Warriors' Tuyay set to return to starting lineup

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

University of Hawai'i volleyball player Kimo Tuyay has fully recovered from ankle and knee injuries and is prepared to compete for the job as starting setter.

Tuyay, who started the previous three seasons, and freshman Brian Beckwith, who has started every match this season, split time with the first team during yesterday's two-hour practice.

UH coach Mike Wilton said Beckwith has a slight edge over Tuyay and Daniel Rasay. Only two setters are on the Warriors' 12-player active roster every match. Beckwith and Rasay have filled both slots this season.

"I want (Tuyay) to compete for that job," Wilton said. "Whoever makes the team the best is going to play. That's always been the deal. (Tuyay has) been hampered because he's been hurt, but I think he's fully healthy now."

Tuyay, a 6-foot-2 senior from San Diego, missed the final month of fall training because of a severely sprained left ankle. He aggravated his left knee during training camp two weeks ago.

Working out with the first team, Tuyay said, "was like old times. It was good."

He added: "I'm fine. Everything's fine. I feel I have full mobility. I don't have any pain jumping or anything. It's good to be back to 100 percent."

Opposite hitter Pedro Azenha, who missed the past two matches because of a second-degree sprain of his left ankle, also is working his way back to good health.

Azenha, who suffered the injury during a match against Lewis on Jan. 10, said additional medical tests did not show any fractures.

"It's just a sprained ankle," he said. "It was really swollen and bruised, but now the swelling went down."

Azenha said he no longer needs a surgical boot when he walks. "I just have to be patient," said Azenha, who anticipates returning to practice on Monday.

Although Matt Bender played well in Azenha's absence, Wilton said, "When Pedro's ready to go, he'll start."

UH's next match is Jan. 28 against UC San Diego.

Yesterday, outside hitter Austin Rester, a transfer from Texas Tech, began practicing with the Warriors. Rester, who is 6 feet 7, played in six football games as a tight end for Texas Tech in 2002 and competed in the Red Raiders' basketball training camp last fall.

Rester said he left football because "I didn't love it anymore; it became a job. When you're at some place for six, eight hours a day, you have to love it to keep going and doing it."

Rester, who was raised in Dallas, had played in "beach" leagues on sand courts throughout Texas.

Volleyball is "an awesome sport," he said. "I love that the team work is so much different than (in) football and basketball. In basketball, a player can take over a game one-on-one. A football player can do the same thing. It's so much more of a team sport in volleyball. You can't set yourself."

Rester has two volleyball seasons of eligibility remaining. For now, he is projected to work with the practice squad.

"My head is going 100 different ways right now," he said. "It'll take some time for me to get adjusted and acclimated to their style of playing. But I love it. I love being here."

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