No. 2 Warriors still a marquee attraction

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Despite dropping to No. 2 in this week's USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 15, the University of Hawai'i remains as one of the top attractions in men's volleyball.

BYU is attempting to break its NCAA record for the largest attendance for a men's volleyball match. The record of 14,156 was set for the match between UH and BYU on Feb. 19, 1999, also at the Marriott Center.

"It should be an electric environment," UH coach Mike Wilton said.

BYU coach Tom Peterson said he would have preferred to play in the fieldhouse, where the Cougars enjoy an intimidating home-court advantage, but sponsors and administrators "want to try and break the record. Everybody involved thought it would be a good thing."

As of yesterday afternoon, only a few hundred tickets had been sold for Friday's match. But a BYU spokesman said he expects a large walk-up crowd. "That's what happened the last time, when we set the record," he said.

He said BYU students will be admitted for free as part of the activity fee they pay each semester. In addition, fans may purchase $1 vouchers that can be redeemed for tickets.

This is the second time this year a UH road match has been moved to a larger venue. UC Irvine set an attendance record of more than 3,000 when it moved a Jan. 31 match from 600-seat Crawford Hall to the 5,000-seat Bren Event Center.

For tomorrow's match, the Warriors will use the lineup they unveiled against Cal State Northridge last Friday. In that rotation, senior Eyal Zimet, who has played opposite hitter most of his career, opens at libero, the back-row defensive specialist, and freshman Pedro Azenha starts at opposite.

Wilton said the move eases the stress on Zimet's sore back. A libero is not permitted to block or attack.

"We don't have to worry about his back from match to match or practice to practice," Wilton said.

Wilton said Azenha, a past member of Brazil's junior national team, is projected to play opposite hitter the rest of his UH career.

"This is good for Pedro, because he's used to playing all of the time," Wilton said. "It was hard for him not to play, and to pretend, 'I'm happy to sit here and chew gum.' "

Jake Muise, who started the first five matches at libero before losing his starting job to freshman Matt Motter, made the 12-player travel squad. Muise will back up Zimet.

Wilton said Motter will serve as the primary understudy to left-side hitters Costas Theocharidis and Tony Ching. Matt Bender, who has been used as a serving specialist, is Azenha's backup at opposite hitter.

"Bender's got game," Wilton said. "He's got a really live arm."

After last week's split against Northridge, UH, which was ranked No. 1 last week, dropped to No. 2 in this week's national poll.

Pepperdine, the defending Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion, ascended to No. 1, receiving 14 of 16 first-place votes. UH had the other two No. 1 votes, although neither came from Wilton.

"We've had too many no-shows for me to vote us No. 1," Wilton said.