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Thursday, January 27, 2000
Rainbows turn
up the heat
Indiana-Purdue a victim
By Cindy Luis
of Hawaii in opener of
Outrigger Invitational
Star-BulletinAfter escaping the sub-freezing temperatures at home, the Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne men's volleyball team had hoped to be able to warm up in Hawaii. The fourth-ranked Mastodons, however, found the heat in the Stan Sheriff Center too hot to handle last night, as No. 8 Hawaii scorched the IPFW defense with 11 aces in a 15-9, 15-12, 15-5 victory.
The Rainbows' Clay Stanley had four of the aces and Eyal Zimet and Costas Theochari-dis three each in last night's second match of the sixth Outrigger Hotels Invitational.
In the opener, No. 1 UCLA had 10 aces in a 15-4, 15-3, 11-15, 15-2 victory over jetlagged Penn State.
It took the Nittany Lions some 26 hours to get to Honolulu, due to snow and flight delays and cancellations. Penn State coach Mark Pavlik hopes his team will be sharper when facing the Rainbows in tonight's second match.
"Hawaii's serving is a concern," said Pavlik, whose Lions fell to the Rainbows, 3-2, in this event last season. "They served well tonight, played good defense and blocked well.
OUTRIGGER INVITATIONAL
Today: UCLA (6-0) vs. IPFW (2-2), 4:30 p.m.; Hawaii (3-1) vs. Penn State (1-3), 7 p.m.
"As I try to tell our young guys, when you play these kinds of teams, it's another level. It's the pressure they keep on you throughout the course of a match."
IPFW (2-2) found that out firsthand against Hawaii. On serve-receive, the Mastodon players didn't have enough time to say "jumper" before the Rainbows' heaters found them.
"We had a tape on Hawaii and we knew what they would try to do," said IPFW coach Arnie Ball. "Except we did not expect them to serve that well. We expected Clay Stanley to bang the ball but not the other guys. And when you hold Stanley to .057 hitting, we would expect to win the match."
Stanley had 12 kills but, for the second match in a row, struggled to connect with new setter Stefan Krejci.
Krejci had few problems, though, connecting with freshman Costas Theocharidis (17 kills, .519) and Torry Tukuafu and Brenton Davis, who combined for 19 kills and one error to hit .600-plus.
"I told Clay early that there are different skills in the game and other ways to help the team," said Rainbow coach Mike Wilton. "He really helped us with his serve, he blocked balls late, made some great digs, sacrificed his body, and did some very good things.
"My concern now is with Penn State. If memory serves, last year they also looked like they got hit on the head with a baseball bat the first night then had a knockdown fight with us."
Last night, IPFW put up a fight in the seesaw Game 2, taking a 12-11 lead. But the Rainbows took advantage of two unforced IPFW hitting errors and got three kills from Theocharidis to score four unanswered points and take a 2-0 lead in games.
"I think we're getting better and better every game," said Zimet. "I think we have a very good serving team and good serving takes offense away from the other team.''
All-American Hector Soto put down a match-high 19 kills for IPFW while Jeff Ptak added 17.
UCLA 3, PENN STATE 1:
The Bruins (6-0) made few errors, looking in midseason form. Freshman Cameron Mount had 23 kills in hitting .486 and Seth Burnham added 15, hitting .464.The only problem UCLA had with Penn State was staying focused. The Bruins lost momentum after Game 2 and the Nittany Lions (1-3) found freshman Carlos Guerra, who had half of his 18 kills in Game 3.
"Interest was a big factor and, when Penn State put together a good third game, it peaked our interest," said Bruin coach Al Scates. "We lost our momentum then got our rhythm back."
Hawaii def. IPFW, 15-9, 15-12, 15-5
Mastodons (2-2, 0-1 OHVIT)
G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Ptak 3 17 6 35 .314 0 2 5 Gisslen 3 3 0 6 .500 0 2 6 Cummings 3 4 1 9 .333 0 2 1 Ruiz 3 5 1 13 .308 0 2 1 Soto 3 19 8 41 .268 0 1 4 Lane 3 10 6 33 .121 0 3 9 Eracleous 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Thompson 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 58 22 137 .263 0 12 33Rainbows (3-1, 1-0 OHVIT)
G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Zimet 3 8 5 20 .150 0 1 7 Krejci 3 0 0 1 .000 0 1 9 Theocharidis 3 17 3 27 .519 0 3 7 Davis 3 7 0 11 .636 0 4 1 Stanley 3 12 10 35 .057 0 3 7 Tukuafu 3 13 1 20 .600 0 3 4 Lockwood 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 13 Totals 3 57 19 114 .333 0 15 48Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.Aces--IPFW (5): Soto 3. UH (11): Stanley 4, Zimet 3, Theocharidis 3, Davis. Assists--IPFW (50): Gisslen 48. UH (55): Krejci 49, Lockwood 2, Zimet, Davis, Stanley, Tukuafu.
A-5,082. T--1:54. Officials--Wayne Lee, John Martin.
UCLA def. Penn St., 15-4, 15-3, 11-15, 15-2
Nittany Lions (1-3, 0-1 OHVIT)
G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Hoechst 4 10 2 15 .533 0 2 0 Whitescarver 4 8 3 18 .278 0 5 2 Quinones 4 9 2 14 .500 0 1 7 Guerra 4 18 8 38 .263 1 2 5 Houston 4 16 7 35 .257 0 3 7 Koljesar 4 7 4 23 .130 0 4 6 Hoffman 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Hodge 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Slenker 2 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 1 Hawkins 3 1 1 6 .000 0 0 0 Aird 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 4 70 27 150 .287 1 17 34Bruins (6-0, 1-0 OHVIT)
G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Burnham 4 15 2 28 .464 0 3 1 Taliaferro 4 4 2 8 .250 3 5 9 Williams 4 12 5 20 .350 1 2 5 Thathcer 3 12 3 23 .391 0 1 8 Morrow 3 5 2 11 .273 0 4 1 Mount 4 23 6 35 .486 1 2 9 Davis 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Champi 2 5 0 7 .714 0 2 2 Ratledge 2 9 3 15 .400 0 0 3 Totals 4 85 23 147 .422 5 19 46Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.Aces--Penn St. (4): Whitescarver, Houston 2. UCLA (10): Taliaferro 5. Assists--Penn St. (68): Quinones 56. UCLA (79): Taliaferro 69.
T--2:11. Officials--John Martin, Dan Hironaka.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
