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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, April 15, 2007

Warriors continue to roll

 Photo gallery Seniors farewell gallery

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i seniors, from left, Brian Beckwith, Eric Kalima, Lauri Hakala and Dio Dante were honored after last night's match.

Photos by ANDREW SHIMABUKU | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Hawai'i's Eric Kalima, left, tries to block a shot by Stanford's Evan Romero during the first game of a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball match at the Stan Sheriff Center.

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For the past month, the University of Hawai'i volleyball team has been on a roll.

"Now we're ready to rock," setter Brian Beckwith said following last night's 30-27, 24-30, 30-24, 30-25 victory over Stanford in the regular-season finale.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,765 saw the Warriors win their 10th in a row and finish tied for sixth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. They are 13-13 overall and 11-11 in the MPSF.

But the Warriors hold the tie-breaking advantage over Cal State Northridge, and have earned the No. 6 seed in the MPSF playoffs, which begin this week.

The Warriors will open on the road against No. 3 seed UC Irvine on Saturday.

"I'm very happy, very pleased," said UH coach Mike Wilton, who has never had a losing regular season in 30 years of coaching. "When we were 3-13 (last month), this is as good as it could become. It couldn't get any better."

The Warriors' final home match of the season ended with Beckwith using a no-look dump shot for aloha ball.

"That was all mine," Beckwith said. "I wasn't going to give it to anyone."

It ended with the Warriors fulfilling their pledge to rebound from a Game 2 in which little went right.

And it ended with the four UH seniors — Beckwith, opposite attacker Lauri Hakala, middle blocker Dio Dante and left-side hitter Eric Kalima — covered with lei and emotion.

"I wish we could have done it in three (games)," Dante said. "It's so nice to have friends and family here, some people we haven't seen in a long time. To know that you're loved is a great feeling."

Hakala, who is from Finland, said: "It's pretty emotional. If I had family over here, it would have been even more so. But there's a big 'ohana over here, and I had three special people here with me. I felt good about it."

Beckwith's family provided the good cheer. His uncle, Bob Arzuman, dressed as the Warrior mascot. Another uncle, John Hobus, led the team chants.

"We want Brian and the team to know they have a lot of support," Hobus said. "We're always behind them."

That was apparent during Game 2, when the Warriors had difficulty serving, passing and hitting. By the middle of the game, left-side hitters Matt Vanzant and Kalima were removed from the rotation. A little later, Beckwith followed.

"We were mad going into the locker room after Game 2," Vanzant said. "We knew we had to come out with more intensity."

Hakala offered the G-rated explanation: "We decided, 'You know what guys, it's our game, let's start playing.' "

Wilton said the Warriors' collapse could be partly traced to the Cardinal finding balance with its offense. Kawika Shoji, son of Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji, buried 23 kills and Evan Romero added 22.

"They caused a lot of that," Wilton said. "They really upgraded. We had some things going on mentally than just the game. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe it was the enormity of the evening. I'm real glad after the break we were able to get refocused."

The Warriors' resurgence, as always, began with accurate passing. That opened the way for Beckwith to find points at the pins (Hakala had 21 kills and Vanzant added 15) and in the middle (Dante finished with 14 kills and no errors in 18 swings).

After that, the Warriors were able to construct their block. Dante finished with seven blocks and being shut out in the first two games.

His most impressive rejection came in Game 3, when Stanford's Matt Ceran tried to swing away on an overpass. But Dante soared for the solo block.

"We kept fighting," Vanzant said. "We knew it was do or die. We did it. It was a good night."

After the match, as the seniors circled the arena, Vanzant said: "This was for the seniors. Every Senior Night should be a victory. Every match should be fun."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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