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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Thursday, March 15, 2001


UH set for final MPSF home volleyball match

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

In a twist of scheduling that has left its participants dizzy, the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team will play its final Mountain Pacific Sports Federation home match tomorrow night, even though the regular season won't end for another month.

After playing Southern California in the Stan Sheriff Center, the Warriors will close the season with six road matches at UC Irvine, UCLA and Brigham Young. Five home exhibitions will be peppered around those matches.

"That's the way the cookie crumbles," said UH coach Mike Wilton, who otherwise found it to be an unpalatable schedule.

Before the season, Wilton said, the league sends out a tentative MPSF schedule. "Then we can jimmy it around," he said.

But the schedule left little wiggle room. Wilton said UCLA and UC Irvine did not want to schedule matches before March 28, when mid-term examinations end. Wilton also could not find a place for either of the schools on an earlier road trip. As a result, UH will play UC Irvine and UCLA on four consecutive nights beginning March 28.

The Warriors close the regular season with two matches at Brigham Young on April 13 and 14.

"It's not a strange schedule, it's a tough schedule," UH middle blocker Dejan Miladinovic said. "Every team can be tough on (its) home court. But that's how it is. We'll have to adjust."

UH outside hitter Costas Theocharidis said he does not know if the Warriors have the depth to play on four consecutive nights. UH usually rotates eight players at the seven positions, but outside hitter Tony Ching can't play for two weeks because of injuries suffered in a mo-ped accident Sunday night. Ching's availability is questionable for the trip to UC Irvine and UCLA.

"It's tough for us," Theocharidis said. "Tony is an important member of the team. We're going to miss him a lot."

Wilton said he would have forced a schedule change if he had known the mental and physical demands of the new point-a-serve scoring system, which was implemented this year.

But, Wilton said, "I think the world of these guys. They're 'studly' and they can handle it."