Warriors roll by Manitoba

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff

Hawai'i's Pedro Azenha challenges the Manitoba double block of Toon van Lankvelt, left, and Andrew Heidebrecht. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser WHAT: College men's volleyball tournament WHERE: Stan Sheriff Center TODAY Manitoba vs. Penn State, 5 p.m. Hawai'i vs. Lewis, 7:30 TICKETS: $14 (lower bowl), $11 (upper bowl), $9 (senior citizens, upper bowl), $3 UH students and ages 4 to 18. Parking is $3.

After losing the volleyball season-opener Thursday night, the University of Hawai'i rebounded with an overwhelming 30-19, 30-24, 30-17 victory over Manitoba last night in the Outrigger Hotels Volleyball Invitational in the Stan Sheriff Center.

The turnaround could be traced to Azenha, a 6-foot-7 opposite hitter who was pulled twice in Thursday's match because of inconsistent play.

But Azenha came back to hit .750, blasting 19 kills (against one error) in 24 gale-creating swings.

"He was inparable," said UH outside hitter Jose Delgado. "That means unstoppable."

UH coach Mike Wilton said Azenha hits at two speeds: "Hard and harder."

Last night, he was hitting at the speed of blur. His first 12 swings were loud kills; his only error was a check-swing into a double-block.

"He's an awesome volleyball player," Delgado said. "When he's on, I don't think anyone can block him. We talked before the game, and we told him, 'Go out and play to your caliber. Be awesome.' "

Azenha said his problems in the opener were traced to pressing too much and not adjusting to sets away from his comfort zone. Before last night's match, he told freshman setter Brian Beckwith to place quick sets near the net.

"That's where I'm used to hitting," Azehna said. "That's the way we've been doing it in practice."

Helped by precision passes from libero Alfred Reft, Beckwith was able to fill Azenha's special requests.

"When he's on, you have to keep feeding him the ball," Beckwith said. "He had a hot hand."

Wilton added: "He does it every day in practice. Day in and day out, we see him play. We know he's capable of playing this way all of the time."

In contrast, Manitoba, Canada's defending national champion, stumbled early and never regained its balance. The Bisons fell behind 4-0 in Game 1, losing one point when outside hitter Toon van Lankvelt, with no block in front, hit wide.

Although UH rejected only one shot in Game 1, the Bisons appeared unwilling to challenge the block. Instead, the outside hitters tried to cut shots to the inside or outside of the block, with little success.

"They looked like they lost control of their limbs," Manitoba coach Garth Pischke said, "or their brains."

The Bisons committed 32 hitting errors, including 13 in Game 3. Their starting outside hitters combined for 27 of the errors. The Warriors had seven hitting errors the entire match, including one in the final game.

"You don't have to block the ball, but be there and be a presence," UH middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre said. "I think our presence made them veer away from us. Our diggers picked it up, and we had nice easy passes."

That gave Beckwith a wide menu of quick sets to LaBarre and Joshua Stanhiser or high sets to Azenha, Delano Thomas (10 kills) and Delgado.

"We made it a point to relax and remember we play this game to have fun," Beckwith said. "And we did. It was definitely noticeable."

Particularly in Game 3, when the Warriors blocked seven shots. Although they had three aces, their tough serves — especially sizzlers by Azenha and Thomas — led to Manitoba overpasses and easy UH points.

"Nothing is perfect," Delgado said, "but this was close to a perfect (match)."

Both teams are 1-1 in the three-night round robin. UH plays defending national champion Lewis today following the 5 p.m. match between Penn State and Manitoba.

A night after being swept by Manitoba, the defending national champion Lewis, from Romeoville, Ill., rebounded to defeat Penn State, 24-30, 30-27, 30-28, 30-22, in the opening match last night.

Fabiano Barreto led the Flyers with a match-high 20 kills.

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