Warriors serving up winning formula

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

These days, the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team is serving with a smile.

Wilton

"The worst thing you can do in volleyball is miss a serve," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "That's the single worst error you can do. You don't give yourself a chance. We're doing a better job in that area."

Wilton has set a goal of committing errors on 15 percent or less of the serves. Five of the six starters who serve are meeting that goal. The exception is Pedro Azenha, who has committed errors on 18 of his 81 serves (22 percent).

But Wilton is willing to forgive those mistakes because of Azenha's ability to change a match's momentum with his sizzling jump serves.

"Pedro has such a rocket of a serve," UH outside hitter Matt Bender said. "If he goes on a run, we can have an eight-point lead real fast."

Bender used to be a jump-and-rip server. But he has tamed his serves this year to ease the stress on his right shoulder. He has developed into the Warriors' most productive server.

This season, the Warriors have scored points 48 percent of the times Bender is serving. Wilton's wish is a success rate of 35 percent or better.

"Bender has a nice jump serve," Wilton said. "He spots with it. He doesn't make mistakes."

When Bender serves, the front row is outside hitter Jose Jose Delgado on the left, middle blocker Mauli'a LaBarre in the center and setter Brian Beckwith on the right.

"Serving-scoring has a lot to do with who's up front, and when I serve, there's a big wall up there," Bender said. "I try to serve it in the seams and let the guys take care of the blocking and digging and defense. I'd rather keep it in than go for aces because we have such a good defensive base."

Delgado, whose serve-scoring productivity is 24 percent, said he is using a higher toss. "I feel more comfortable with that," he said.

Beckwith uses a float serve intended to induce bad passes.

"I'm what coach calls an accuracy server versus what Pedro is," Beckwith said. "I'm there to get the other team out of system, and maybe get their best hitter out of rhythm. I'm not there going for the ace."

LaBarre, who is 6 feet 9, uses a float serve off a jogging start. LaBarre said his dancing serve has the same effect as a knuckleball pitch in baseball.

"Sometimes it has a mind of its own and you can't control it," LaBarre said. "If you keep it in the court, it moves around and it's hard to track. It keeps the passers honest. They see big serves from Pedro, Jose and Bender, and then this floater keeps them off balance."

But like most knuckleballs, LaBarre said, "sometimes a team cranks it out of the park, sometimes they swing and miss."

NOTES: Of the 12 players listed on the travel roster, middle blocker/outside hitter Jake Schkud was the only one not to leave Honolulu yesterday. He is suffering from a stomach virus. He is expected to join his teammates today.

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