18

Tritons (1-26, 0-20 MPSF)

g k e att pct. bs ba d
Reuter 3 4 4 19 .000 0 1 5
Daze 3 12 5 25 .280 0 0 5
Sayers 2 2 7 13 -.385 0 0 1
Shaw 3 3 2 6 .167 0 2 2
Dierdorff 3 0 1 3 -.333 0 1 5
Wendler 1 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 0
Hardy 1 1 0 2 .500 0 0 0
Leserman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9
Sexton 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0
Bowe 2 5 6 15 -.067 0 1 2
Covington 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0
Smith 3 4 1 10 .300 0 1 1
Totals 3 31 27 95 .042 0 6 1

Warriors (21-4, 17-3 mpsf)

g k e att pct. bs ba d
Hakala 3 12 3 23 .391 0 3 8
Carere 3 13 2 26 .423 0 1 5
Beckwith 2 0 2 2 -1.000 0 1 1
Bender 3 8 3 21 .238 0 1 6
La Barre 3 4 2 7 .286 0 3 2
Dante 2 6 0 6 1.000 1 1 0
Kalima 1 0 0 2 .000 0 2 0
Carney 2 0 0 2 .000 0 2 1
Reft 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7
Schkud 1 1 1 2 .000 0 6 0
Totals 3 44 13 91 .341 1 20 30

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- UCSD (4): Reuter, Daze, Dierdorff, Bowe. Hawaii (2): Dante, Kalima. Assists -- UCSD (31): Dierdorff 30, Covington. Hawaii (39): Beckwith 33, Carney 6.
T -- 1:29. Officials -- Ernie Ho, Dan Hironaka. A -- 2,699.

MPSF standings

Conference Overall

W L Pct. W L
x-UC Irvine 18 2 .900 25 3
x-Hawaii 17 3 .850 21 4
x-BYU 14 6 .700 18 6
x-Pepperdine 14 7 .667 15 7
x-CSU Northridge 13 7 .650 18 8
x-Long Beach St. 12 8 .600 19 9
x-UCLA 10 10 .500 18 12
x-UC Santa Barbara 9 11 .450 13 13
USC 7 14 .333 11 17
Pacific 5 15 .250 7 19
Stanford 2 18 .100 4 22
UC San Diego 0 20 .000 1 26

x-clinched MPSF Tournament berth

Yesterday
Hawaii def. UC San Diego, 30-20, 30-25, 30-18
UC Irvine def. Stanford, 30-28, 30-18, 30-19
UCLA def. Pacific, 31-29, 31-29, 30-25
Pepperdine def. UC Santa Barbara, 30-28, 30-22, 30-24

[vbfan4life]

Hawai'i wastes little time against UCSD
UH volleyball photo gallery

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer


Hawai'i's Dio Dante goes up to hit against UC San Diego at the Stan Sheriff Center.

ANDREW SHIMABUKU | The Honolulu Advertiser
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Hawai'i's Brian Beckwith, Dio Dante and Johnny Matt Bender go up for a block against UCSD. Hawai'i is 35-0 against the Tritons all-time.

ANDREW SHIMABUKU | The Honolulu Advertiser
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Put a stopwatch to the University of Hawai'i volleyball team's 17th consecutive victory.

The Warriors wasted little time in wasting UC San Diego, 30-20, 30-25, 30-19, before 2,699 in the Stan Sheriff Center.

It took 89 minutes — a span that included commercial timeouts, a 10-minute intermission and the Tritons' take-that timeout at aloha ball — for the Warriors to improve to 21-4 overall and 17-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

With two home matches against Brigham Young remaining in the regular season, the Warriors will earn no lower than the No. 2 seed in the MPSF postseason tournament, whose winner advances to the NCAA final four. It is a significant position because the MPSF has supplied the at-large team in all but one of the past 24 final four tournaments.

"No, it doesn't mean anything yet," said UH coach Mike Wilton, who predicted the Warriors would have to reach the championship match of the MPSF tournament to earn a berth in the NCAA final four.

"Our goal is not to lose ever," said floor captain Matt Carere, noting that top-ranked UC Irvine has one fewer loss than the Warriors. UH would earn the tie-breaker over the Anteaters.

"If they stay No. 1, and they lose in the MPSF tournament, there goes the at-large bid if we don't win it," Carere said. "We have to keep winning. That's our only focus."

Last night, the Warriors managed to refocus in holding off UC San Diego.

The Tritons entered this two-match series with a 14-season MPSF record of 12-263, including 0-18 this year.

In Friday's opening match, the Tritons went to extra play in Games 1 and 2 before eventually losing in four games.

"In that match, we came out a little laxed," UH middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre said. "There's always that paper deal, what a team looks like on paper. It's like George Mason in basketball. You see that '11th seed' instead of a good team. The paper fools you. When you're playing San Diego, you're thinking, '0-18.' Maybe you don't prepare as much mentally.

"The thing in men's volleyball is the competition is so tight," LaBarre added. "You only have so many programs. You don't have one or two good players on every team. You've got six or seven good players on every team. You've got to be focused or you'll be in trouble. That's a lesson we learned in (Friday's) match."'

This time, the Warriors appeared to be energetic from the outset, even though outside hitter José José Delgado was not available for the second consecutive match because of a throat infection. Delgado is an accurate passer and the team's most prolific attacker, averaging 4.33 kills per game.

Last night's key was the Warriors' improved passing. They were able to parlay the Tritons' best serves into high passes near the net. That gave Brian Beckwith enough space — and options — to set one of the country's fastest offenses.

In the Warriors' offensive system, Beckwith tries to place lead sets to already-in-motion outside attackers. The strategy is this: A quickly set ball can move faster than a double block.

Carere, left-side hitter Johnny Matt Bender and opposite attacker Lauri Hakala often faced single blocks. When the Tritons tried to double-up near the pins, Beckwith would set Dio Dante or LaBarre in the middle.

"Their offense was a little bit faster," Triton coach Kevin Ring said. "They really hurt us with how quick they were to the pins. That was the biggest factor."

UH's Beckwith said: "That first night, our passing was a little up and down. Tonight, the passers really settled down and gave (backup setter) Sean (Carney) and I the opportunity to do what we do best and really get the ball to our hitters. Our offense is so fast, and with all of the hitters we have on our team, who are you going to pick? When it's that quick to the outside, it's pretty tough."

Meanwhile, the Tritons had difficulty accurately passing the Warriors' serves. UH scored 40 points when it served; UCSD managed 15.

The Tritons' slow relays from passer to setter to attacker allowed the Warriors to construct their block. The Warriors had 11 blocks, including backup Jake Schkud's six in Game 3.

"I didn't even realize I had that many blocks," Schkud said. "When you play, you're in a zone. I was happy I had more blocks than kill attempts. It was good to beat out Dio (Dante). I have a little bragging rights right there."

Dante conceded: "He definitely plays hard. He deserves to play more, I think."

The Tritons did manage to keep plays alive with their gritty defense.

"Their defense is incredible," Beckwith said. "It just beats down on your ego when balls keep on coming back over and over. I give props to them."

But in the end, UCSD's Ring said: "We got out-played. That's the bottom line. It wasn't the energy. It was fundamentally we didn't serve and pass as well as Hawai'i did. Hawai'i played a great match."

UH has won all 35 matches in this series.

Reach Stephen Tsai at [e-mail].

[vbfan4life]

woohoo!!! I made All-American :-D

[AAVolley]

Patak isn't enrolled in enough classes? Common there has to be more to it than that... Something very strange going on here because NO ONE is dumb enough to just not register in the 3 classes required to be a full time student, and the add period hasn't passed anyways for Spring so even if he weren't enrolled in 12 units he could just add classes now. To me that means maybe he wasn't eligible the whole winter quarter?!? Maybe SB will have to forfeit some matches for this one...

[fingrbustr]

I agree w/ AA, something weird is going on here. From what I hear about Preston though, he's not exactly a guy on the up-and-up in the vein of Marv. Besides what his ex-players have told me, we've seen some of his quirks in public. The "we're gonna bust you" letter re: Theocharidis. The rotting of Alfred Reft on the bench (who made 1st team AA after his release to HI). The guy is a nut.

[VBbeast]

He didnt say he wasn't enrolled in enough classes he said he did not have enough credits completed was the way I read that.

They have to pass a certain number of degree granting credits per quarter/semester in order to maintain eligibility. Sounds to me like he may not have passed a class or something last grading period. That is pure speculation on my part mind you.

[robonthemic]

What a shame about the Patak situation-- where UCSB athletics' academic advisors in all of this? The student is wholly responsible for this but you can't help but wonder why the administration didn't see the yellow/red flags coming up via academic update meetings w/ the student. After all the talk I've heard about him I don't get to see UCSB's best team play against UC Irvine.

[vb]

Patak is paid to play volleyball, and go to school. (That is what a scholarship comes down to) If an athlete fails to do this, he is done. We all know this.

Point is this. The academic advisor is paid to keep Patek in school. If he/she fails.....then they should be done.

I am sick and tired of all the adacemic advisors failing in their job.

[UHvbFan]

vb said:

Patak is paid to play volleyball, and go to school. (That is what a scholarship comes down to) If an athlete fails to do this, he is done. We all know this.

Point is this. The academic advisor is paid to keep Patek in school. If he/she fails.....then they should be done.

I am sick and tired of all the adacemic advisors failing in their job.

You don't know it was the fault of the academic advisor...what are they supposed to do, take his tests for him?

[volleydog]

vb said:

Patak is paid to play volleyball, and go to school. (That is what a scholarship comes down to) If an athlete fails to do this, he is done. We all know this.

Point is this. The academic advisor is paid to keep Patek in school. If he/she fails.....then they should be done.

I am sick and tired of all the adacemic advisors failing in their job.

What a load of CRAP!!! I'm sick of everybody blaming everybody but the STUDENT/athlete. Academic advisors are just that "ADVISORS". They cannot go to class and or do the work for these kids.

There is no way he didn't know that he would become ineligible if he didn't pass his classes. There are very specific requirements that pertain to progress towards a Degree. They all know it, they are told from day one. He obviously failed to get it done in the classroom. This is on Patak's shoulders not everybody else's!!

[vb]

Whoa...

The student athlete may or may not know the requirements. (Who can know them all...I don't know all of them-either does my coach) The student athlete works an extra 40 hours a week in VB related activities and always has time managment problems. (practice-weight lifting-games-travel) It is NOT TO MUCH to expect the academic advisor to keep track of these things, inform players, and motivate them to acomplish. This is the job! Do the job or get fired.

How hard would this have been for the PAID academic advisor to see this coming? Easier than the student.

All I am saying... the student athlete rarely is 100% to blame. An investigation into this academic advisor is in order.

[volleydog]

Why do you assume that they didn't do their job because he has not completed the required load.

Why do you think they didn't see it coming?

All I'm saying is that it is rarely just the Academic Advisor's fault. You can tell someone that will not have enough credits if they don't pull their head out. And they are so used to everyone covering for them that they don't think that would ever happen to them. Then guess what? It does....

I have seen it first hand...and it is the students fault more often than not.

[D1VBFan]

vb said:

Whoa...

The student athlete may or may not know the requirements. (Who can know them all...I don't know all of them-either does my coach) The student athlete works an extra 40 hours a week in VB related activities and always has time managment problems. (practice-weight lifting-games-travel) It is NOT TO MUCH to expect the academic advisor to keep track of these things, inform players, and motivate them to acomplish. This is the job! Do the job or get fired.

How hard would this have been for the PAID academic advisor to see this coming? Easier than the student.

All I am saying... the student athlete rarely is 100% to blame. An investigation into this academic advisor is in order.

The student is 100% to blame ALL THE TIME. Lots of students work in the real world to put themselves through school. The job of academic advisors is just that - to advise. They don't study for the student. They don't attend class. They don't write papers and they don't take exams.

This is a matter of a young adult assuming responsiblity for themselves.

[StanfordFan]

I would be willing to bet that the academic advisor sat down with him at the beginning of the quarter/semester and at least said "you're not taking a whole lot of classes; this is the minimum you can take."

vb said:

Whoa...

The student athlete may or may not know the requirements. (Who can know them all...I don't know all of them-either does my coach) The student athlete works an extra 40 hours a week in VB related activities and always has time managment problems. (practice-weight lifting-games-travel) It is NOT TO MUCH to expect the academic advisor to keep track of these things, inform players, and motivate them to acomplish. This is the job! Do the job or get fired.

How hard would this have been for the PAID academic advisor to see this coming? Easier than the student.

All I am saying... the student athlete rarely is 100% to blame. An investigation into this academic advisor is in order.

[GauchoYoungin]

This has nothing to do with the academic advisors. Patak is a good guy and a great athlete, but he messed up academically. If one remembers, the reason he redshirted his freshman year was to help become acclimated to the quarter system and the academic requirements. He had had no problem up until now. But as one gets higher in their major they can not just take b.s. classes just to get the grades and pass with flying colors. The advisors do advise, and they advise very well. I go see I believe the same one as all the vb guys, and he is a good guy who knows his stuff. He can help tell you what you need to take, when to take it, etc., but he can't give an athlete the grade he needs. That was on Patak and no one else. Losing Patak sucks for UCSB, but we do have talent that can succeed. We aren't out of anything yet, and maybe not having Patak will throw a loop to some coaches and confuse them. But one thing is for sure, this is no one's fault but Patak and maybe some of the coaching staff for not being on his butt enough so he would study more. But quarter system and upperdivision classes can be difficult at times and many people succumb to the pressure, it just sucks that Patak's is made public and he is criticized so much for it.