Posted on: Friday, February 8, 2002
'Love' in air as UH gets ready for San Diego
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Just before being dismissed from yesterday's practice, the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball players were asked what else they needed to prepare for tonight's match against UC San Diego in the Stan Sheriff Center.
Water? Ice packs? Sports drinks?
Middle blocker Dejan Miladinovic broke the silence by singing, "All we need ..." — his teammates stared — "all we need is love, love ... love is all we need."
Who could argue? The Warriors, fresh off of last week's 4-0 road trip, have depth, talent and momentum.
"The practices have been very productive," Miladinovic said. "I expect nothing less for (tonight's) match."
The Warriors rarely substituted last season, but last week, they rotated 10 players, with middle blocker Delano Thomas, setter Daniel Rasay and libero Jake Muise contributing in reserve roles.
Tonight, the Warriors add outside hitter Tony Ching, who did not play in the last seven matches because of a muscle tear in the back of his swinging shoulder. But Ching has received medical clearance to play, and he said his right shoulder "is back to normal, although there's a little tendinitis. But that's not unusual."
While the Warriors were on the road last week, Ching sneaked off to Waikiki Beach to play volleyball. "I just got bored," he said. "I was sitting around doing nothing. I went out and tested the waters a little bit. I tell people it was part of my rehab. I just wanted to play volleyball."
UH coach Mike Wilton said he will go with the previous match's starting lineup, meaning freshman Jose Delgado will start in place of Ching at one of the outside positions.
"Tony has been improving and he's going to play a lot," Wilton said, "but Jose has played pretty good, too."
Setter Kimo Tuyay struggled during the road trip — he was lifted in the second game of both matches against Pacific — but will retain his starting job. For 40 minutes before each practice this week, Tuyay has worked on his setting. Wilton said Tuyay has regained his accuracy.
"Kimo still has the ball, but Daniel's there, if we need him," Wilton said.
The Warriors' problems pale in comparison to UC San Diego's struggles. The Tritons are 1-7 overall and 0-6 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. In 10 seasons, the Tritons are 5-170 in MPSF matches. Their best MPSF record was 2-17 in 1997.
The Division II Tritons do not offer any men's volleyball scholarships; the Warriors pay out the equivalent of 4.5 scholarships, the NCAA limit for the sport.
But Wilton cautioned: "I've never seen that team, under coach Ron Larsen, not play hard. Sure, they get beat a lot, but they never get discouraged. They always play hard and they try to trick you and hit the ball by you somehow. They scrap, they grovel, they do whatever it takes. It's really nice. If you're not prepared for them, they're really going to make life tough for you."
Jim Waller, a 6-foot-4 opposite from Evanston, Ill., leads the Tritons with an average of 3.8 kills per game.
