Bruins, Warriors Advance to MPSF Tournament Finals

PROVO -- Third-seeded UCLA (22-7) will meet the No. 4 seed Hawai'i (19-6) on Saturday in the championship round of the 2001 MPSF Men's Volleyball Tournament. The Bruins knocked of the second seed, Long Beach State, 3-2 (27-30, 30-25, 30-24, 23-30, 15-7) while the Warriors avenged back-to-back losses two weeks ago, eliminating top-ranked BYU, 3-1 (30-26, 25-30, 30-27, 30-24).

Matt Komer led the Bruins (22-7) with 22 kills on 35 swings (.514), while Adam Naeve chipped in 12. UCLA hit .276 for the match, while the 49ers hit just .193. David McKenzie recorded a match-high 26 kills for Long Beach State on a match high 60 attempts. Defensively, UCLA collected 18.5 blocks, led by Scott Morrow, who registered a match-best 10 block assists and two solos.

"I think in that final game, we had a better matchup," UCLA head coach Al Scates said. "Matt Komer really ignited us. I'm really proud of our team. These boys played really well."

With the limited services of All-America candidate Mike Wall, who only played two games due to a sprained ankle, the Cougars struggled to find momentum as the upset-minded Warriors gave BYU a taste of its own medicine. Hawai'i recorded 19.0 blocks on the night, compared to BYU's 16. Brenton Davis led the Warriors with 10 blocks, while Torry Tukuafu added nine. Offensively, the match was fairly even, with Hawai'i racking up 64 kills to the Cougars 63. Hawai'i hit .240 at the net, while BYU registered a .208 average. Four Warriors posted double figures, including the MPSF Player of the Year, Costas Theocharidis, who tallied a team-leading 18 kills. Joaquin Acosta led all players with a match-high 20 kills on the night, recording a .371 average on 35 swings.

"This was a typical playoff game between two great teams," UH head coach Mike Wilton said. "The one real difference is that I think we did a very good job of serving. We forced them to pass the ball and made if possible for us to play good defense. We just kept our composure and stayed with the task at hand."

The Warriors and Bruins will square off on Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse, beginning at 7 p.m. (MDT). The Cougars will continue to practice over the weekend in hopes of receiving the one and only at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in Long Beach, Calif.

"There's no doubt it's tough to beat Hawai'i three times in less than two weeks," BYU head coach Carl McGown said. "It doesn't matter if it is at our place or there's, we knew it was going to be a tough match. Hawai'i did an excellent job tonight, but we have to get past that and look forward to next week. We feel like we deserve an at-large bid. We're thinking about it and we're going to prepare. We're going to practice tomorrow and Saturday. But, ultimately we'll have to wait and see what the committee decides."

#2 Hawai'i vs Brigham Young (Apr 26, 2001 at Provo, Utah)
    #2 Hawai'i             |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  MILADINOVIC, Dejan..  4|  6   2  15  .267|  1|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  7  0|  0
 4  TUYAY, Kimo.........  4|  2   1   5  .200| 52|  1   4|  0|  4| 0  4  0|  2
 6  ZIMET, Eyal.........  4| 15   3  25  .480|  4|  0   4|  0|  8| 0  4  1|  0
 9  THEOCHARIDIS, Costas  4| 18  12  50  .120|  1|  1   2|  0|  5| 1  2  0|  0
 10 DAVIS, Brenton......  4| 13   3  26  .385|  2|  0   0|  0|  1| 0 10  0|  0
 22 TUKUAFU, Tory.......  4| 10   8  25  .080|  0|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  9  1|  0
 7  PODLEWSKI, Vernon...  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 15 CHING, Tony.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 64  29 146  .240| 60|  4  13|  0| 35| 1 36  2|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 19.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  6  31  .355   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  11 12  37 -.027   #2 Hawai'i.......... 30 25 30 30  19-6
   3  19  5  40  .350   Brigham Young....... 26 30 27 24  21-4
   4  17  6  38  .289
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  WALL, Mike..........  2|  0   4   6 -.667|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
 3  ACOSTA, Joaquin.....  4| 20   7  35  .371|  1|  0   4|  1|  6| 0  3  0|  0
 4  OLSEN, Matt.........  4|  4   1  11  .273|  0|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  7  0|  0
 7  MAYOL, Jaime........  4|  9   4  25  .200|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 1  0  0|  0
 9  LEBRON, Hector......  4|  2   0   4  .500| 57|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  4  0|  1
 13 BUNKER, Scott.......  4| 12   7  24  .208|  0|  0   2|  1|  6| 0  7  3|  0
 5  WILSON, Mac.........  2|  0   1   4 -.250|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 12 ALLEMAN, Jonathan...  3| 13   5  25  .320|  1|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  0
 17 PESSOA, Fernando....  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 18 SLABE, Luka.........  3|  3   4  10 -.100|  0|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  3  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 63  33 144  .208| 61|  0  12|  4| 42| 1 30  3|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 16.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  6  29  .276   Site: Provo, Utah (Smith Fieldhouse)
   2  13 11  31  .065   Date: Apr 26, 2001   Attend: 1584   Time: 2:15
   3  19  8  39  .282   Referees: Rick Olmstead, Les Calles
   4  17  8  45  .200   Hawai'i advances to MPSF finals vs. UCLA