Posted on: Saturday, February 2,2002

VOLLEYBALL
Hawai'i gets by Pacific

Advertiser Staff

Rasay: Setter came off bench to play strong

STOCKTON, Calif. — The fourth-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team scored few style points last night, but still played well enough to gain a 30-19, 30-25, 25-30, 30-27 victory over unranked Pacific.

A gathering of 356 in 6,150-seat Spanos Center watched the Warriors shuffle their lineup before shuffling off to their sixth victory in eight matches. They are 3-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Tigers fell to 2-6 and 1-5.

"It was real ugly," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "We kind of went to sleep and barely won the second game. Then we really decided to go to sleep in the third game."

Pacific middle blocker Sean Rodgers, who averages 3.04 kills and a team-high 1.04 blocks per game, did not play because of undisclosed reasons.

The Tigers turned to outside hitter Aaron Wachtfogel, who hammered a match-high 27 kills in 55 swings, and former St. Louis School standout Brian Zodrow, who provided a boost in the final two games.

After relying on their block to dominate the first game, the Warriors struggled in the second. In the third game, When Kimo Tuyay sailed sets over the net on consecutive plays, leading to easy Tiger kills, he was pulled. Redshirt freshman Daniel Rasay set the rest of the match, parlaying accurate passes into easy opportunities for Costas Theocharidis (17 kills), Eyal Zimet (11) and Jose Delgado (7).

"Daniel was the hero of the moment," Wilton said. "He did a good job of giving our guys swings."

In the final game, the Warriors were able to defend the 5-foot-11 Wachtfogel. His ricochet off a block put the Tigers ahead, 27-26 in the fourth game. But two of his kill attempts went long and Delgado stuffed a third, giving UH a 29-27 lead. Theocharidis' slam ended the match.

To prepare for tonight's rematch, Wilton canceled today's afternoon workouts and planned a team excursion. "We'll do our walking around in a mall," Wilton said.