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Saturday, March 3, 2001
Hawaii rocks Maybe it was poetic justice that the low point of Costas Theocharidis' season was followed by his season's high point.
Stanford with sweep
Theocharidis knocks down
a season-high 26 kills for the
Warriors; rematch tonightBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinTwo weeks ago, weak as a puppy from food poisoning, he watched from the bench as the University of Hawaii fell in four games to host Long Beach State.
"It was devastating to me," said the All-American outside hitter from Greece. "I was losing pounds and not able to eat. I wanted to jump into the match. Mentally I could but physically ... no."
Theocharidis made up for it last night before 4,586 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center, recording season highs in kills (26) and block assists (8) as the Warriors swept Stanford, 30-25, 30-28, 30-25.
"I got some good rest," he said, referring to the long break Hawaii's had since the match with the 49ers.
The loss knocked the Cardinal (8-3, 5-3 MPSF) out of first place and into fourth in the Pacific Division of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Hawaii (10-3, 6-2) moved from fourth to third place.
Hawaii will host Stanford again tonight in a nonconference match.
"This is the time of year when we have to go with our best," said Warriors head coach Mike Wilton, indicating that Theocharidis' exceptional heat will be counted on more often as the conference season heads into the home stretch.
Theocharidis hit .458 in converting 48 attempts, and committed only four errors.
He mixed his speeds, scoring on dinks as well as blasts. But when he brought fire, he sometimes stunned Cardinal defenders.
One of his hardest kills ricocheted off the floor and hit the overhead scoreboard.
Theocharidis was the only player in double-digit kills for the night, an unusual situation for Hawaii. But the strategy was potent.
"He was fantastic," said Cardinal head coach Ruben Nieves.
"Even though it was clear they were going to him, we couldn't stop him and we had two blockers on him. He just sees the block so well and knows how to hit in relation to it."
Middle blocker Brenton Davis, who had eight kills on 13 attempts (.538) as well as seven block assists, said he was comfortable with Theocharidis taking most of the sets.
"You've got to ride your horse," said Davis, who made his first appearance of the season without his long sideburns and facial hair. "You can't argue with that as long as he's putting the ball down."Hawaii outhit the Cardinal, .400 to .271, and outblocked them, 11.5 to 6.0.
But Wilton said he thinks both teams could've played better.
"I never felt like we shifted into a gear and stayed there," he said.
"Kimo (Tuyay) was off on his locations in the beginning and we looked like we hadn't played in awhile. But we smoothed out."
Tuyay, who was also riding the bench during the Long Beach State match due to strep throat, had 45 assists and made the only solo block of the evening.
He played with his left index finger taped to his middle finger against a splint. Wilton explained that Tuyay had jammed a finger in practice.
Hawaii was not able to pull away in any of the three games.
The first game was tied nine times as Theocharidis had nine kills and Stanford's 6-foot-8 outside hitter Curt Toppel had 10.
Toppel came into the match fourth in the nation in kill average (5.28).
But in the crucial second game, which was tied seven times, Toppel had only three kills, while Theocharidis added another nine to his total.
There were only five ties in the final game before Hawaii went ahead to stay, 18-17, on a service error by Stanford.
Toppel finished with a team-high 20 kills while hitting .417 with five errors.
Hawaii def. Stanford, 30-25, 30-28, 30-25
Cardinal (8-3overall, 5-3 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Skacel 3 9 7 24 .083 0 1 6 Strache 2 2 1 6 .167 1 1 1 Strickland 3 6 2 14 .286 1 2 2 Youngberg 3 4 0 7 .571 0 2 2 Griffith 3 2 0 2 1.000 0 0 2 Toppel 3 20 5 36 .417 0 1 8 Lukens 1 0 1 1 - -1.000 0 0 3 Curtis 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Clayton 2 1 2 6 -.167 0 1 1 Johnstone 2 0 0 0 -.000 0 0 3 Totals 3 44 18 96 .271 2 8 28
Warriors (10-3 overall, 6-2 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 3 7 2 13 .385 0 3 0 Tuyay 3 0 0 2 .000 1 0 2 Zimet 3 4 2 8 .250 0 1 3 Theocharidis 3 26 4 48 .458 0 8 4 Davis 3 8 1 13 .538 0 7 1 Tukuafu 1 4 2 9 .222 0 0 1 Podlewski 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 11 Ching 3 6 2 12 .333 0 2 5 Totals 3 55 13 105 .400 1 21 7 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--Stanford (7): Skacel 3, Clayton 2, Strache 1, Griffith 1. UH (7): Zimet 3, Miladinovic 2, Davis 1, Theocharidis 1.
Assists--Stanford (42): Griffith 24, Lukens 12, Skacel 4, Strickland 1, Johnstone 1. UH (48): Tuyay 45, Miladinovic 2, Ching 1.
T-1:40. Officials: Dan Hironaka, Ernest Ho. Att: 4,586.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii