UH spiked where it hurts
Advertiser Staff
The climb to Utah's Wasatch Mountain range is breathtaking. The fall, as the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team discovered this weekend, is just as spectacular.
In what proved to be a costly defeat last night, the top-ranked Warriors fell to No. 2 Brigham Young for the second match in a row in Provo. The scores were 30-27, 28-30, 30-21, 26-30, 15-12.
Dan Lund • Special to The Advertiser
If the Warriors had swept the two-match series, which ended the regular season, they would have earned the No. 1 seed and the homecourt advantage throughout the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs, which begin this coming weekend.
A frustrated Dejan Miladinovic after UH fell to BYU in five.
Instead, UH, Long Beach State and UCLA finished in a three-way tie behind BYU with 12-5 conference records.
According to an MPSF memo issued last night, UH earns the fourth seed in the MPSF playoffs and will serve as host to Southern California (10-7) in the opening round Saturday in the Stan Sheriff Center. Season-ticket holders may pick up their playoff tickets tomorrow at the Stan Sheriff Center Box Office; the public may purchase tickets beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
The tie-breaker, according to the memo, was based on the head-to-head records among UH, UCLA and Long Beach State. UH split with UCLA and lost to Long Beach State; Long Beach State split with UCLA.
The Warriors argued that the head-to-head formula should not be used in a three-way tie because the teams did not play an equal number of matches against each other. But MPSF executive director Al Beaird confirmed the seedings last night.
The Warriors now will likely have to reach the championship match of the MPSF finals to earn a berth in the NCAA final four. With the highest remaining seed serving as host for the semifinals and finals, the Warriors are facing the prospect of playing BYU in the semifinals in Provo.
"Now," UH coach Mike Wilton said, "everything will be tight action. If we lose one, it's over."
The Warriors could have made it easier by winning at least one of the matches in the Smith Fieldhouse. Instead, they were swept on Friday and fell short last night.
"It was a good effort, but not quite good enough," Wilton said.
The Warriors appeared to wear down against the Cougars' deeper rotation. The Cougars rotated four players at the two outside positions and three at the two middles. UH used eight players at the seven positions.
"They had their legs better than we did," Wilton said.
In particular, UH outside hitter Costas Theocharidis played to exhaustion. He hit better than .500 in the first three games, but finished with a .258 hitting percentage, despite 27 kills.
Tony Ching, who started at opposite in place of the erratic Torry Tukuafu, had 15 kills, but hit only .206. For the match, the Warriors hit .198.
Still, the Warriors fought to win the fourth game and closed to 13-11 in the fifth following Eyal Zimet's ace. A net violation on BYU setter Hector Lebron made it 14-12. But then outside hitter Joaquin Acosta finished off the match with a blistering crossing shot for his 21st kill. Mike Wall, who did not start, led the Cougars with 23 kills.
"We battled and battled and battled," Wilton said. "We didn't give them anything. I have no regrets. I'm proud of them."
