It doesn't matter that top-ranked Penn State is 2-0 and coming off an impressive 83-minute sweep of No. 10 Ohio State. Nor that No. 13 Hawaii is 1-1 and coming off a disappointing sweep by No. 7 USC.
As far as the teams are concerned, the slate is clean for tonight's 7 o'clock finale of the 15th Outrigger Hotels Invitational men's volleyball tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"I've been here enough to know that, Saturday night in the Outrigger, Hawaii plays with so much energy," Penn State coach Mark Pavlik said. "They have a wonderful crowd that backs them and they get energy off that.
"Hawaii does a few things that the other teams here don't do and we'll see some guys we haven't seen before. They'll give our block a challenge."
The Warriors fell short when going up against the taller Trojans. USC, getting 19 kills from the appropriately named Murphy Troy, won 30-25, 30-27, 30-23.
Defending NCAA and Outrigger champion Penn State had eight blocks and eight aces in downing No. 10 Ohio State 30-27, 30-24, 30-19 in last night's first match.
Today's 4 p.m. match pits Ohio State (0-2) against USC (1-1).
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 10, 2009
vs. Penn State today
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USC meets No. 10 Ohio State (0-2) at 4 p.m. today. The Buckeyes dropped to 0-2 when losing to the top-ranked Nittany Lions, 30-27, 30-24, 30-19, in 83 minutes.
Penn State goes for its second consecutive Outrigger title tonight, taking on the host Warriors at 7.
Just how quickly Hawaii can put this loss behind will be a challenge.
"We showed our youth tonight," Warriors libero Ric Cervantes said of a lineup that started two freshmen and added a third when junior blocker Matt Rawson went out with a sore shoulder. "The main thing is we have to take this as a learning experience,"
"SC's offense was pretty much unstoppable. We never got them out of system. We can't get down on ourselves."
Hawaii never had an answer for Troy or the Trojans' balanced attack. USC had three others in double-figure kills, with Sean Dennis putting down 12 and Tony Ciarelli and Austin Zahn 10 each.
Joshua Walker had 15 for the Warriors.
"Our problem was we came out flat in the first game," Walker said. "The second game, we let the refs get into our heads. Then we got behind in the third.
"Tomorrow, we need to come out better than we did and hopefully continue it the whole match."
The key to success is always to serve and pass and "that's what we were able to do," USC setter Riley McKibbin (Punahou '07) said. "Hawaii is a good team, very scrappy, and they played well. But we played really well."
One bad rotation cost the Warriors in Set 1. Troy's 4-0 serving run included two aces and put the Trojans ahead for good at 8-5.
Troy and Ciarelli combined for 11 kills as SC hit an impressive .562 behind McKibbin.
Troy continued his hot hand when cooling off Hawaii in Set 2. The Warriors overcame a couple of controversial calls and rallied behind the serving of senior defensive specialist Mike China.
After China's first career ace gave Hawaii a 23-20 lead, Troy took over, putting down nine kills on 15 swings, including three straight that put USC ahead at 24-23.
The Warriors managed to tie it three times, the last at 26, before Zahn put down two kills to give the Trojans the lead for good. At 29-27, Walker hit long to end it.
Troy did his damage from the back line in Set 3. His 4-0 serving stint that included his fourth ace helped the Trojans pull away for good at 16-11.
"I liked that we took care of the ball tonight," USC coach Bill Ferguson said. "We got Sean (UH setter Carney) off the (serving) line and he was the server we were most worried about. I thought Luke (libero Morris) did a great job at serve-receive."
USC finished with five aces to UH's one and won the blocking battle as well 9.5-4. Troy finished with a double-double with 14 digs.
Freshman setter Edgardo Goas ran a very efficient (.422) and diverse attack, led by Ryan Sweitzer's 15 kills. Middle Max Lipsitz added 12 kills with just one error on 19 swings (.579), half of the kills coming in Set 3, with Will Price also putting down 12 kills.
The Nittany Lions, who had 12 aces Thursday in beating USC, had eight against the Buckeyes. Max Holt ran his tournament total to 10 with three last night.
Ted Schoenfeldt led Ohio State with 13 ills and Robbie Klein added 11.
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
|
| McKibbin | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1.000 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1.0 |
| Troy | 3 | 19 | 5 | 34 | .412 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 23.0 |
| Dennis | 3 | 12 | 3 | 22 | .409 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 16.0 |
| Clarelli | 3 | 10 | 2 | 29 | .276 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 11.0 |
| Zahn | 3 | 10 | 2 | 14 | .571 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12.5 |
| Current | 3 | 6 | 2 | 11 | .364 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8.0 |
| Keenan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Morris | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 3 | 57 | 15 | 111 | .378 | 42 | 2 | 15 | 71.5 |
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
|
| Rawson | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | -.157 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
| Grgas | 3 | 5 | 1 | 9 | .444 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5.5 |
| Hunt | 3 | 8 | 5 | 28 | .107 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8.0 |
| Carney | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | .500 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 |
| Walker | 3 | 15 | 3 | 34 | .353 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 16.5 |
| Tuaniga | 3 | 7 | 3 | 17 | .235 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 |
| Cervantes | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lofy | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | .286 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.5 |
| Zemljak | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| China | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
| Totals | 3 | 42 | 15 | 107 | .252 | 33 | 2 | 4 | 47.0 |
Aces -- USC (5): Dennis 4, Current. Hawaii (1): China. Assists -- USC (55): McKibbin 53, Morris 2. Hawaii (39): Carney 34, Tuaniga 2.
T -- 1:50. Officials -- Ernie Ho, Wayne Lee. A -- 2,823.
Win or lose, there's always a lesson to be learned. And No. 13 Hawaii learned the hard way that a slow start and lapses in focus can quickly add up to defeat.
vs. Penn State today |
USC meets No. 10 Ohio State (0-2) at 4 p.m. today. The Buckeyes dropped to 0-2 when losing to the top-ranked Nittany Lions, 30-27, 30-24, 30-19, in 83 minutes.
Penn State goes for its second consecutive Outrigger title tonight, taking on the host Warriors at 7.
Just how quickly Hawaii can put this loss behind will be a challenge.
"We showed our youth tonight," Warriors libero Ric Cervantes said of a lineup that started two freshmen and added a third when junior blocker Matt Rawson went out with a sore shoulder. "The main thing is we have to take this as a learning experience,"
"SC's offense was pretty much unstoppable. We never got them out of system. We can't get down on ourselves."
Hawaii never had an answer for Troy or the Trojans' balanced attack. USC had three others in double-figure kills, with Sean Dennis putting down 12 and Tony Ciarelli and Austin Zahn 10 each.
Joshua Walker had 15 for the Warriors.
"Our problem was we came out flat in the first game," Walker said. "The second game, we let the refs get into our heads. Then we got behind in the third.
"Tomorrow, we need to come out better than we did and hopefully continue it the whole match."
The key to success is always to serve and pass and "that's what we were able to do," USC setter Riley McKibbin (Punahou '07) said. "Hawaii is a good team, very scrappy, and they played well. But we played really well."
One bad rotation cost the Warriors in Set 1. Troy's 4-0 serving run included two aces and put the Trojans ahead for good at 8-5.
Troy and Ciarelli combined for 11 kills as SC hit an impressive .562 behind McKibbin.
Troy continued his hot hand when cooling off Hawaii in Set 2. The Warriors overcame a couple of controversial calls and rallied behind the serving of senior defensive specialist Mike China.
After China's first career ace gave Hawaii a 23-20 lead, Troy took over, putting down nine kills on 15 swings, including three straight that put USC ahead at 24-23.
The Warriors managed to tie it three times, the last at 26, before Zahn put down two kills to give the Trojans the lead for good. At 29-27, Walker hit long to end it.
Troy did his damage from the back line in Set 3. His 4-0 serving stint that included his fourth ace helped the Trojans pull away for good at 16-11.
"I liked that we took care of the ball tonight," USC coach Bill Ferguson said. "We got Sean (UH setter Carney) off the (serving) line and he was the server we were most worried about. I thought Luke (libero Morris) did a great job at serve-receive."
USC finished with five aces to UH's one and won the blocking battle as well 9.5-4. Troy finished with a double-double with 14 digs.
Freshman setter Edgardo Goas ran a very efficient (.422) and diverse attack, led by Ryan Sweitzer's 15 kills. Middle Max Lipsitz added 12 kills with just one error on 19 swings (.579), half of the kills coming in Set 3, with Will Price also putting down 12 kills.
The Nittany Lions, who had 12 aces Thursday in beating USC, had eight against the Buckeyes. Max Holt ran his tournament total to 10 with three last night.
Ted Schoenfeldt led Ohio State with 13 ills and Robbie Klein added 11.
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
|
| McKibbin | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1.000 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 1.0 |
| Troy | 3 | 19 | 5 | 34 | .412 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 23.0 |
| Dennis | 3 | 12 | 3 | 22 | .409 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 16.0 |
| Clarelli | 3 | 10 | 2 | 29 | .276 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 11.0 |
| Zahn | 3 | 10 | 2 | 14 | .571 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12.5 |
| Current | 3 | 6 | 2 | 11 | .364 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8.0 |
| Keenan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Morris | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 3 | 57 | 15 | 111 | .378 | 42 | 2 | 15 | 71.5 |
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
|
| Rawson | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | -.157 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
| Grgas | 3 | 5 | 1 | 9 | .444 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5.5 |
| Hunt | 3 | 8 | 5 | 28 | .107 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 8.0 |
| Carney | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | .500 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4.5 |
| Walker | 3 | 15 | 3 | 34 | .353 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 16.5 |
| Tuaniga | 3 | 7 | 3 | 17 | .235 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 |
| Cervantes | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lofy | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | .286 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.5 |
| Zemljak | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| China | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
| Totals | 3 | 42 | 15 | 107 | .252 | 33 | 2 | 4 | 47.0 |
Aces -- USC (5): Dennis 4, Current. Hawaii (1): China. Assists -- USC (55): McKibbin 53, Morris 2. Hawaii (39): Carney 34, Tuaniga 2.
T -- 1:50. Officials -- Ernie Ho, Wayne Lee. A -- 2,823.