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Saturday, April 8, 2000

Stan the man
pumps life
into ’Bows

Clay Stanley was a force in
the middle as the UH men's
volleyball team wins

By Dave Reardon
Star-Bulletin

The University of Hawaii men's volleyball team has taken the concept of rotation to a new level. The Rainbows seem to enter every match with a different lineup.

Earlier in the season, coach Mike Wilton moved his players around because injuries an illnesses forced him. Now he does it because he can.

With Dejan Miladinovic out for the season, natural outside hitters Brenton Davis, Torry Tukuafu and Geronimo Chala have filled the void.

Hawaii's latest man in the middle from outside, Clay Stanley, helped UH to a 15-4, 15-4, 5-15, 15-13 non-conference victory over Lewis last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"He played middle all week in practice, and we couldn't do anything with him," Rainbows' coach Mike Wilton said. "He scores at will."

And last night, Stanley willed his teammates to score.

"He was a nut-job out there," Tukuafu said. "He had a ton of energy and it fired us up."

In addition to 12 kills and eight blocks, Stanley led the Rainbows in growls, high-fives and fist-pumps.

"I've never seen him get so animated," Wilton said. "It seemed like the team fed off that."

So did the crowd of 3,869, which helped afflict some early stage fright on the visitors.

"This was the biggest crowd we played in front of this year," Flyers' coach Dave Deuser said. "The team looked like it was overwhelmed by the surroundings."

Not to mention Tukuafu and Costas Theocharidis. The two current outside hitters had 23 kills each.

And Stanley.

"We knew he might (play middle)," Deuser said. "What made it difficult for us is we didn't have a scouting report. Knowing what to do was difficult."

Lewis appeared to have it figured out in the third game, and led the fourth, 8-4.

But Tukuafu launched four kills and an ace, and Stanley's two kills and ace gave UH its first lead of the game, 10-9.

The Flyers continued to battle, but consecutive aces by Theocharidis ended the match.

Deuser said it was easy to figure out what his team needed to do to win tonight's 7 p.m. rematch: serve and pass better.

And try to guess where Stanley will be.

"I thought I'd go out and do something different. I went out there to have some fun," Stanley said. "I was just trying to get some energy going."

The Flyers' Jorge Alifonso was a teammate of Stanley for two years before transferring from Hawaii.

"He was like that in practice. I was expecting that from him," Alifonso said.

No. 6 Hawaii def. No. 9 Lewis, 15-4, 15-4, 5-15, 15-13

Lewis (18-9)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Getz	2	1	3	5	-.400	0	0	3
Quinones	4	25	9	52	.308	2	0	10
Bindon	4	14	4	27	.370	1	2	6
Deniz	4	6	2	10	.400	0	2	4
Aviles	4	13	3	23	.435	1	2	4
Alifonso	4	14	12	36	.056	1	1	6
Johnwick	3	3	1	8	.250	0	3	0
Ludden	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	4
Regan	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	4	76	34	161	.261	5	10	37

Rainbows (17-8)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Zimet	4	5	4	13	.077	0	1	5
Krejci	4	0	1	2	-.500	0	6	5
Theocharidis	4	23	5	47	.383	1	5	7
Davis	4	10	3	20	.350	0	4	2
Stanley	4	12	3	18	.500	0	8	0
Tukuafu	4	23	7	40	.400	0	1	11
Karratti	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Lockwood	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	10
Totals	4	73	23	140	.357	1	25	41

Aces--Lewis (3): Bindon, Deniz, Aviles. Hawaii. (8): Theocharidis 4, Stanley 2, Davis 1, Tukuafu 1. Assists--Lewis (72): Deniz 63, Quinones 3, Bindon 2, Aviles 2, Getz 1, Ludden 1. Hawaii (71): Krejci 69, Zimet 1, Davis 1.

Officials--Hironaka, Ho. T--2:07. A-- 3,869 (turnstile), 5.276 (distributed).

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http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu