Box Score

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team concluded the regular season with a 33-31, 30-28, 30-26 victory over UC Santa Barbara Saturday night which eliminated the Gauchos from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament which begins next week. 

The win, coupled with a Pepperdine loss, means the Warriors (18-9, 14-8 MPSF) will host a first round match next Saturday against the Waves at the Stan Sheriff Center. UH earns the No. 4 seed in the final league standings and wins the tiebreaker over Pepperdine (16-9, 14-8), which is seeded fifth. Ticket information will available shortly.

UH freshman opposite Jonas Umlauft led the Warriors with a match-high 22 kills on .386 hitting. Outside hitter Joshua Walker rebounded from a nine-kill outing in UH's three-set loss to Gauchos on Friday, with 14 kills, six digs, and three blocks. As a team, UH hit .365 compared to .258 for UCSB.

For the Gauchos (13-16, 9-13), Jeff Menzel had a team-high 16 kills while Todd Travis added 14.

Down 22-20 in Set 1, the Warriors tied the score with a kill by Brennon Dyer and went ahead 25-22 with a big triple block of Travis. The Gauchos responded by scoring the next six points for a three point lead. The Warriors answered with consecutive kills by Umlauft and Walker and held off set point with another kill by Umlauft. UH fended off another set point and scored three straight, included back-to-back UCSB hitting errors, to take Set 1, 33-31.

Hawai'i scored the first four points of Set 2 and extended its lead to 9-3. Later in the set, consecutive solo blocks by Steven Grgas and a Gaucho hitting error gave UH its largest lead at 20-11. UCSB made things interesting late in the set, squashing three set points before Umlauft ended it at 30-28.

An ace by Menzel gave the Gauchos a 14-11 in Set 3. The Warriors finally caught UCSB at 20 with a kill by Ernie Vidinha and error by Menzel. UH led 25-22 following a Grgas and Walker double block. With the Warriors leading 27-23, the Gauchos answered with kills by Travis and Menzel before Hawai'i finished off the set with a kill by Walker and attack error by Travis.

The MPSF Tournament begins Saturday, April 24 with matches at the leagues top four seeds.