UH plays UCLA in 'rubber' match

• Three keys to winning tonight's 1 vs. 2 showdown

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

•

MPSF volleyball WHO: No. 1 Hawai'i (10-2, 7-1 MPSF) vs. No. 2 UCLA (12-2, 5-1) WHEN/WHERE: 7 p.m. today and Saturday at Stan Sheriff Center TICKETS: $14 (lower bowl), $11 (upper bowl), $9 (senior citizens/upper bowl), $3 (Super Rooter/lower bowl; UH students, ages 4-18). Sold at the Stan Sheriff Center Box Office, by telephone (944-BOWS) or at: etickethawaii.com TELEVISION: K5 RADIO: KKEA (1420 AM)

UH (10-2) is ranked No. 1 in the USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association top-15 poll. UCLA (12-2) is No. 2.

At 7-1 against league opponents, the Warriors are tied for first in the country's best conference, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Bruins are fourth.

But even without the rankings and standings, "this is huge," said Alan Hackbarth, who promises to perform his Gumby-like moves during timeouts tonight. "This is UH and UCLA. They always play big matches. If you don't know that, you're not a real volleyball fan."

UCLA and Hawai'i are the best of foes. The Warriors have won the past four meetings, but the Bruins prevailed in the high-stakes matches, including the 1996 NCAA championship.

If men's volleyball offered hoss elections, the Bruins would be voted "most successful" and the Warriors "most popular." The Bruins have won 18 NCAA titles under Al Scates. The Warriors are leading the nation in attendance for the 10th consecutive year.

"Everybody wants to play there," UH opposite hitter Matt Bender said of the Bruins. "They've got more people than they know what to do with. It's a huge game because they're No. 2 in the country and because they're UCLA. Everybody wants to play UCLA."

UH middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre, who was raised in Makiki, said he looked for "UCLA" immediately after receiving a copy of the Warriors' schedule.

"We all did that," he said. "We wanted to know: Are we playing UCLA on the road or at home? Who do we play after them? Who do we play before them?

"They have a great team and a great coaching staff," he added. "They bring out the best in us and we bring out the best in them. There's no problem getting up for a game like this."

Here's a position-by-position look:

Setter

UCLA's Dennis Gonzalez might be more obscure than Florida Atlantic and a Jonah Moananu song. Gonzalez, a sophomore from Puerto Rico, was a pity-time player last year and entered this season as a backup to Long Beach State transfer Beau Peters. But Gonzalez ousted Peters from the lineup last month.

"He's just a little quicker than Beau," said Scates, UCLA's coach for 42 seasons, "and it doesn't hurt to be quick. We didn't think he would be our setter before the season, but he earned the spot."

Even at 6 feet 2, Gonzalez is a better blocker (0.64 per game) than the 6-5 Peters.

UH freshman Brian Beckwith has made a quick adjustment to Division I, finding hitters facing a lone defender. Beckwith and middle blocker Joshua Stanhiser have found a rhythm on tandem blocks.

"He seems to like big challenges in big games," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "I don't think the pressure bothers him. I think he feeds on it."

UH coaches were sold on Beckwith after watching him play club volleyball two years ago. "He was playing on a club team that, quite frankly, was not that good," Wilton said. "He played hard and he never ever had any bad body language. He was supportive. He was a total team guy. I thought that was a deciding factor in recruiting him."

Left-side hitter

Blossoming in his fifth year at UCLA, J.T. Wenger has softened the loss of Jonathan Acosta. Scates estimated Acosta is at "75 percent of what he was before his appendix burst in January." Wenger redshirted in 2000, played in six matches in 2001, did not play at all in 2002 and played in 15 matches last year. Accurate from the left side and back row, Wenger averages 2.95 kills per game.

UH's Delano Thomas, an All-America middle blocker last season, has emerged as one of the nation's best outside hitters. When he hits high — he can touch 12 feet — his shots are nearly unstoppable. The most difficult part of any position change, as A-Rod will learn this baseball season, is "you have to see yourself through the growing pains," Wilton said. "He's hung in there pretty good."

Opposite hitter

Steve Klosterman took a recruiting visit to UH last January before signing with the Bruins. Now Klosterman is one of the nation's best freshmen, averaging 4.84 kills per game. Although he mainly plays opposite on the right side, he can hit from the left side and out of the back row. Klosterman is one of the few freshmen to start as a first-year player. But, Scates noted, "the great ones step in early. The great ones start young."

Like most power hitters, the Warriors' Pedro Azenha has struggled with his accuracy. But in the last three matches, Azenha is averaging 5.1 kills per game and hitting .434. "When he's on his game, he sees the court really well, and he can hit smart and hard," Wilton said.

Middle blockers

At UCLA, the middles are known as quick hitters and not blockers, an appropriate description in an offense where the sets are distributed evenly. This season, Paul Johnson has received nearly as many sets (222) as Wenger (221). At 6 feet 8, Johnson has the build of the traditional middle. Chris Pe–a is a back-slapping emotional leader. Johnson mixes in off-speed dinks; Pe–a almost always swings hard.

UH's Stanhiser and LaBarre have improved in reading blocks recently. Early in the season, Beckwith often set to the outside. But lately he has felt comfortable feeding the middles high and quick sets. "They're having more and more good moments," Wilton said.

Stanhiser is hitting .581, tops in the MPSF, and LaBarre has learned to contain his sugar-fueled emotions. "He seems to be getting a better handle on it," Wilton said. "That comes with experience."

Passers

Kris Kraushaar, a left-handed outside hitter, also is an offensive threat on pipe sets to the back row. Kraushaar is the grandson of Carl Kraushaar, UCLA's starting basketball center under John Wooden in 1949 and 1950. Libero Adam Shrader, whose parents — gasp! — are USC graduates, is a fifth-year senior. "He's been good his whole career," Scates said.

Despite yielding 10 aces against Pacific last week, outside hitter José José Delgado and libero Alfred "Alfie" Reft have been dependable in starting the Warriors' offense. Delgado, the floor captain, has willingly relinquished sets to Azenha and Thomas to focus on his passing and defense.

Reft, a transfer from UC Santa Barbara, "is a good floor passer," Wilton said. Reft is soft-spoken, compared to UH's previous demonstrative liberos, but Wilton said, "He has a fire there. It's not so noticeable, but there's steel in him. No question, he's a competitor."

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

Three keys to winning tonight's 1 vs. 2 showdown

Serves

With the exception of setter Dennis Gonzalez, every Bruin hitter launches blistering jump serves. In last week's four-game victory over Pacific, UH yielded 15 aces, including four each by jump-serving Nils Daubers and Brian Zodrow.

The Warriors counter with jump-serving Delano Thomas, who leads the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation with 0.79 aces per game, and Mauli'a LaBarre, whose dancing jump floaters to the shoulder lanes are difficult to pass.

UCLA's back-row attack

The Bruins are at their best when they can attack from several points. Last year, they did not have a dependable deep hitter, enabling opponents to double up on the quick hitters, especially when the opposite hitter was in the back row in the fourth, fifth and sixth rotations. This year, freshman Steve Klosterman, a 6-foot-7 opposite hitter, is teeing off on pipe sets behind the 3-meter line. If opponents camp out on the quick hitters, UCLA coach Al Scates said, "they pay the price."

A back-row attack not only is challenging to defend — the blockers must delay their jump — but it gives an offense another option.

"It's one more hitter to keep track of," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "The more hitters you can run at a team, the better."

UH's high sets

The view is always better from the top. If UH's 6-foot-7 corner hitters — opposite hitter Pedro Azenha and left-side hitter Thomas — can make contact high, they have a better chance of clearing the block, getting a favorable ricochet off the block or finding an opening in the back row.