Warriors beat BYU in 4

Advertiser Staff

The second-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team silenced a heckling crowd and then Brigham Young University, 23-30, 30-26, 30-27, 30-24, last night in the Marriott Center at Provo, Utah.

Hawai'i fans celebrate a victory over BYU, played before a crowd of 11,513 at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. Cheryl Frey • Special to The Advertiser

Fourth-ranked BYU, which has not played a non-conference match, fell to 9-3.

By moving the match from 5,000-seat Smith Fieldhouse to the 22,700-seat Marriott Center, the Cougars were attempting to surpass their 1999 NCAA attendance record of 14,156 for a men's volleyball match. The Cougars drew 11,513 fans, who were amplified by their ThunderStix-like noisemakers.

"It sure was noisy," UH coach Mike Wilton said.

That was in sharp contrast to the team meeting held yesterday afternoon. Wilton summoned his players and staff to his hotel room to discuss Thursday night's three-game loss to BYU.

During the 75-minute meeting, Wilton recalled, "We encouraged everybody to say something. 'Let's get this thing on the same page.' The players fired themselves up."

For the second time in a week, Wilton decided to shake up the lineup. Brian Nordberg, who had been recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, opened at middle blocker in place of Joshua Stanhiser, who started UH's first 13 matches.

Jake Muise, who had not played since losing his starting job after the fifth match, opened at libero. That allowed team captain Eyal Zimet, who played libero the previous two matches, to return to his natural position at opposite hitter. Freshman Pedro Azenha, who started the last two matches, joined Stanhiser on the bench.

"After an almost sleepless night, after a lot of fretting and listening to the team, I decided that was the lineup I wanted to go with," Wilton said. "It doesn't mean that Pedro's down or Josh is done. They were ready if we needed them."

Hawai‘i’s Costas Theocharidis had 24 kills on 55 attempts in the Warriors’ four-game victory last night. George Frey • Special to The Advertiser

In the previous system, with Azenha as an opposite hitter, Theocharidis was required to serve as one of the primary passers. With Zimet, regarded as the team's best passer, back at opposite, Theocharidis was freed to swing away from every rotation spot.

"With the system we used the other night, Costas was not in position to hit all of the time," Wilton said. "We can't play that lineup and get Costas the ball six times. After (UH scores) 20 points, Costas has to get the ball a lot. We need him to take charge."

In Thursday's match, Theocharidis had 12 kills in 22 swings; last night, he hammered 24 kills in 55 attempts. He took 45 percent of the Warriors' kill attempts.

"Their experience really made the difference in the match," BYU coach Tom Peterson said. "When they could have folded, they would dig a ball, set it to Costas, he would hit it off (the block) and make it look easy."

Wilton said Matt Motter and Zimet had scored higher than Muise in passing drills.

"Although the numbers show others might pass better, he (Muise) brings an intangible," Wilton said. "That's an important thing to pay attention to. Of all nights, this was the one we needed that intangible quality."

In Thursday's match, the Warriors led in all three games before wilting.

Last night, Wilton said, "I'm just happy our guys decided to play. The real key, in my view, beyond the fact that everybody played well, was we sided out. We had those leads and didn't crack. We sided out, and eventually (the Cougars) cracked."

Delano Thomas contributed 12 kills and six blocks for the Warriors. Nordberg assisted on six blocks and had two of UH's four aces.

Rafael Paal and Jonathan Alleman each had 17 kills for the Cougars.

The Warriors return to Honolulu today, and will not practice until Monday. They play host to top-ranked Pepperdine on Wednesday and Friday in the Stan Sheriff Center.

It will be a rematch of the MPSF and NCAA tournament championships. Pepperdine won the MPSF title last year, but UH claimed the NCAA championship.

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