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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, June 29, 2002

Wilton is Volleyball Magazine's top coach

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Mike Wilton of the University of Hawai'i has been named Volleyball Magazine's 2002 Coach of the Year for men's volleyball.

Last month, Wilton led the Warriors to the NCAA championship — the first national title for a men's team in UH history.

Volleyball Magazine also named UH outside hitter Costas Theocharidis to its All-America team. UH middle blocker Dejan Miladinovic was named to the second team and middle blocker Delano Thomas was chosen to the All-Freshman team.

Wilton said the Warriors have reached an agreement to play four exhibition matches in Shanghai in November. The dates have not been finalized, but Wilton said the matches will be played between Nov. 15 and 24.

In exchange, Shanghai's senior national team has agreed to play in UH's Outrigger Hotels Invitational in January.

The Warriors will play 19 of next season's 29 regular-season matches at home, according to the schedule announced yesterday.

The Warriors will play host to Pepperdine in a rematch of the 2002 NCAA tournament finalists. Pepperdine won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's regular-season and tournament titles and was ranked No. 1 nationally until losing in four games to UH at the final four in State College, Pa.

UH will take four road trips, none lasting more than four matches. Last season, the Warriors took three trips to play eight consecutive matches in March.

Here's the 2003 schedule:

  • January — 8: Lewis. 10: Lewis. 15: *Penn State. 16: *Ball State. 17: Shanghai. 22: Stanford. 24: Stanford. 31: At UC Irvine.
  • February — 1: At UC Irvine. 5: At Long Beach State. 7: At Long Beach State. 13: Cal State-Northridge. 14: Cal State-Northridge. 21: At Brigham Young. 22: At Brigham Young. 26: Pepperdine. 28: Pepperdine.
  • March — 5: Loyola Chicago. 7: Loyola Chicago. 14: At UCLA. 15: At UCLA. 21: Pacific. 22: Pacific. 26: At UC San Diego. 28: At UC San Diego.
  • April 5: UC Santa Barbara. 6: UC Santa Barbara. 11: Southern California. 12: Southern California.

* — Outrigger Hotels Invitational at the Stan Sheriff Center.