Warriors have kept their focus on road

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Warriors leave tomorrow afternoon for four road matches against Stanford and Pacific. If history is an indicator, this should be a pleasant trip.

In Mike Wilton's 12 seasons as UH head coach, the Warriors are 66-38 (.635) in regular-season road matches, including 29-12 (.707) during the past five seasons. They are 1-1 this year.

In four-match trips under Wilton, the Warriors are 28-8 (.778).

They have won in altitude (against Brigham Young in Provo, Utah) and in claustrophobic conditions (Southern California's North Campus Gym).

"On the road," said backup setter Kimo Tuyay, a senior co-captain, "you can focus on volleyball. We're constantly playing. We don't have much space in between."

Wilton, an ex-Marine, tries to keep the Warriors on a ten-hut schedule. Yesterday, he distributed a schedule detailing every meal, study period and curfew for the coming trip. He even listed estimated driving times.

"One thing about being on the road, there's not much that happens to take your mind off playing," Wilton said. "When you're at home, you've got class and a lot of that other stuff."

Wilton tries to keep the players entertained with field trips to the movies or amusement parks.

"The rest of the time, you're always reminded of why you're there," he said. "For us, there's some pretty good focus on the road."

Before a volleyball player is permitted to travel, he must be in good academic standing. Two years ago, outside hitter Delano Thomas, the Warriors' starting middle blocker at the time, missed a significant road trip to complete a school project. Last year, the team's best player, Costas Theocharidis, went home between road matches to take a mid-term exam, but returned in time for the second leg of the trip.

"The (matches) are important," Wilton said, "but so is school work."

As a member of the 12-team Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, the Warriors are at a scheduling disadvantage. The MPSF's 10 California schools play home-and-home matches against each other. Because of travel expenses, that is not the case for UH and BYU.

For instance, this year's two UH-Stanford matches will be played in California and next year's matches will be in Honolulu. While the 10 California schools will play 11 MPSF matches at home and 11 on the road this season, UH will play 10 at home and 12 on the road. Next year, UH will play 12 MPSF matches at home and 10 on the road.

With consecutive matches against the same opponent, "you have to be up for every (match)," Tuyay said. "If you beat someone, you can't celebrate, because you have to turn around and play them again. You can't let down against any team in our league because they can come back and bite you."

The situation is magnified on the road in general, and on four-match trips in particular. Wilton complained after the Warriors played four road matches in four days in 2001. Since then, the league has scheduled at least a one-day break between two-match series. The Warriors play Stanford on Friday and Saturday, then play Pacific next Monday and Tuesday.

"At least we have gaps now," Wilton said. "We're glad we don't have to play four straight nights."

Still, Wilton said, four matches in five nights is "mental, physical, everything. You really need to focus."

Opposite hitter Matt Bender said: "We're definitely going to be tired by that last night. But I think it'll be a pretty good test for our mental abilities to push ourselves to be as good as we can be on the court. My high school coach told me, 'Tired is a state of mind.' We have to fight through it. It'll be interesting to see."

Unlike the previous road trip, when opposite hitter Pedro Azenha did not play because of a sprained left ankle, this time the Warriors are whole. Azenha hammered 24 kills in last Friday's four-game victory over Ball State.

Bender, who missed a match last week because of a sprained right wrist, declared himself healthy. He said his right wrist was wrapped for yesterday's practice "as a precaution. I'm fine."

Thomas, who is hitting .508 in the past two matches, also does not appear to be bothered by a sprained right thumb on his hitting hand.

"I think everybody's healthy," Wilton said.

Wilton said Tuyay, who has fully recovered from a sprained left ankle and sore left knee, is included on the 12-player travel roster.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.