Saturday, January 8, 2000
New ’Bows
impress but fans
like oldies
The alumni got the cheers but the new UH men's volleyball team is eager to win them over
By Cindy Luis
Star-BulletinThey've got the volleyball down pat. Now to work on that fan appeal.
The 2000 edition of the Hawaii men's volleyball team found out last night that home is where the heart is. And that the hearts of the Rainbow fans still belong to the oldies but goodies of teams past.
Former players such as Aaron Wilton, Rick Tune and Sivan Leoni continued to be crowd-pleasers in a less than stellar outing last night against the Rainbow varsity. It took just 68 minutes for Hawaii to show that youth will be served by serving tough and blocking impressively in a 15-6, 15-3, 15-4 victory over an alumni team at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"Yes, I'd say the crowd was leaning a lot to (the alumni),'' said Rainbow first-year setter Stefan Krejci. "I'm sure they felt we were the favorites so they cheered for the underdogs, the older players that they knew.
"I hope the fans will come back and get to know us. And that they'll like us because this is a very hard-working team.''
The turnstile crowd of 2,613 (4,969 tickets) got a pupu-size taste for the Rainbows and for what can be expected this season. Junior hitter Clay Stanley is better (13 kills, .550), junior Torry Tukuafu is very comfortable in the middle (5 blocks) and freshman Costas Theocharidis has a deceptive hitting style that is nearly impossible to stop (9 kills, zero errors, .818).
"I thought the varsity looked pretty good,'' said alumnus Chris Kosty, who played in both the earlier alumni-alumni match and against the varsity.
"I didn't think they would play that well with that many new players (seven newcomers on the 11-man roster).
"It was a fun time and I'm glad I came back for this, even if I am a little jet-lagged.''
Kosty flew in from Germany, where he is playing professionally on a second-division team. He was the spark that led the White to a surprising 14-16, 15-13, 16-14 victory over the Green in yesterday's first match.
The Green led, 11-2, in the first two games only to have the White rally both times.
In Game 1, the White tied it at 14-14 before Troy Hotz put down a kill, then teamed with Pono Ma'a to block Kosty's kill attempt from the 3-meter line.
Game 2 was deja vu with the White again coming from behind, using a 12-0 run to turn an 11-2 deficit into a 14-11 lead. The Green closed to within 14-13 only to give up game point when failing to return Chris Crabb's serve.
The rally scoring Game 3 saw the Green again jump out quickly and the White again rally. Matt Johnson's three kills helped the White to a 13-10 lead but Hotz served for three points as the Green pulled to 14-14.
Kosty's last kill gave the White match point. The Green's Lyman Lacro had two amazing digs but teammate Hotz hit into the net to end it.
Hotz, Kosty, Jerry Kukuruda and Damien Hardy played in both matches, with Hotz and Kosty alternating as the libero (back-row specialist) against the varsity. Rick Tune helped keep the alumni out of negative hitting percentage with his .529, putting down a team-high 10 kills.
The always entertaining Leoni had just five kills but double that number in trademark fist pumps when he blocked Tukuafu late in Game 3.
One sideout later, Tukuafu returned the favor, stuffing Leoni then pumping his fist.
The varsity finished with a 11-2 edge in blocks.
"There was some sloppiness to be sure but I thought we did some good things,'' said Rainbow coach Mike Wilton, whose team opens the regular season next Thursday against Loyola-Chicago. "I had this sense that, if you liken us to being in a race car, we were in first gear for the longest time. It took awhile for our guys to relax and start having fun.''
Krejci, for one, was happy to get the opening-night jitters out of the way.
"I don't know how many people we had watching but I was overwhelmed,'' he said. "It was way more than when I've played in Europe.''
And, as the alumni will tell him, he hasn't seen anything yet.
Hawaii def. Hawaii Alumni, 15-6, 15-3, 15-4
Alumni
G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Hardy 3 3 3 12 .000 1 0 1 Kosty 3 5 4 17 .059 0 0 5 Kuo 3 1 0 2 .500 0 0 2 Leoni 3 5 1 11 .364 1 0 2 Tune 3 10 1 17 .529 0 0 3 Wilton 3 6 8 20 -.100 0 0 2 Cook 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Hotz 3 1 4 6 -.500 0 0 4 Kahele 2 1 4 6 -.500 0 0 3 Kukuruda 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 0 Tang 3 0 3 4 -.750 0 0 0 Totals 3 33 28 97 .052 2 0 22Rainbows
G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Zimet 2 1 1 3 .000 0 3 4 Krejci 3 0 0 4 .000 0 2 6 Theocharidis 2 9 0 11 .818 0 0 3 Davis 3 5 2 11 .273 1 3 1 Stanley 2 13 2 20 .550 0 2 2 Tukuafu 3 7 1 11 .545 0 5 1 Chala 1 0 0 2 .000 0 2 0 Karratti 1 1 0 2 .500 0 2 2 Lockwood 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Ching 2 3 0 6 .500 0 1 1 Steed 1 4 0 6 .667 0 1 1 Totals 3 43 6 76 .487 1 21 27Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.Aces--Alumni (1): Wilton 1. UH (1): Zimet 1. Assists--Alumni (31): Kuo 30, Kahele 1. UH (40): Krejci 36, Zimet 1, Theocharidis 1, Davis 1, Stanley 1.
A-2,613. T--1:08. Officials--Wayne Lee, Ernest Ho.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
