Monday, April 20, 1998
Changing his colors
The death of the
By Cindy Luis
George Mason coach has had a
profound effect on UH's
Jason Salmeri
Star-BulletinTHE chameleon has changed the color of his attitude for the last time.
Where Jason Salmeri would once sport a Mohawk hairdo, dyed in the hip-hop color -- or colors -- of the moment, he's now gone conservative. The eyebrow ring is not worn on game days.
The senior opposite for the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team has settled down. The death of George Mason coach Uvaldo Acosta angered, then sobered up, Salmeri, who played for the Fairfax, Va., school his first two seasons before transferring to Manoa.
Acosta, a former U.S. national team player, drowned off Kaneohe on Feb. 12, the day off between the two-match series with the Rainbows. Salmeri's father, a former military officer, got the George Mason team onto the Kaneohe Marine Corps Base-Hawaii for the outing.
"I don't think about it every day like I used to," Salmeri said of Acosta's death. "Maybe it's down to a few times a week. But after he died . . . well, he was like Superman to me. I've dedicated the rest of the season to him, and if we win the NCAA title, I'm dedicating that to him, too."
Salmeri has channeled his anger, focusing instead on making his last season the best. He is hitting .363 -- third best on the team -- quite an improvement from his .286 average last season.
One of the reason's for Salmeri's success is the move from middle blocker to opposite, where the 6-foot-5 hitter can get a better swing at the ball. The other is his recuperation from back surgery, which was performed just before he transferred to Hawaii.
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Jason Salmeri in action against George Mason the day
before George Mason coach Uvaldo Acosta's death.
His ruptured disc now healed, Salmeri has regained his hops. The former high school high jumper used to touch 11-7. He's close to 11-6 now and hitting line shots from out of the back row as well as anyone in the country."I love hitting opposite," said Salmeri, who is averaging 4.51 kills per game. "I've been playing middle blocker since I started volleyball my senior year in high school. I played middle at George Mason (1995-96).
"But we have guys 6-7 and 6-9 now and that's how big middles should be. I like to jump, I like to swing, but I haven't been able to do that well because of my back until this year."
His resurgence has coincided with Hawaii's. Since Salmeri moved into the starting lineup for good 15 matches ago, the Rainbows have gone 12-3, including straight-set wins in seven of their last eight matches.
"With the attention the teams have had to pay to our middles, we need to have guys who can stick it at the corners," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "Salmeri gives us that. Plus, he has a great work ethic. His jump has improved about six inches since he got here.
"It was a struggle for him after back surgery, but he's gotten better and better as the season progressed last year. This season, he kept elevating his game."
The personality of this Rainbow team is less flamboyant than that of last season's. Fourth-ranked Hawaii is winning with a serious commitment to being at the Stan Sheriff Center nine days from now for the NCAA Tournament.
"I guarantee that's what everyone on our team wants," Salmeri said. "That is a situation that is in our hands. We're looking at building up some steam. Our concern is that second-round match (Thursday against Pepperdine). If we can break through then, not only will we be playing back here in the NCAAs, we'll win."
That statement might sound bold and brash coming from anyone but Salmeri. But it's how he's attacked the sport since joining a club team as a high school senior.
He made the Olympic Festival roster a year later where he played with Hawaii's Masui Allen. That's when Salmeri thought about moving to the islands.
"I want to play professional beach volleyball and I wanted to play for a team that had a chance for a national title," Salmeri said. "I came here to do that.
University of Hawaii senior opposite Jason Salmeri has made a dramatic improvement in every statistical category in the last year: What a difference a year makes
Year MP GP Kills Pct. Aces Digs BS BA 1997 11 19 32 .286 0 12 0 4 1998 24 65 293 .363 14 98 10 73Index: MP: Matches Played; GP: Games Played; Pct.: Hitting percentage; BS: Blocked Shots; BA: Block Assists
"My dad (Philip) knew former Rainbow Chris Crabb and somehow they got to talking about me coming here. My dad said wherever I wanted to go was fine, but it was a one-time move. I've changed myself to come out here. I would not have played on the team two years ago with the attitude I had. But I've learned that if you don't fit in on the court, the team isn't going to play well."
Salmeri is scheduled to graduate next semester with a degree in communications. After that he plans to work as a bartender and play pro beach in hopes of earning enough money for graduate school.
"What I'm really proud about is that we've given the fans something to come and watch," Salmeri said. "Last year, the fans came out more for the personalities than to see us win. Now, we're just dominating teams. I wish Uvaldo could have experienced what I've experienced. After he died, I changed my attitude. That's when I started to play better because I was thinking about how he would handle it. The only time he would say anything negative was if he knew you weren't trying. He loved volleyball and I decided I was going to play like that, too."
MPSF Tournament
At UCLA
Thursday's semifinals
Hawaii (23-5) vs. Pepperdine (20-4), 2 p.m. HST
UCLA ((25-3) vs. Long Beach State (22-6), 5 p.m. HST
Semifinal winners, 4 p.m. HST
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
