Assistant coach Tino Reyes asked Delgado, who tried to shake away the pain, if he needed an ice pack. After all, one remedy for Azenha's fuego — heat — is ice. The other way to stop Azenha is by injury. Azenha's tender left ankle might limit his play in tonight's match against UC San Diego.

After missing two matches because of a sprained left ankle, Azenha returned Wednesday night, putting down 12 kills in a three-game sweep of the Tritons. But Azenha committed seven of the Warriors' 11 hitting errors. UH coach Mike Wilton said he is pondering whether to rest Azenha, UH's best offensive player, and start Matt Bender.

"I'll have to contemplate this overnight," Wilton said after yesterday's two-hour practice. "It might be a 7 o'clock decision."

The first serve is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

"I want to play," said Azenha, who agreed to a position switch to ease the stress on his left ankle.

In Wednesday's match, Azenha moved from opposite, where he hits on the right side in four of the six rotation turns, to secondary outside hitter, where he is positioned mostly on the left side. In that scheme, Azenha is not required to block — and jump — as often as if he were on the right side.

The left ankle "hurts a little bit, but that's normal when you go back after being hurt," Azenha said. "If it was hurting me a lot, I would talk to the coach."

For a righthander, hitting from the left side is supposed to be easier, like the difference between hitting a tennis forehand and a backhand. Playing on the right side, a right-handed hitter must wait for the set to cross his body before he can swing. "You have to track the ball a little bit more," Reyes said.

But Azenha, a sophomore from Brazil, has played opposite hitter since joining the Warriors last year. "I would prefer to be more on the right side, but I've played on the left side before, and I know I can do really good there," he said. "I have to practice a little bit more."

Bender, a third-year sophomore from Arizona, also would prefer to play on the right side. If Azenha does not play tonight, Wilton said, Bender still would have to move to left-side hitter.

"It's a big adjustment, but I'm up for the challenge," Bender said.

The secondary outside hitter is supposed to be a team's second-best passer, behind the libero. Bender admittedly is not consistently accurate with his passes since he cannot straighten his right arm because of calcium deposits in his right elbow. But he said he has worked extensively on improving his passes during the past two weeks.

"I've been getting better," Bender said. "I'm feeling more comfortable. If I have to pass, fine, I'm ready for it."

The Warriors also spent much of yesterday's practice working on their blocking. In Wednesday's match, they were penalized six times for net violations.

"Our blockers are trying to do too much," Wilton said, "and we think that's why we've got people doing 'oama impressions, like at the hukilau. This is not a hukilau. Stay out of the net. ... When you've got blockers who are flying laterally, that's not good."