Third-Ranked UCLA Hosts No. 5 Hawaii in MPSF First Round

Third-Ranked UCLA Hosts No. 5 Hawaii in MPSF First Round

April 22, 2004

The No.3-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team will host a first-round MPSF playoff match against No.5 Hawaii on Sat., Apr. 24 at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $5 for students (including UCLA students) and youth. Tickets can be purchased at the door prior to match time.

Lou Riggs will broadcast the game for UCLA's online radio outlet on www.uclabruins.com.

The match also will be televised live by Oceanic Time-Warner (OC-16) back to the islands. Russell Shimooka will call the play-by-play and David Vinton will serve as the color analyst.

In addition, Hawaii will originate an online radio broadcast, and Scott Robbs will call the play-by-play.

The Bruins (23-5, 17-5) finished third in the MPSF race and are one of the four top seeded teams that have earned the right to host a first-round playoff match.

In the other first-round matches on Apr. 24, top-seeded BYU hosts UC Irvine, No.2 seeded Long Beach State hosts UC Santa Barbara and fourth-seeded Pepperdine hosts Cal State Northridge.

In the MPSF playoffs, the Bruins own a 16-4 record, including a 6-2 record in the first round. In 1999, Hawaii defeated UCLA 3-1 in Honolulu.

In the league series between the two schools this season, the teams split a pair of matches in Honolulu. The Warriors won the opener on Feb. 26 3-2, and the Bruins captured the Feb. 28 match 3-1.

On Feb. 26, the Warriors rallied from a two games to one deficit to pull out a five-game victory. UH outblocked the Bruins 16.5-9.0 and hit .326 for the match, including .692 in Game 5. Pedro Azenha led the Warriors with 24 kills followed by 21 from Delano Thomas. The victory was Hawaii's fifth straight against the Bruins.

Two nights later, the Bruins avenged the loss with a convincing 3-1 victory in front of 8,114 fans, Hawaii's largest crowd of the season. In the rematch, the Bruins served nine aces and limited the Warriors to a hitting percentage of .241. UCLA also held Azenha and Thomas to 14 and 15 kills, respectively. Offensively, the Bruins boasted three players in double-digit kills: Steve Klosterman recorded 15 kills (.379), and Chris Pena (.391) and Kris Kraushaar (.381) had 10 each.

"Hawaii will give us all we can handle," said Head Coach Al Scates. "Azenha is one of the top servers in the nation, and (Joshua) Stanhiser hits for a very high percentage out of the middle."

The Bruins lead the overall series 42-15, but Hawaii has won five of the last six matches.