Hawai'i's Wilton cool under pressure
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
Everyone knows that Hawai'i men's volleyball coach Mike Wilton can dance the haka. He's also a pretty cool coach.
He showed that last night in a critical Game 1 when UH nearly unraveled against Pacific in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament's opening round.
Wilton refused to panic after his defending national championship team fell behind 29-26 and his best player, Costas Theocharidis, kicked the volleyball into the upper bowl in frustration.
"You gotta be patient," said Wilton, who said he had no intention of taking Theocharidis out of the game. "The frustration was running real high. We had some calls go against us that were kind of hard to believe, but that's life. That's volleyball. We had composure when it mattered the most."
With Wilton sitting calm on the sideline, Hawai'i overcame six game points by Pacific and rallied to win 37-35 with Theocharidis hammering the final two points. Hawai'i went on to win the next two games by identical 30-27 scores. Hawai'i will play BYU in the semifinals at Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif.
"I have faith in these guys," Wilton said. "They were making me nervous. We were making a lot of errors, but the effort was there. I really felt it was just a matter of time."
The Warriors are trying to become the first team to win back-to-back national titles since UCLA accomplished the feat in 1995-96.
"He's a real even-keeled person," Hawai'i outside hitter Tony Ching said of Wilton. "That's his character. He just kind of sits there and lets things go where they may. It's good for our team because we have a lot of fired-up people. He keeps us nice and relaxed instead of being all emotional."
Wilton has pushed all the right buttons this week in preparation for the MPSF Tournament.
On Monday, Wilton played the role of Waikiki beach boy, allowing his team to bond and relax at the world famous beach.
But by midweek, Wilton turned serious and answered media questions only about Pacific.
Apparently, Theocharidis got the serious message. Hawai'i's star opposite hitter said he kicked the ball to vent his frustration at an officiating call.
"I decided either I have it in my mind, and it's going to bother me for the rest of the game, and it's going to affect my performance, or I'm just going to let it out," Theocharidis said. "So I decided to kick the ball. Good thing we didn't lose the game because of that. We came back and played really well. I think the whole match was the first game."
Added Pacific outside hitter Aaron Wachtfogel: "You never know what kind of match it could be if we would have won Game 1. It's a big game when you're playing it, and it would have been big to win, but you've got to forget about it after that."
