April 7, 2008

Honolulu, HI (UWIRE) -- The No. 13 University of Hawai'i Warrior volleyball team lost in three straight sets, 31-29, 30-19, 30-24, to the No. 3 Brigham Young University Cougars Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center in front of a crowd of 3,113 fans.

"It wasn't the finish I wanted, but I had a good time," said outside hitter Jacob Schkud, who played his last home match. The loss against the Cougars marked the fourth straight loss for the Warriors. The team dropped to 10-15 overall and 7-13 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play.

In a match that had major playoff implications, the Warriors failed to better their league standing, eliminating them from the MPSF playoffs after No. 9 UC Irvine swept No. 14 UC Santa Barbara to secure a berth.

The last time the Warriors failed to make an appearance at the playoffs was in 1993, when head coach Mike Wilton took over the program.

The Warriors finished the night with a team hitting percentage of .102 compared to the Cougars' .223. The Cougars out-blocked (8.5-8), out-aced (5-1) and out-dug (53-37) the Warriors.

Game 1 proved to be the closest of the night, with the lead swinging back and forth throughout the game. Key errors at the end of the game cost the Warriors, as the Cougars grabbed the opener 31-29.

The Warriors took an early lead in Game 2, but gave it up when they committed several crucial errors. Coach Wilton was forced to call an early timeout with the Cougars ahead 9-4. The timeout wasn't effective, as BYU rolled to a 30-19 win.

"We were giving up runs in Game 1, and in Game 2 the runs came earlier and we couldn't catch up," freshman Joshua Walker said.

In Thursday night's matchup against the Cougars, Walker pounded a career-high 29 kills in the Warriors' 30-26, 30-28, 24-30, 30-27 loss.

Game 3 saw another early battle for the lead, but the Warriors weren't able to capitalize on Cougar errors. UH was able to stave off three match points before Walker committed a service error to end the match.

"I guess there's always next year for the team because they're only losing me, so I think they'll be able to fill my spot fairly quickly. So best of luck to these guys," Schkud said.

The Warriors have two matches remaining in their season, both against No. 5 Pepperdine this Friday and Saturday.

Adorned with numerous lei, Schkud said, "I think we'll try to go there and beat them and hopefully screw up their rankings and where they stand. Although this is the last home game, it's not the last game of the season, so we're gonna come out and hopefully get the win."

(C) 2008 Ka Leo O Hawaii via UWIRE