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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, February 2, 2007

Warriors focus on improving serves

Advertiser Staff

Ernie Vidinha

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No matter how many times the University of Hawai'i volleyball team goes back to the drawing board, the picture remains the same.

"We need to serve better," said UH coach Mike Wilton, whose team meets UCLA in Friday's rematch at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.

In Wednesday's match, the Warriors gave away 27 points on service errors in a 30-25, 33-31, 28-30, 31-29 loss. The Warriors missed 23 percent of their 116 serves. The coaches do not tolerate missing more than 10 percent.

Twenty-two of the misses came on jump serves, including six by opposite attacker Jim Clar.

The Warriors did not have any aces.

The Warriors spent a good share of Thursday's practice working on serves. They also are finalizing yet another change to the lineup.

On Wednesday, the starting lineup included Jake Schkud at one of the left-side positions and Kyle Klinger in the middle.

But Schkud was pulled after committing errors on four of his seven swings.

Schkud's successor, Matt Vanzant, also struggled, committing errors on three of his six swings.

UH finished the match with Ernie Vidinha (four kills and one error in nine swings) as the second left-side hitter. Wilton said Vidinha, a second-year freshman from Kamehameha Schools, probably will start in the rematch.

"He looked very good in there," Wilton said.

Wilton also said Matt "Dragon" Rawson is ready to reclaim a starting job in the middle. Through the season's first four matches, Rawson was the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's second-leading blocker. But he struggled in losses against Loyola-Chicago and Penn State, opening the way for Klinger.

But Wilton acknowledged Rawson is the superior blocker, and with UH's serving problems, Rawson's skills are needed in the lineup.

Dio Dante, who played a role in 11 of the Warriors' 18.5 blocks Wednesday, has secured the other middle job.

"It's good to have three middles," Wilton said. "They will all get their chance."

Wilton said he was pleased the Warriors managed to rally after ceding large leads in each of Wednesday's games. He said the team is getting close to point where "everything starts to click.

"If we can focus on the things we need to focus on, we'll be OK," Wilton said.