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Saturday, February 5, 2000
UH unleashes
By Kalani Wilhelm
‘Greece Lightning’
Special to the Star-BulletinHawaii won its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match of the year with a 15-4, 15-8, 15-13 victory over 15th ranked UC-Irvine last night.
After losing a five-set battle to the top-rated UCLA Bruins in the Outrigger Hotels Invitational last Saturday, the Rainbows played a notch below their usual standards but still managed to win in straight sets.
Freshman outside hitter Costas Theocharidis pounded a team-high 23 kills to lead the 'Bows for the fifth time in six games.
The Rainbows had little difficulty winning Games 1 and 2, yet struggled to put the pesky Anteaters away.
It looked as though Hawaii would stroll to victory in Game 3, leading, 5-1, until they ran into a wall and found themselves down, 10-5, behind the play of UC Irvine outside hitter Ty Loomis.
Loomis banged out a team-high 21 kills and middle blocker Erick Helenihi contributed 18 to lead the Anteaters' attack.
"We seemed to go into a big, deep sleep," said UH coach Mike Wilton, referring to his team's inability to put the match away. "We played how we practiced this week, pretty lousy."
The 'Bows relied on Theocharidis - also known as "Greece Lighting"- to bail them out of trouble. He amassed 12 kills in Game 3, doubling his total from the previous two games.
"I came to Hawaii to play volleyball; whatever I do is for the team," Theocharidas said. "We played very well in the first two games but I think we underestimated them, so they came back."
It was a homecoming for UC Irvine coach Charlie Brande and three of his players. Brande was an assistant for the UH Wahine in 1982 under Dave Shoji.
The Anteaters' Brenden Watumull and Wade Ichinose were prep standouts at Punahou and Chris Chung graduated from Aiea.
Brande was quick to praise the play of libero Russell Lockwood, who finished with a game-high 12 digs.
"Lockwood is the best libero I've seen so far," Brande said.
Hawaii def. UC Irvine, 15-4, 15-8, 15-13
Anteaters (4-6, 1-4 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Reid 3 10 6 27 .148 0 2 3 Watumull 3 3 1 10 .200 0 4 3 Loomis 3 21 9 44 .273 0 0 2 Helenihi 3 18 9 42 .214 1 2 8 Richardson 3 11 4 24 .292 0 4 5 Hinkle 3 0 0 1 .000 0 0 2 Shea 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 7 Niemoth 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Tucker 3 3 3 9 .000 0 1 5 Ichinose 2 2 1 4 .250 0 0 1 Chung 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Jensen 2 1 1 4 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 70 34 166 .217 1 13 38 Rainbows (5-2, 1-1 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Zimet 3 13 1 25 .480 0 3 11 Krejci 3 1 2 5 -.200 1 4 5 Theocharidis 3 23 4 46 .413 0 2 5 Davis 3 8 3 17 .294 0 6 4 Stanley 2 6 5 19 .053 0 2 6 Tukuafu 3 9 4 17 .294 0 4 1 Chala 1 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 0 Lockwood 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 12 Ching 2 7 3 14 .286 0 1 4 Totals 3 67 23 145 .303 1 22 48 Aces--UC Irvine (2): Helenihi 1, Tucker 1. UH (5): Theocharidis 2, Krejci 1, Davis, 1 Stanley 1. Assists--UC Irvine (67): Hinkle 38, Jensen 27, Richardson 1, Shea 1. UH (64): Krejci 60, Zimet 2, Davis 1, Lockwood 1.
A-5,298. T--1:58. Officials--Wayne Lee, Dan Hironaka.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
