Friday, February 27, 1998
Business as usual
for UH spikers
Breuer, Leoni and Salmeri
By John Titchen
combine for 23 kills in
Rainbows' victory
Special to the Star-BulletinSAN DIEGO -- Seventy minutes.
That's all the time No. 4 Hawaii needed yesterday afternoon to dispatch host UC-San Diego, 15-2, 15-5, 15-3, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball match.
"We were pretty business-like," said Hawaii coach Mike Wilton, who moved past Alan Rosehill on the all-time victory list at UH with his 108th win.
Wilton used all 10 players on his travel roster against the Tritons, a team that has lost seven of its last nine matches in straight sets.
The Rainbows (12-2, 8-1) were hot from the start and never slowed, even when Wilton replaced his starters in the third game.
Before a RIMAC Arena crowd of 185, Hawaii jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 90 seconds of the first game. Freshman Jorge Alifonso then recorded three straight service aces and forced UCSD coach Duncan McFarland to call a timeout with his squad down 6-0. McFarland, though, could do nothing to slow the onslaught.
"We didn't make many mistakes," said Naveh Milo, who added three straight kills after the timeout to put Hawaii up 9-0.
Jason Salmeri added two kills of his own to make it 11-0 before Ryan Woods finally recorded a point for the Tritons (1-10, 0-9) with a spike after a long rally. Hawaii's Sivan Leoni hammered a hard (and loud) service ace to end the second game.
After several Triton miscues, the Rainbows racked up a 6-0 lead to start the third game. Even with starters Milo, Salmeri and Mason Kuo on the bench, the Rainbows had little trouble against a Triton team that had no service aces and 15 service errors.
"Everyone played well," said Salmeri of a Rainbow team that shared the wealth, statistically speaking. "We tried to get everyone in there for some playing time and I'm glad."
Andre Breuer led the Rainbows with nine kills, and eight blocks. He also had two assists, two digs and three service aces. All 10 Rainbows recorded kills, Kuo had 21 assists and Jorge Perez had 12 assists. Hawaii tallied 11 service aces.
Russell Lockwood (a spectacular kill) and Chris Kosty (a one-handed block) played well for Hawaii in the third game. Woods had 13 kills for the Tritons.
Wilton said he liked the way his new lineup has gelled this week. He moved Kuo and Salmeri into starting roles just days ago.
"We are playing together very well now," said Wilton, who juggled his rotation after Hawaii struggled in the first of two games at San Diego State earlier in the week. "I think [UCSD] is better than the way they played tonight and they'll play tougher the next time."
The Tritons and Rainbows will play again today at 1 p.m. HST.
"I think they'll probably come out and play a lot better," said Salmeri. "It's hard when you beat a team like that to keep the same intensity, but that's what we have to do."
Wilton moved past Rosehill, who compiled a 107-68 record from 1986- 1992, on the wins list. The sixth-year coach is 108-48 at Hawaii.
Notes Naveh Milo is just 40 kills short of becoming the sixth Rainbow to record 1,000 kills and 500 digs. The 6-2 senior (960 kills, 549 digs) will join Allen Allen, Carlos Bricero, Aaron Wilton and Jason Olive in the exclusive club.
Rainbow stars
Andre Breuer: 9 kills; 8 blocks
n Of note: UH had 11 aces and held UC San Diego to a .148 hitting percentage.
1997-98 UH Men’s Volleyball
Schedule and Recordhttp://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
