By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
During the last few days, a flu epidemic turned several University of Hawai‘i volleyball players into dead men walking.
But for one night, the Warriors worked out the bugs by resting, drinking water, chugging antibiotics and sprinting to a three-game sweep of Pacific.
The scores were 30-21, 30-22, 30-27.
A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,022 watched the seventh-ranked Warriors improve to 4-1 overall in winning their Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener. No game took longer than 28 minutes.
The 12th-ranked Tigers fell to 2-2 and 0-2 in the MPSF.
Tomorrow’s rematch will not count in the MPSF standings.
Three ailing Warriors — outside hitter Costas Theocharidis, opposite Torry Tukuafu and middle blocker Brenton Davis — were significant factors.
Theocharidis, who played in only the first two games, had 11 kills (in 18 swings) and hit .556.
He also proved to be the worst example of the benefits of practice. This month, Theocharidis has been limited to one half-okole practice because of sickness and a sore right (hitting) arm. But once again, when the lights were on, so was Theocharidis.
"We had to forget about our sickness and play," he said. "We were still sick. But once we’re on the court, we had to forget about it. When we’re playing, nobody cares if we’re sick or not."
Tukuafu, who buried 10 kills and hit .316, credited the TLC from his wife, former Wahine volleyball player Andrea Gomez Tukuafu.
"She took excellent care of me," he said. "She was running me soup, crackers, juice and Gatorade. I owe it all to her."
Davis, meanwhile, found strength through rest. At Wednesday’s practice, Davis’ "face was that color," said UH coach Mike Wilton, pointing to a bleach-white towel.
"He was in a bad way," Wilton added. "He got some food in him and he took a nice long nap (yesterday). I think that helped a little."
Davis, who had six kills and six blocks, and Dejan Miladinovic sealed the middle. Theocharidis, Tukuafu, Eyal Zimet (nine kills in 16 swings) and Tony Ching provided the outside thunder.
The Tigers, who also were ailing, could not respond.
Middle blocker Sean Rodgers, who complained of flu-like symptoms, did not leave his hotel room. That forced the Tigers to realign their offense — changes that proved to be ineffective.
The Tigers had difficulty passing and even more trouble serving, committing 14 service errors, including seven in the first game. They eventually abandoned their jump serves, instead using floaters to put the ball in play.
"I’m not sure what happened," Pacific outside hitter Martin Bernsten said. "It feels like we had average passing, average hitting, average setting. Nothing was really good. (The Warriors) had more flow in their game. We couldn’t get up to that level, not in this match, anyway."
PACIFIC
G K E A Pct. BS BA D A
Bernsten 3 11 6 24 .208 0 2 6 1
Hoefer 3 4 0 8 .500 0 4 0 0
Eithun 3 5 4 11 .091 1 0 1 0
3 5 3 19 .105 1 2 3 0
Gerlach 3 11 6 29 .172 0 2 2 0
Tamas 3 1 3 6 -.333 0 0 5 0
Macaranas 2 0 0 0 — 0 0 0 0
Wachtfogel 3 0 0 0 — 0 0 4 0
Wisniakwsk. 1 1 0 2 .500 0 0 2 0
Totals 38 22 99 .162 2 10 23 1
HAWAI‘I
G K E A Pct. BS BA D A
Miladinovic 3 5 2 9 .333 2 2 0 0
Tuyay 3 2 1 3 .333 1 0 6 0
Zimet 3 9 2 16 .438 0 3 11 1
Theocharidis 2 11 1 18 .556 1 1 3 2
Davis 3 6 5 12 .083 0 6 1 1
Tukuafu 3 10 4 19 .316 0 4 3 2
Podlewski 3 0 0 0 — 0 0 8 0
Denitz 2 0 0 0 — 0 0 0 0
Ching 1 5 3 13 .154 0 0 0 0
Totals 48 18 90 .333 4 16 32 6
PACIFIC (2-2, 0-2 MPSF) 21 22 27
HAWAI‘I (4-1, 1-0 MPSF) 30 30 30
Team blocks — Pacific 7, Hawai‘i 12. Assist leaders — Pacific 35 (Tamas 32), Hawai‘i 44 (Tuyay 41). Time — 1:32. Att. -3,022 .
Key — G: Games. K-E-A: Kills-Errors-Attempts. Pct.: Hitting percentage (Kills minus errors divided by attempts). BS: Block solo. BA: Block assist. D: Dig. A: Ace.
[back to top] |
