Reunion for Kamehameha grads
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Josh Day of Southern California and Tony Ching of Hawai'i, all-state volleyball teammates at Kamehameha in 1998, will be across the college net for the first and last time Friday and Saturday nights at Stan Sheriff Center.
Day, who is from Hilo, has started for three seasons at middle blocker for the Trojans and Ching was an all-final four outside hitter for Hawai'i's national championship team last year.
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Although USC and UH have met seven times in the past three seasons, Day and Ching were never on the court at the same time.
Each played significant time as freshmen in 2000, but they rode the bench when their teams met. In their sophomore year, Ching was recovering from a moped accident and missed the USC matches and last year Ching was left at home when the Warriors played at USC because of an argument with coaches.
Both are looking forward to this weekend, which will be Day's final collegiate matches and Ching's last regular-season home matches. Saturday will be UH's senior night.
Although their positions don't pit them against one another throughout the match, Ching said, "I'm sure there will be a little friendly talking going on."
Ching plans to start the talk well before the match. "I have his cell phone number and I plan on giving him a call," Ching said.
Day is ready for the challenge: "My sophomore year, the first year I started, I was nervous and didn't play well at Stan Sheriff Center, but I think I will on Friday and Saturday."
Day has led USC in hitting percentage the past three seasons (.393 this year, .377 career) and has the best single-game percentage in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation this year — .917 against UCSB on Jan. 25.
He also leads the Trojans in blocking with 1.10 per game.
Southern California (6-23 overall, 2-18 MPSF) has fallen upon hard times, losing 17 of its last 20 matches. The only Trojan victory in their last 10 matches was against Division III UC-Santa Cruz. UH, in contrast, is 21-5 overall and 15-5 in the MPSF.
While Day acknowledges, "All we can do is play for personal satisfaction, but we beat two good teams, Lewis and Northridge, and when all six of our guys play good, we can hang in with anybody."
Ching allowed that "even though they've had tough luck, beating us would salvage their season. Everybody comes in here fired up to play us."
Day said he is a little worried that USC's young players will be overwhelmed by the atmosphere at Stan Sheriff Center, he said, "The fans at UH are great. They're never mean to an opposing team."
QUICK HITS: Josh Day will graduate from USC in December with a degree in psychology. ... Day's brothers, Jarrett and Jordan, also played volleyball for Kamehameha. Jarrett, an all-state selection last fall, will play at LaVerne in California. Day's father, James, said, "Coming from the small town of Hilo and being part of the national volleyball scene has been more than anyone has dreamed of." ... Tony Ching also has two younger brothers. Chad Ching played water polo and swam at Kamehameha this year and is headed for UH and the best surf spots. Brett Anderson is 9.
