By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
After the madness and distractions had cleared, the University of Hawai‘i proved it is one of the nation’s elite men’s volleyball teams, dismissing third-ranked Pepperdine in four games last night in the Stan Sheriff Center.
 |
| Hawai‘i middle blocker Brenton Davis slams the ball past the Pepperdine block during the first game of the Warriors’ four-game victory over the Waves at Stan Sheriff Center.
Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser |
The scores were 35-33, 31-29, 24-30, 30-21.
"I think we came out with a statement for the rest of the conference," outside hitter Eyal Zimet said, a reference to the fifth-ranked Warriors’ records of 13-3 overall and 8-2 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Pepperdine is 12-5 and 7-5.
"We’re for real and we’re going for it," Zimet said. "We’re going to be strong."
The Warriors admittedly were not at their best, perhaps distracted by the men’s basketball team’s play in the Western Athletic Conference championship. The telecast of the basketball game was shown on the Sheriff scoreboard and the four television monitors that ringed the court.
At one point, the crowd booed when the screens turned dark while the national anthem was played on the arena’s speakers.
"I think the crowd’s energy helped us out a little bit, even though they weren’t cheering for us," UH middle blocker Brenton Davis said. "It kind of got the adrenaline going a little bit. The basketball team did the job, so we felt we had to do the job, too."
But synthetic energy can last only so long, and after rallying to win the first two games, the Warriors were drained in the third, when they hit .059.
"We did what was necessary to win the first two games, but that was all," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "We were playing with an absolute lack of passion."
During the three-minute break between the third and fourth games, Wilton implored his team to play with more determination.
"We were kind of tired," outside hitter Costas Theocharidis said of the third game. "We didn’t play well. We sucked."
But the pep talk appeared to help, and the Warriors raced to an 8-2 lead, which was constructed with tough serves and strong defense.
UH’s serves — Zimet had three aces in the third game — resulted in sloppy Pepperdine passes. On consecutive plays, Pepperdine overpasses were parlayed into Zimet and Davis slams.
"We made too many errors," Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy said.
While the Warriors were vulnerable to inside shots, they defended the outside well. None of the Waves’ top three outside hitters — Scott Wong, Fred Winters or Lance Walker — hit better than .175. In a pick of poisons, stopping the outside is preferable.
"Middles are not going to beat you," Wilton said. "At one point, the setter (Keith Barnett) and the two middles were eating us up, but we were slowing down the outside. That’s good, because the outside will get the brunt of the sets."
The Waves, who try to set quickly and position two hitters in the same area, had difficulty reading the Warriors’ defense.
"They ran a tricky offense, one that’s hard to defend, but we pulled it off," UH middle blocker Dejan Miladinovic said.
Miladinovic and Davis combined for 22 kills; Theocharidis led the way with 22 kills, despite 10 hitting errors.
"We didn’t play well, but they didn’t play well," Theocharidis said. "We were kind of tired, but we won, and that’s all that matters."
[back to top] |
