Thursday, February 11, 1999
’Bows find focus
The UH men's volleyball team
By Cindy Luis
rediscovers its intensity in an up-
and-down victory over
George Mason
Star-BulletinIn 75 minutes, the Hawaii men's volleyball team saw how far it needs to go before it can challenge for a national title. In those same 75 minutes, the George Mason Patriots saw how far they have come in a year.
The No. 5 Rainbows eventually found the energy and intensity to defeat the unranked Patriots, 15-9, 15-8, 15-3, at the Stan Sheriff Center last night. A somewhat subdued crowd of 3,488 saw Hawaii improve to 6-2 while George Mason lost for the first time in five matches.
The teams meet again at 7 p.m. tomorrow in a match Hawaii wants to use as a springboard into next week's critical road trip. The Rainbows travel to sixth-ranked Long Beach State (3-0) next Wednesday and then to No. 3 Brigham Young (6-0) on Friday.
"Next week is going to be much tougher," said Rainbows junior blocker Andre Breuer. "We can't afford any letdowns like we have had. We need to keep the intensity on at every point.
"We are up and then we let go. That clearly shows that we are not focused. There's always things to improve on technically. But tonight it was focus."
The Patriots can be forgiven for not being completely focused. Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the death of coach Uvaldo Acosta, who drowned off Kaneohe during the team's trip here last season."It's not difficult yet," said Patriots coach Fred Chao. "Maybe Friday will be. But the team wanted to come back here. This is an opportunity for a great experience, both volleyball and life-growing. I think we'll go back home a little more healed."
All Chao was hoping for last night was for his team to hold its ground against the taller, stronger Rainbows. When Hawaii threatened to blow them out in Games 1 and 2, the Patriots scrambled to stay close, pulling to within 12-9 in Game 1 and 9-6 in Game 2.
But Hawaii's size and strength took its toll. By Game 3, George Mason couldn't challenge.
"You come in knowing you're going to be outsized and outpowered," said Chao, whose team averages 6-foot-4 to Hawaii's 6-6. "You just don't know by how much. I think we held our ground OK for the first two sets.
"Nobody in the East compares to the sheer weight of Hawaii's attack, their service weight, their height. It's hard to duplicate that in practice."
The Patriots had a hard time handling the Rainbows' serves. Hawaii had eight aces, with Breuer and Dejan Miladinovic each zinging in two.
The 6-9 Breuer also had 10 kills and hit .421 in his first home appearance since spraining his ankle Jan. 13.
Torry Tukuafu, a 6-6 swing, had a team high 12 kills, hitting .435.Gary Moore had the most success for the Patriots, finishing with 13 kills in hitting .429. George Mason hit .094 as a team and was outblocked , 9-5.
"I thought we were very sluggish," said Rainbows coach Mike Wilton. "It seemed like we were playing in the deep end of the pool. Some of our guys really struggled.
"I thought we did OK in the third game. We found some energy. We need to play an entire match like we played in Game 3. We need that memory to take on the road trip."
Helping energize Hawaii in the 17-minute Game 3 were sophomores Jorge Alifonso (solid passing) and Brenton Davis (six kills, .625).
The Rainbows hit .526 with four blocks and three aces in the last set.
NOTE: Tukuafu will marry Brigham Young-Hawaii volleyball player Andrea Gomez on Feb. 20, the day after the Hawaii plays the BYU Cougars in Provo. Both Tukuafu and Gomez are from Utah.
Box Score
Hawaii def. George Mason, 15-9, 15-8, 15-3
Patriots (4-1 overall)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Melo 3 6 7 18 -.056 0 2 4 Prince 3 6 6 15 .000 1 2 4 Eglitis 3 2 1 5 .200 0 0 2 Moore 3 13 4 21 .429 0 1 4 Billauer 3 4 7 21 -.143 0 1 4 Smtih 3 6 2 14 .286 0 2 2 Wight 2 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 1 Brown 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 37 28 96 .094 1 8 21
g k e at pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 3 7 3 15 .267 0 6 5 Kuo 3 1 2 5 -.200 0 1 6 Breuer 3 10 2 19 .421 0 3 4 Kosty 2 0 1 2 -.500 0 2 3 Stanley 2 6 5 15 .067 0 2 0 Tukuafu 3 12 2 23 .435 0 4 4 Davis 2 6 1 8 .625 0 0 3 Alifonso 1 2 0 2 1.000 0 0 1 Totals 3 44 16 89 .315 0 18 26Aces--UH (8): Miladinovic 2, Breuer 2, Kosty 1, Stanley 1, Tukuafu 1, Davis 1. GMU (2): Moore 1, Brown 1. Assists--UH (41): Kuo 39, Miladinovic 1, Stanley 1. GMU (37): Eglitis 34, Prince 1, Moore 1, Billauer 1.A--3,488 turnstile (5,306 tickets). T--1:15. Officials: Ernest Ho, Dan Hironaka.
