Saturday, March 20, 1999
UH back on
winning track
The 'Bows make quick work
By Cindy Luis
of Rutgers-Newark with a 75-
minute, straight-set victory
Star-BulletinIt's been either feast or famine for the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team this season.
Last night, the Rainbows threw themselves a luau. Of the fast-food variety.
The repast lasted just 75 minutes as No. 7 Hawaii swept Rutgers-Newark, 15-6, 15-6, 15-5, in front of 3,729 fans. The Rainbows turned the Stan Sheriff Center into a block party with 11 stuffs to two by the Scarlet Raiders.
Hawaii (12-6) even used two chefs to help end a two-match skid against Rutgers-Newark (11-12). Senior Mason Kuo started at setter,then gave way to sophomore Jorge Perez with the Rainbows up 9-5 in Game 2.
Hawaii didn't miss a beat with the change, turning in its best overall team effort in three weeks. The Rainbows were efficient (.430) and proficient with a balanced and varied attack.
Middles Andre Breuer and Dejan Miladinovic were nearly unstoppable, Breuer finishing with 14 kills and hitting .600, Miladinovic had eight kills with no errors in hitting .800. And then there was opposite Brenton Davis, who led the team with 16 kills.
"Hawaii didn't do anything I didn't expect," said Raiders coach Ron Larsen, now 0-9 against Hawaii. "We pretty much knew what most of their players would do except for Davis. I hadn't seen him before and I had no clue about him.
"Hawaii played very high-level, intense volleyball. They came in playing at a high level early on and I don't think we were ready for that. And that's the best I've ever seen Hawaii block."Larsen didn't have a scouting tape on the Rainbows. It likely wouldn't have mattered if he had.
The unit UH coach Mike Wilton went with last night had rarely been together in a match this season. But, unhappy with last week's losses at Long Beach State and Pepperdine, Wilton threw open the starting spots and based last night's lineup on a point system following a series of contests during practice this week.
"Mason won the setting job easily and Dejan and Andre easily won the middle," said Wilton. "Our two-passer combination (with Jorge Alifonso and Chris Kosty passing, Davis at opposite) barely won out over the three-passer system (with Torry Tukuafu, Clay Stanley and Russell Lockwood).
"It's no state secret that the three-passer combo will play (in tonight's 7 p.m. rematch). We may need both of these lineups to help us the rest of the way, so one can bail out the other."
Wilton didn't need Perez to bail out his team but decided to give his backup setter a look for the first time in two months. Perez responded with poise, running the middle attack despite less than perfect passes.
"He got the middles involved in the game and that's what we've been needing," said Wilton.
"It's been a while since I played and I was real excited," said Perez. "I watch the international game and how they set the middle when the other team doesn't expect it. I love to do that.
"This new system has us having fun again. When you have fun, you play perfectly. We lost a little bit of confidence last week but, right now, everyone is enjoying playing."
Larsen just hopes his team will compete better tonight. With the exception of middle Jason Hamerick (22 kills), the Raiders played like they couldn't wait to go home.
"For us to win this match, we have to win the serve-receive battle," said Larsen. "What we need to do (tonight) is perform better and win that serve-receive battle. If we don't, we can't beat Hawaii.
NOTE: No. 3 Long Beach State upset previously unbeaten and top-ranked Brigham Young last night in Provo, 15-13, 15-7, 7-15, 9-15, 16-14. The Cougars hold a one-game lead over No. 2 Pepperdine in the Mountain Division.
Hawaii def. Rutgers-Neward, 15-6, 15-6, 15-5 Box Score
Scarlet Raiders (11-12)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Anderson 3 3 1 6 .333 0 0 2 Tsamadias 3 1 7 8 -.750 0 0 0 Murtha 3 1 0 4 .250 0 1 1 Kressler 3 4 5 16 -.063 0 0 8 Hamernick 3 22 6 45 .356 0 0 3 Hoff 3 5 1 11 .364 0 1 3 Staley 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Burrow 2 6 1 12 .417 1 0 4 Warren 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 42 21 102 .206 1 2 22Rainbows (12-6)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 3 8 0 10 .800 0 7 2 Kuo 2 1 0 3 .333 0 4 2 Breuer 3 14 2 20 .600 0 3 4 Kosty 3 7 4 17 .176 0 2 7 Davis 3 16 4 27 .444 0 4 6 Alifonso 3 7 3 15 .267 0 1 5 Perez 3 0 0 0 .000 0 1 2 Lockwood 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Haliniak 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 53 13 93 .430 0 22 29Key: g-games. k-kills. e-hitting errors. at-attempts. pct.-hitting percentage. bs-block solos. ba-block assists. d-digs.Aces--RN (0). UH (4): Miladinovic 1, Kuo 1, Davis 1, Alifonso 1. Assists--RN (38): Murtha 35, Anderson 1, Hoff 1, Burrow 1. UH (49): Perez 26, Kuo 18, Miladinovic 2, Breuer 1, Kosty 1, Alifonso 1. A--5,631 tickets (3,729 turnstile). T--1:15.
Yellow card: R-N coach Larsen 5-14 in Game 3. Officials: Bert Fuller, Wayne Lee.
MPSF
Pacific Division
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Long Beach St. 13 1 .928 -- 16 1 .941 Hawaii 6 5 .545 5-1/2 12 6 .667 Southern Cal 7 6 .538 5-1/2 9 7 .562 Pacific 6 7 .451 6-1/2 8 7 .533 Stanford 3 8 .273 8-1/2 5 8 .385 San Diego St. 1 9 .100 10 1 10 .090 UC San Diego 0 12 .000 12 3 13 .187Mountain Division
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Brigham Young 12 1 .923 -- 16 1 .941 Pepperdine 10 1 .909 1 14 1 .934 UCLA 10 5 .667 2-1/2 14 6 .700 L. Marymount 8 7 .533 5 9 8 .529 UC Irvine 6 6 .500 5-1/2 9 7 .565 UC S. Barbara 3 11 .214 9-1/2 4 11 .267 Northridge 1 11 .083 11-1/2 2 15 .118Yesterday's resultsHawaii def. Rutgers-Newark, 15-6, 15-6, 15-5
Long Beach State def. Brigham Young, 15-13, 15-7, 7-15, 9-15, 16-14
Loyola Marymount def. Cal State Northridge, 15-8, 15-3, 15-12
Tomorrow's matches
Rutgers-Newark at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
San Diego State at Pepperdine
