UH volleyball team sweeps
Advertiser Staff
It was fitting that a nursing student would help cure the down-in-the-dumps University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team.
Marlo Torres, a student manager who monitors the team's progress in practice, contributed to a lineup change that resulted in the Warriors' 30-22, 30-23, 30-22 victory over host UC San Diego last night in La Jolla, Calif.
Torres
A gathering of 262 watched the Warriors rebound from last week's consecutive three-game road losses to Brigham Young and improve to 14-6 overall and 10-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. In defeating the Tritons (1-18, 0-15) for the 32nd time in as many meetings, the Warriors moved into fourth place, a half-game ahead of idle BYU (9-5). The top seed has an opening bye in the MPSF postseason tournament, and the next three seeds serve as first-round hosts.
"This was good for us," said UH coach Mike Wilton, who credited Torres. "Our data-keeper did a good job."
Torres keeps track of each player's performance in five disciplines during practices. The top scorers at each position started last night.
"We ask her to keep track of a lot of data," Wilton said. "Nothing gets past her."
Based on the results of practices Monday and Tuesday, opposite hitter Pedro Azenha moved to first left-side hitter, Lauri Hakala started at the second left-side position, left-side hitter Jose Jose Delgado moved to opposite hitter, and Jake Schkud, who was an outside hitter last week, opened at middle blocker. Azenha finished with a match-high 17 kills and three aces, Hakala buried eight kills in 14 swings, Delgado provided accurate passing and Schkud contributed to three of the Warriors' 10.5 blocks.
"This was a confidence boost," UH setter Brian Beckwith said. "We needed to bounce back and get our style of play back."
From the practice data, Wilton figured UH needed to boost its front-left attack. In the new lineup, Azenha or Hakala attack from the front left in five of the six rotation turns. Wilton also adjusted the scheme so Delgado would be a primary passer at every rotation turn.
Of UH's success, Wilton said, "the players are the ones who did it, not me. All I did was run the practices. The players decided who was going to play by how they performed in practice. What better motivation can you have for practice?"
Wilton used everyone on the 12-player travel roster except outside hitter Matt Bender, who is recovering from flu-like symptoms.
"He's not very well," Wilton said. "He'll probably deny it, but he's been sick. I had plans for him. He was going to be the first guy in. Maybe more rest is good for him."
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