USC
Hawai'i
Hawaii Upsets No. 1 USC Men's Volleyball
April 09, 2011 | Men's Volleyball
April 9, 2011
The No. 1-ranked USC men's volleyball team suffered just its second loss of the season when it fell in 5 sets at No. 8 Hawaii, 22-25, 25-22, 15-25, 25-20, 15-10, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday (April 8) in front of 3,967 fans in Honolulu.
The loss snapped USC's 12-match winning streak, its longest since a school-record 30-match winning streak in 1990 and 1991. The Trojans also had won 11 consecutive MPSF matches (its best streak since capturing 18 straight league matches during the 1991 and 1992 seasons).
USC fell to 18-2 overall and 17-2 in the MPSF. The Trojans have already clinched the MPSF regular season title and the top seed in the upcoming MPSF tournament.
Hawaii improved to 15-11 overall and 13-8 in the MPSF.
The teams meet again in Honolulu on Saturday (April 9).
Statistically, the match was fairly even. USC hit .383 to UH's .338. The Trojans had 6 aces and 36 digs, while Hawaii had 4 aces and 34 digs. The Warriors had 1 more block, 8.5 to 7.5.
Murphy Troy led USC with 17 kills and he added 3 aces and 5 digs. Steven Shandrick had 14 kills while hitting .765 and added 3 blocks. Tony Ciarelli had 13 kills and 2 aces, Austin Zahn had 8 kills (hitting .462) and 4 blocks, Tri Bourne had 8 kills and 5 digs and Henry Cassiday had 13 digs.
For Hawaii, Jonas Umlauft had a match-best 26 kills (hitting .388) with 7 digs, Joshua Walker added 19 kills and 5 blocks, Steven Hunt had 12 digs (hitting .400) with 6 digs, Shane Welch had 5 blocks, Nejc Zemljak had 7 digs and Nick Castello had 8 digs.
USC began the first set with a 3-1 lead, built it to 15-8 and held on despite Hawaii closing late to within 2 points (the Trojans hit .440 to the Warriors .379). The second set was tied at 17-17 when Hawaii scored the next 2 points to gain all the lead it needed while hitting .481 to USC's .348. The Trojans were on fire in the third set, steadily pulling away from the start by hitting .571 to Hawaii's .174. In the fourth set, Hawaii jumped out to a 16-10 lead before USC scored 5 straight points, but the Warriors then went on a 5-point run to restore order despite the Trojans hitting at a .440 clip to UH's .364. Hawaii hit just .222 in the fifth set but scored the match's final 5 points as USC hit .000.
