Senior setter Jonah Seif was at his best on the passes tight to the net. The 6-9 Seif beautifully set up middles Henri Cherry and Ryan Brady for several big kills on the close plays, sparking UCSB to a four-set win over Hawaii in a match-up of two playoff-bound volleyball teams on Friday night at Rob Gym.
The scores were 25-15, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18.
Cherry, a freshman, hit a blistering .714, scoring on 11 of 14 sets. Hardy connected on 9 of 12 swings for a .583 average. Seif, who had a couple of kills himself, dished out 40 assists and had Hawaii’s blockers scrambling most of the night.
“Their setter is really talented and he will adjust the game plan night to night, based on personnel and stuff,” said Hawaii coach Charlie Wade. “We knew situations they were going to run middle and we just couldn’t stop it because it was well executed at their end. But we have to do a better job at being in the right spot at the right moment when you know it’s coming.”
Austin Kingi led the Gauchos with 13 kills and Matt Marsh put away 12 from the pin positions and behind the 10-foot line.
“Covering and getting more digs allowed our hitters to swing more aggressively” said Kingi.
With the victory, the Gauchos (16-9) moved one game behind fifth-place Pepperdine in the standings at 11-8. That’s the highest they could finish before the eight-team MPSF playoffs. Hawaii (9-10 MPSF, 14-10) remains in seventh position.
The Gauchos came out of the gate strong in the first set and dominated the net. Cherry quickly stood out in all aspects of his game with 3 kills on 5 sets, an ace to close the match, and 6 blocks. The Gauchos established themselves early on to take the lead and an ace by Matt Marsh forced a Hawaii timeout at 15-10. Two consecutive kills by Kingi secured the Gauchos win.
Hawaii got its attack going in the second set behind freshman opposite hitter Stijn van Tilburg and junior outside hitter Kupono Fey. The Gauchos, however, fought back and kept the set close before falling 25-23.
The Gauchos capitalized on several missed serves by Hawaii in the third set and pulled away in the fourth on a four-point serving run by Cherry.
Santa Barbara and Hawaii will face off again on Saturday at 7 p.m.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.