Pepperdine frustrates UH

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Ten minutes after last night's 24-30, 30-28, 30-26, 30-28 men's volleyball loss to top-ranked Pepperdine, Hawai'i coach Mike Wilton paced the back hallway of the Stan Sheriff Center, poring over the final statistics for clues of this latest whodunit.

A Hawai'i shot gets past Pepperdine's Andy Hein, left, and Sean Rooney in the first game. Doug Oakley • Associated Press

In this rematch of last year's NCAA championship match, the defending national champion Warriors were able to partially solve Pepperdine's complex schemes.

The Warriors handled middle blocker Brad Keenan's blistering serves — he erred six times — but could not navigate around his blocks. They limited Sean Rooney, last year's NCAA Freshman of the Year, to a hitting percentage of .229, but had no answer for Fred Winters, who hammered 21 of his 24 kills in the final three games. And the Warriors discovered how quickly their offense can depreciate by going too often to their money player, outside hitter Costas Theocharidis.

As a result, the second-ranked Warriors fell to 10-5 overall, 6-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and farther behind in their chase for a high seeding in the league's postseason tournament.

The Waves, by winning their 12th in a row, improved to 13-1 and 11-0.

"We played with a lot of effort, and at times we were shining nicely as a team, but we really needed to win," UH outside hitter Tony Ching said. "We're at that point where we can't lose any more (matches) if we want to make it back to the final four. Every (match) is big for us. It's time to step up and play."

Early in the match, the Warriors found success with quick back sets to middle blocker Delano Thomas, an offensive tweak that did not show up in scouting reports. "We didn't have much success stopping him," Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy said. "I thought they would keep running the middle because they were having so much success."

Instead, when the Warriors were forced to play catch-up in the middle games, and then out of desperation in the fourth game, the offense tilted toward Theocharidis, who finished with 65 kill attempts. Theocharidis led the Warriors with 25 kills — as well as 11 hitting errors.

"I thought we got a little predictable," Wilton said. "I thought we set too many balls to Costas when (the Waves) were bailing out and leaving everyone else alone. They would leave our middle early and we'd still set it outside. But that's something we'll try to correct."

Theocharidis theorized the Waves, who were facing the Warriors for the fifth time in a year, figured out "our hitting patterns. We've played them so many times, they know us."

Pepperdine's Winters agreed, saying, "We know all about them and they know all about us. That's why we always play such close games."

It was no secret the Waves would try to construct an imposing block. The Waves lead the nation in blocking, and the

6-foot-8 Keenan, who averages 2.34 blocks per game, is recognized as the country's best middle. The Waves' average hitter is 6 feet 7, more than 3 inches taller than the average UH hitter. Theocharidis, at 6 feet 3, is UH's tallest perimeter hitter.

The Waves amassed 13.5 blocks, and they frequently forced the Warriors to alter their swings. Thomas, who usually connects off vertical jumps, relied on lateral moves. Ching had little success with his speciality, swings from behind the 3-meter line, where he has more freedom than when he attacks near the net.

"I don't think we blocked as many balls as we normally do, but we put up a good block," Winters said. "They had to hit around us. It made it easier for us."

In particular, setter John Mayer said, Keenan forced the Warriors to choose Plan B.

"When you have Brad up there, guys shy away," Mayer said. "It's so much easier on defense when you have a block like ours."

The teams meet tomorrow.

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