Volleyball Warriors defeat Long Beach State in 4
Advertiser Staff
The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team spent Tuesday afternoon at an amusement park in Long Beach, Calif.
Last night, the Warriors went through the thrill ride of a four-game victory over host Long Beach State in the Pyramid. The scores were 30-23, 30-22, 36-38, 30-22.
The second-ranked Warriors improved to 7-2 overall and 3-2 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The 49ers fell to 7-4 and 3-3.
For dramatic effect, the Warriors unsuccessfully served for match point eight times in Game 3. "That was not by design," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "We got lulled for a while. But I'm pleased with the way we played. It was something to build on."
The rematch is tomorrow in the Pyramid.
The serving phase proved to be pivotal. The Warriors had more aces (7 to 1) and fewer service errors (10 to 24), a 16-point differential accentuated by their accurate passing.
UH's Eyal Zimet, who has been bothered by lower-back pain, declared himself fit to play outside hitter, rejecting the option of moving to libero. He passed his physical exam with precision relays to setter Kimo Tuyay.
That allowed Tuyay and then Daniel Rasay, who entered midway through Game 4, to set to Tony Ching and Costas Theocharidis on the outside and Delano Thomas in the middle. Ching finished with 19 kills.
"(Ching) was poison from our left side," Wilton said. "He put away almost all of (the sets)."
Ching had struggled in last Saturday's loss to UC Irvine. This time, Tuyay lofted higher sets to the 6-foot-2 Ching, who uses a 40-inch vertical leap to compensate for any height disadvantage. "He was able to jump and find holes," Wilton said.
When the 49ers shifted their block to the corners, that opened the way for Thomas on quick sets. Thomas produced 12 kills and four aces.
In the last two series, the Warriors won the opening match and then lost the encore. With that in mind, Wilton has set this agenda for today:
"We'll have breakfast, watch film, practice, shower and find one of those amusement parks," he said. "The team deserves to have fun."
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