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Wednesday, February 14, 2001
Theocharidis SAN DIEGO -- The last thing Hawaii men's volleyball coach Mike Wilton wanted to worry about going into The Pyramid was whether or not he'd have his top gun with him.
in hospital, Tuyay
ill, Hawaii sweeps
Theocharidis questionable
for Long Beach State matchRealAudio: Click here
Staff & wire reports
But Wilton must now hope sophomore All-American Costas Theocharidis will have recovered enough strength by tomorrow to play in a critical match against No. 3 Long Beach State.
Hawaii (9-2 overall, 5-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) moved ahead of the 49ers (6-2, 5-2) in the MPSF Pacific Division. The Beach lost at Pepperdine last night, 26-30, 30-24, 30-25, 30-26.
Theocharidis was hospitalized yesterday while No. 6 Hawaii was sweeping unranked UC San Diego, 30-14, 30-17, 30-24, at RIMAC Arena.
He was diagnosed with food poisoning at the UC San Diego Medical Center, a condition that caused him to vomit almost constantly between Monday night and last night.
"He had to carry an ice bucket with him because he was throwing up every 20 minutes," Wilton said.
"We were very worried because (Theocharidis) was complaining of the same symptoms he had last year when he was hospitalized with colitis."
Wilton said the medical center released the outside hitter, who is Hawaii's leading attacker.
"He looked weak, drawn and relieved all at once," Wilton said. "Food poisoning is way better than colitis. We'll take a wait-and-see attitude on whether or not he plays at Long Beach State."
Theocharidis is averaging a team-high 4.21 kills a game and has a .409 hitting percentage.
Playing in 34 of Hawaii's 38 games this season, he has made 143 of the team's 589 kills.
Hawaii had 11 service aces against UC San Diego, with Eyal Zimet serving a career-high seven aces.
Tony Ching, Theocharidis' replacement in the lineup, led the attack with 13 kills, while hitting .241.
Torry Tukuafu (.400) and Dejan Miladinovic (.667) each had 10 kills. Tukuafu had a match-high eight digs.
Hawaii hit .471 with only nine hitting errors to UC San Diego's .124 with 22 errors.
The Warriors outblocked the Tritons, 12-5, with Miladinovic in on nine blocks and Kimo Tuyay in on six.
Donald Chen, a 6-foot-4 senior opposite, led UC San Diego (1-8, 0-7) with 11 kills.
Tuyay, the starting setter, had been listed as questionable before the match due to a virus that made him extremely sick on Monday.
But Tuyay felt better during warmups and Wilton decided he could start the freshman, who hasn't missed a single match this year.
Tuyay played until Hawaii had a 25-14 lead in Game 2. Sophomore Kyle Denitz came in. Denitz started and played throughout Game 3, when Tuyay told Wilton he had a severe headache and couldn't play anymore.
Hawaii def. San Diego, 30-14, 30-17, 30-24
Warriors (9-2 overall, 5-1 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 3 10 0 15 .667 1 8 2 Tuyay 2 2 0 3 .667 0 6 4 Zimet 3 6 0 8 .750 0 1 4 Podlewski 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Davis 3 8 1 10 .700 0 1 1 Denitz 2 0 0 0 .000 0 2 3 Ching 3 13 6 29 .241 0 2 4 Tukuafu 3 10 2 20 .400 0 2 8 Totals 3 49 9 85 .471 1 22 31
Tritons (1-8 overall, 0-7 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Hove 3 1 0 3 .333 0 1 3 MacDonald 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Hite 2 4 4 16 .000 0 0 2 O’Connor 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Cogorno 3 8 6 18 .111 0 1 3 Mortimer 3 4 1 8 .375 0 1 6 Foott 2 1 2 7 -.143 0 1 0 Flynn 2 1 0 3 .333 0 2 0 Chen 3 11 6 28 .179 1 1 3 Perrine 3 4 3 14 .071 0 1 0 Totals 3 34 22 97 .124 1 8 24 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--UH (11): Zimet 7, Tukuafu 3, Davis. UCSD (3): Perrine 2, Cogorno.
Assists--UH (41): Tuyay 21, Denitz 18, Ching 2. UCSD (31): Hove 29, Chen, MacDonald.
T-1:25. Officials: Patsy Malta, Jesse Martinez. A--245.
MPSF standings
Mountain Division
Conference Pct. Overall Brigham Young 4-0 1.000 7-0 Pepperdine 4-2 .667 8-2 UCLA 2-1 667 6-3 UC Santa Barbara 3-3 .500 5-3 UC Irvine 1-4 .200 3-7 CS Northridge 0-6 .000 3-8
Pacific Division
Conference Pct. Overall Hawaii 5-1 .833 9-2 Stanford 3-1 .750 6-1 Long Beach State 5-2 714 6-2 Southern California 4-3 .571 4-3 Pacific 1-2 .333 3-3 UC San Diego 0-7 .000 1-8 Last week's results
UCLA def.. USC, 27-30, 30-24, 30-26, 30-19
Pepperdine def. Stanford, 25-30, 25-30, 30-22, 30-26, 15-11
Long Beach State def. UC Irvine, 30-22, 30-23, 31-33, 26-30, 15-12
USC d. UCSB, 30-22, 27-30, 30-28, 29-31, 15-12
Last night's results
Hawaii def. UCSD, 30-14, 30-17, 30-24
Pepperdine def. LBSU, 26-30, 30-24, 30-25, 30-26
UCSB def. UC Irvine, 26-30, 30-24, 30-23, 32-34, 16-14
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
