Box Score

STANFORD, Calif. – For the second consecutive night, the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team was swept by third-ranked Stanford in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match, 30-23, 30-26, 30-19 Saturday night at Maples Pavilion.

 

The eighth-ranked Warriors (2-3, 0-2 MPSF) will continue their road trip with a two-match MPSF series against Pacific beginning on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

 

Opposite Jonas Umlauft paced the Warrior attack for the second straight night, sharing team-high kill honors with outside hitter Joshua Walker with 11. Middle blocker Matt Rawson added nine kills with seven errors and Steven Hunt came off the bench with five kills.

 

For the second straight night, the Cardinal (2-0, 2-0) hit over 40 percent as a team (.413) and three players posted double figure kill totals led by Evan Romero's 14. Spencer McLachlin had 13 kills in 20 swings (55 percent) and Brad Lawson added 11 kills. All-American brothers Kawika Shoji (41 assists) and Erik Shoji (14 digs) also contributed to the Stanford victory.

 

In the first set, the Cardinal jumped out to a 6-1 lead. After the Warriors closed to within 10-6, Stanford reeled off three straight – after a pair of hitting errors by Umlauft and Walker – forcing Hawai'i to call timeout down 13-6. The Cardinal extended their lead to as much as 12 before the Warriors rallied to within 28-23. However, Stanford closed out the set by blocking Umlauft for the 30-23 victory.

 

The Warriors showed some fight in Set 2. The teams battled back and forth for much of the first half before the Cardinal got some breathing room at 22-18 after a McLachlin kill and service ace. Hawai'i pulled within two at 26-24 but Stanford answered with kills by Garrett Werner and Kawika Shoji and closed out the set 30-26.

 

The Cardinal scored the first three points in Set 3 but the Warriors tied it at 5 with three straight kills by Hunt. Moments later, consecutive hitting errors by Umlauft and Rawson gave Stanford a 10-7 advantage. The Cardinal extended their lead to 16-9 following two more errors by Walker and Umlauft. With UH trailing 18-13, Stanford's Gus Ellis stuffed Rawson on consecutive plays and the Warriors soon found themselves down 21-13.

 

On Friday, Stanford swept UH, 30-15, 30-21, 30-18, handing the Warriors one of their worst losses since the advent of the rally-scoring era.

 

UH's next series will be a homecoming of sorts for first-year head coach Charlie Wade. Prior to taking over the Warrior volleyball program, Wade spent the past three seasons as the head women's volleyball coach at UOP, where he guided the Tigers to a 36-48 record. UH and UOP will play Tuesday, Jan. 19 and Wednesday, Jan. 20.