Warriors focus on playoffs

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

"It's time for business," says Eyal Zimet of the Warriors, who will begin defense of their national title this evening. Advertiser library photo • Jan. 18, 2003

"It's playoff time," said middle blocker Brian Nordberg, whose Hawai'i volleyball team will host Pacific tonight in the opening round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament.

After a 22-match regular season that disqualified four MPSF teams, the Warriors enter the eight-team, single-elimination stage.

"It's time for business," UH outside hitter Eyal Zimet said. "This is what we practice for and play for all season. You can't afford to lose one match. You don't have a chance to mess up."

The Warriors began the week with an R&R beach outing in Waikiki. But by Wednesday, the players' mood had turned heart-attack serious, and UH coach Mike Wilton, who usually comments without censors, told television reporters he only would address questions dealing with Pacific.

The tension, the players insist, is more of a nervous outlet, and they readily admit that they welcome this time when matches are measured in brackets instead of standings.

"There's a lot of pressure," UH setter Kimo Tuyay said. "Everybody wants to win, and nobody wants to go home early. If you're a player, you love being in this situation. This is the main reason you play sports."

Zimet said the Warriors are poised to duplicate last year's run to a national championship.

"This isn't something that can be done externally," Zimet said. "The players have made that commitment internally. We made it, and we're going to hold on to it for the rest of the season."

The Warriors believe they need to reach the tournament final to, at the least, earn an at-large berth in next month's NCAA final four. The Tigers seek to win the tournament and earn the MPSF's automatic berth in the final four. As a No. 6 seed, the Tigers have no chance for an at-large berth.

Here's a closer look at the teams:

PACIFIC TIGERS

Who says there's nothing educational on television? Following a four-game loss to UH on March 21, the Tiger coaches returned to their Waikiki hotel room, turned the channel to K5's rebroadcast of the match, and listened as the announcers repeatedly spoke of opposite hitter Nils Daubers' troubles.

"Quite frankly," Pacific coach Joe Wortmann said, "I was tired of (the announcers) saying, 'Oh, my gosh, Nils Daubers made another attacking error.' I knew we had to do something."

Wortmann decided to move Daubers, who was benched after committing errors on seven of his first 10 swings, to middle blocker for the next night's rematch.

The move was designed, in part, "to give us a quicker middle attack," Wortmann said.

That opened the way for Brian Zodrow, a former Saint Louis School standout, to start at opposite.

"Brian does exactly what we ask him to do as a player," Wortmann said. "If we tell him to block a certain way, he does it. His backcourt defense has been very good. His attacking has also been very good. He's made a minimal amount of errors, and that's been important."

The Tigers have used the revised lineup ever since. The moves were helpful last week when middle blocker Sean Rodgers, suffering from a respiratory illness and knee injury, did not play. Daubers and Tim Jenson, who had started until the second UH match, provided experience in the middle.

Rodgers and Daubers, who has been slowed by a variety of injuries, are expected to start tonight.

HAWAI'I WARRIORS

Any Joker knows the way to control a fight is to contain Batman's sidekick.

While opposite hitter Costas Theocharidis is the dynamic duo's better player, left-side hitter Tony Ching has been more valuable in recent matches.

At the beginning of the Warriors' 13-match winning streak, Theocharidis was moved from outside hitter to opposite, where he receives sets at all six rotation spots. The tradeoff was Theocharidis had to relinquish most of his duties as a passer. Now Ching and Zimet help libero Jake Muise in UH's two-passer offense.

Ching's accurate passes have helped setter Tuyay, who, in turn, often looks to Ching for important points. Last week, Southern California assigned three defenders — two blockers and a corner passer — to track Theocharidis. That opened the way for Ching, who often is aligned in the same row as Theocharidis.

"They're complementary, for sure," Wilton said of Ching and Theocharidis.

The Tigers have crammed for Ching, who did not play in the regular-season meetings because of flu-like symptoms.

Theocharidis said the Warriors' strategy is to "play with a lot of heart and soul, play as a team and play well. We can't be overconfident. We have to play without making mistakes. The team that makes the fewest mistakes wins."

"No, Costas," Ching interjected. "The team that scores the most points wins."