UCLA
Hawaii (MPSF Quarterfinals)
Bruins Win First Round MPSF Match Against Warriors
April 24, 2004 | Men's Volleyball
April 24, 2004
Third-ranked UCLA swept visiting fifth-ranked Hawaii Saturday night to advance to the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Men's Volleyball Tournament. The Bruins will meet Long Beach State, a 3-0 winner over Cal State Northridge, in the semifinals on Thurs., Apr. 29 at BYU.
The Bruins won 30-24, 30-24, 30-28 in front of 1,228 fans in Pauley Pavilion. The victory was UCLA's fourth straight and raised their record to 24-5. The Warriors ended their season with a 17-12 record.
The UCLA offense smashed 50 kills and the defense held Hawaii to just 39 kills and a hitting percentage of .185. The Bruins hit .314 for the match and got 11 kills apiece from Steve Klosterman and senior Chris Pena. Juniors Paul Johnson and Kris Kraushaar added eight and seven kills, respectively. Johnson recorded four total blocks and two of UCLA's three aces. Setter Dennis Gonzalez added 40 assists and senior libero Adam Shrader recorded eight digs.
Matt Bender and Delano Thomas led the Warriors with 10 kills each, but both were held to hitting percentages of less than .200.
In addition to Long Beach State, the other MPSF Tournament winners were BYU (3-0 over UC Irvine) and Pepperdine (3-0 over CS Northridge).
The finals and semifinals will be staged at BYU on Apr. 29 and May 1. College Sports TV will televise the championship match live on May 1.
