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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, February 26, 2009

Hawaii shuffles starting lineup

By Stephen Tsai
HawaiiWarriorBeat.com Editor

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Hawai'i senior Sean Carney will move from setter to left-side hitter for tonight's match against Stanford.

REBECCA BREYER | Honolulu Advertiser

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MPSF VOLLEYBALL

WHO: Hawai'i (3-8, 2-6 MPSF) vs. Stanford (9-7, 5-6).

WHEN/WHERE: 7 p.m. today, Saturday in Stan Sheriff Center.

TICKETS: $11 (lower level), $8 (upper level: adult), $7 (upper: senior citizens), $3 (upper: high school age and younger), free (UH system students with valid ID).

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Nejc Zemljak

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After taking a mulligan on the season's first six weeks and re-opening the competition, the Hawai'i volleyball team will unveil a revised lineup for tonight's match against Stanford.

Junior setter Nejc Zemljak will make his first start of the year, senior Sean Carney will move from setter to left-side hitter, and second-year freshman Jarrod Lofy will open in the middle.

Starting jobs were awarded mostly on the results of the "cauldron system," in which players are evaluated on their performances and successes in the past two weeks of practices.

The biggest surprise came at left-side hitter, which is considered to be a primary-passing position. A vacancy was created at one of the two left-side spots when freshman Steven Hunt suffered a hairline fracture in his right (hitting) hand. He will miss at least two more weeks.

Carney, Josh Walker and Joe Strotman competed for that job. It was assumed that freshman Gus Tuaniga, an accurate passer, would retain the other left-side job.

But Tuaniga had five consecutive sub-par practices, as reflected in the cauldron point system, and now Carney and Walker will start on the left side.

"Sean's a very good outside hitter," UH head coach Mike Wilton said. "Truth be told, somebody way back when should have made him one. But that's another story. He's a good, all-around player."

Walker, who is considered to be an inconsistent passer, compensated by consistently ending up on the winning side in practices.

"You're going to have guys put up good numbers in certain areas, but maybe guys just win more playing with another guy," Wilton said.

Walker said: "I've been working on everything. I'm a lot more consistent."

Carney's move opens the way for Zemljak to set.

"He works hard in practice," middle blocker Steven Grgas said of Zemljak. "He gets the job done."

Wilton has worked with Zemljak on blocking techniques the past few practices. The key is not necessarily a high vertical jump, Wilton said, but to get the hands over the net.

"My blocking has always been a little bit behind," Zemljak said. "I'm trying to put some focus on it. It's showing some dividends in practice."

Wilton said Zemljak already is an accomplished setter.

"Nejc is doing a really good job of letting the hitters do their work," Wilton said. "We always talk about that. 'Put something nice up there so the hitter can do his work.' He's doing a good job of that."

Lofy had the highest score among the three middle blockers.

"It came down to the fact that I worked hard," Lofy said. "I'm not the most talented player on the team, but I do think I work hard. Coach (Mike Wilton) likes my work ethic."

Grgas held on to the other middle job, but not for the obvious reasons. Grgas has kept in play a team-high 97 percent of his serves.

"Serving is my thing now," Grgas said, smiling.

He said he might have benefitted from stomach-flu-like symptoms.

"I was sick all last week," he said. "I couldn't come to practice. ... Jump serving really wears down my (right) shoulder the quickest. Now that I had the big break, (the shoulder) feels great."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.