Saturday, January 16, 1999
Rainbows
overpower Tritons
Hawaii sweeps SDSU
By Cindy Luis
Star-BulletinPressure? What pressure?
All Brenton Davis had to do in his first Division I start was switch to a position he hadn't played in four years and replace an All-American. But Davis, a 6-foot-4 opposite-turned middle did just fine last night -- as did the Hawaii men's volleyball team in sweeping UC San Diego for a second consecutive Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match, 15-0, 15-7, 15-10.
"I was a little shaky at first," said Davis, who started in place of 6-9 junior Andre Breuer (ankle injury). "There's a lot of pressure in trying to live up to the Breuer standard.
"I haven't played middle since high school (in 1995) and it takes a while to get the timing down."
A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,688 saw the Tritons (1-3, 0-3) take about 19 minutes to get their timing down. That's all the time it took for the Rainbows (2-0, 2-0) to record the 15-0 score in Game 1, the fourth 'goose egg' in the program's 21-year history.
"I think we got handed that 15-0 game," said Hawaii coach Mike Wilton. "We didn't do much to earn it. Then, in Game 2, they started to play and it took us a real long time for us to start playing."
The Rainbows broke a 6-6 tie in Game 2, going on a 9-1 run over the next 12 minutes. Hawaii jumped out to a 4-1 lead in Game 3 and about the time fans might have wondered about the record for fewest points scored against UH (10), UCSD took advantage of Rainbow mistakes and substitutions to make a game of it.
Hawaii saw leads of 11-5 and 13-7 become uncomfortably close as the smaller Tritons started roofing the Rainbows. When 6-2 Zach Hite and 6-5 Bill Sinclair teamed to stuff 6-9 Clay Stanley, UCSD had closed to 13-10.
But Hawaii's Dejan Miladinovic came through with his 17th kill of the night for the sideout. The Rainbows then closed it out on a Triton hitting error and Stanley's ninth kill.
Miladinovic hit .652 for the match, coming up with 11 kills on 14 swings in Game 3. He did not have a hitting error after Hawaii took a 6-4 lead in Game 2, and finished with eight blocks.
"Dejan really came on in Game 3 for us," said Hawaii sophomore hitter Torry Tukuafu, who added 13 kills. "With Andre out, we lose power and size. We have to pick it up, especially on defense ... We have a lot to work on next week."
Hawaii hosts the fifth Outrigger Hotels Invitational next Wednesday through Friday. The field includes defending champion and top-ranked UCLA, preseason No. 2 Lewis and a strong Penn State team in a reunion of the 1996 NCAA final four.
The Rainbows are hoping to get Breuer back for the tournament. He sprained his ankle in Wednesday's season-opening win over Tritons and "we'll wait for the weekend to go by to see how he is," said Wilton. "Without him, we lose a lot of leadership and power.
"Maybe losing him for tonight's match and it being early in the season led to our strange behavior. Our performance was kind of disappointing."
UCSD's Kaeo Griffin wasn't disappointed. The Punahou grad played the majority of Game 2 when teammate Scot Hastings went out with an ankle injury.
"This was a good experience for us," said Griffin. "The guys were kind of psyched out because of (Hawaii's) size."
Sinclair and Hite finished with 10 kills each for the Tritons, a Division III school.
Hawaii def. UC San Diego, 15-0, 15-7, 15-10 Box Score
At Stan Sheriff Center
Tritons (1-3 overall, 0-3 MPSF)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Vernon 3 3 5 10 -.200 0 1 4 Seckington 3 3 0 5 .600 1 1 1 Hite 3 10 13 35 -.086 0 1 2 Sinclair 3 10 4 18 .333 1 3 7 Hastings 3 9 4 17 .294 0 2 1 Jeffcoat 3 6 4 16 .125 1 2 2 Griffin 1 1 1 3 .000 0 0 1 Hove 2 3 0 7 .429 0 0 1 Mitilian 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 45 31 111 .126 3 10 19
g k e at pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 3 17 2 23 .652 1 7 4 Kuo 3 1 0 2 .500 0 2 5 Kosty 3 6 3 11 .273 0 5 3 Davis 3 12 4 25 .320 0 1 3 Stanley 3 9 4 16 .313 0 0 2 Tukuafu 3 13 3 21 .476 0 1 3 Haliniak 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Kaven 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Lockwood 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Kamanao 1 2 2 7 .000 0 0 3 Totals 3 60 18 105 .400 1 16 25s Aces--UH (5): Miladinovic 2, Kuo 1, Tukuafu 1. UCSD (4): Vernon 1, Seckington 1, Sinclair 1, Jeffcoat 1. Assists--UH (57): Kuo 41, Lockwood 9, Miladinovic 3, Kosty 2, Davis 1, Kaven 1. UCSD (42): Seckington 38, Vernon 1, Hite 1, Jeffcoat 1, Hove 1.A--4,688 turnstile (6,047 tickets). T--1:40. Officials: Ernest Ho, Wayne Lee.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
