UH, San Diego an odd coupling in volleyball

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

It does not take a wizard of odds to figure out the second-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team is heavily favored against host UC San Diego tonight and Friday night.

There is a greater possibility of Julia DeMato becoming the next American Idol (15-to-1 odds) or a McDonald's patron earning free food (6-to-1) than there is of the Tritons winning a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match.

The Tritons are 1-15 in the MPSF this year (and 5-16 overall). In 11 MPSF seasons, they are 7-200. Their best MPSF record was 2-17, in 1997. There have been five winless MPSF seasons.

Because the school does not offer men's volleyball scholarships and the large differential in tuition ($3,950 for California residents, $14,654 for non-residents), 17 of the 20 players are from the Golden State.

Still, the Warriors (17-5 overall, 11-5 MPSF) are cautious as they entered a final stretch during which they will play six matches against three teams with a combined 7-42 MPSF record.

The 12-team MPSF is the nation's best conference, with 10 members in this week's USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association's Top-15 Poll.

"A team at the bottom of the MPSF," UH libero Jake Muise said, "is still a pretty good team."

UH middle blocker Brian Nordberg said it would be easy to overlook a last-place team "in a different conference ... like, if we were in the WAC women's volleyball, or something like that, you know. For some reason, regardless of the (Tritons') record, we have to take them pretty seriously. If we're off, there's a chance they could beat us in three."

Three years ago, the Warriors escaped with a five-game victory in San Diego.

Even after winning seven in a row to move into third place in the conference, UH team captain Eyal Zimet said, "I don't think we have the privilege (to be overly confident) anymore. Because of the way we started, we were very inconsistent, right now we don't even have the possibility of thinking 'to take it easy.' Every match in this vicious MPSF conference is tough. Any team can beat anybody. We learned that the hard way."

By sweeping this series, the Warriors will clinch a berth in the MPSF Tournament. They also are close to hosting an opening-round match as a top-four finisher in the MPSF.

The Warriors will be at full strength. Outside hitter Tony Ching, who missed the last two matches because of flu-like symptoms, practiced yesterday.

Freshman hitter/libero Matt Motter also made the trip, although he is not on the 12-player active roster. Motter was raised in San Diego.

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation

MPSF Overall

TEAM W L PCT. W L

Pepperdine 15 1 .938 18 2

Brigham Young 14 4 .778 16 5

Hawai'i 11 5 .689 17 5

Long Beach State 9 7 .563 15 8

Northridge 10 8 .556 15 9

Pacific 8 7 .533 14 10

Stanford 8 7 .533 11 10

Irvine 8 8 .500 15 8

UCLA 8 9 .471 13 11

Santa Barbara 4 13 .308 9 16

USC 2 14 .125 5 19

San Diego 1 15 .063 5 16

Yesterday's match

Santa Barbara def. LaVerne, 30-19, 30-27, 30-22

Today's matches

Hawai'i at San Diego

USC at UC Santa Cruz

Thursday's matches

Santa Barbara at Irvine

UCLA at Northridge