Saturday, March 6, 1999
Balancing act
works for ’Bows
All five Hawaii hitters reached
By Cindy Luis
double figures in kills against
the Gauchos
Star-BulletinCaution, movie goers.
If you're the type that tries to figure out the ending midway through the film, don't sit next to Torry Tukuafu. The University of Hawaii sophomore hitter will have one word for you: Patience.
"Hey, relax, wait for the end of the movie," said Tukuafu. "It's going to be a good ending."
Tukuafu took that philosophy into the team huddle last night when the Rainbows found themselves trailing, 7-1, in Game 2 against UC Santa Barbara. Instead of panicking, Hawaii persevered, outscoring the Gauchos, 14-4, over the next 25 minutes to win the second game en route to a 15-7, 15-11, 15-8 sweep in front of 4,358 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Seventh-ranked Hawaii improved to 10-4 overall, 6-3 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball play with its third straight victory. UCSB, which lost its fourth in a row, fell to 4-9 and 3-9.
The teams meet again at 7 tonight.
In possibly the Rainbows' most balanced attack of the season, all five Hawaii hitters were in double-kill figures. Tukuafu and Andre Breuer finished with 13, while Dejan Miladinovic, Brenton Davis and Clay Stanley had 11 apiece.
Hawaii also dominated at the net, with 17 blocks to UCSB's 51/2. The 6-foot-9 Breuer was in on eight stuffs, Miladinovic (6-7) had seven and Davis (6-4) six.
"They're a big team," said Gauchos coach Ken Preston after the 1 hour, 42-minute match. "We were up in Game 2 and let them back in. That's OK but, after we got to 10, we played crappy. That was a picture of our whole season. We never made a break for ourselves and the ball never bounced our way."
UCSB led, 10-6, only to see Hawaii fight back and take control at 11-10. Leading the charge was Stanley, who lost his opposite position to Davis two weeks ago.
Stanley, a 6-9 sophomore, came in at the pass-swing spot for 6-foot Russell Lockwood late in Game 1. The Rainbow nicknamed "Bird" started Game 2 and put down eight of his 11 kills; he finished hitting .625 for the match.
"Russell is a great ball control guy but 'Bird' more than held his own passing the ball tonight," said Hawaii coach Mike Wilton. "Clayton's becoming a weapon."I thought we had good balance, good defense and it was one of our better overall team efforts. I especially liked the way they came back in Game 2. They did it with composure, not a lot of rah, rah but with resolve."
That carried over in Game 3 as Hawaii jumped out to leads of 10-2 and 13-3 But just when it looked like the Rainbows would hold the Gauchos to their second-lowest offensive output of the season, UCSB picked up five points on three Hawaii errors, an ace by Kevin Collins and a kill by Andy Rivera.
But the Gauchos could get no closer than the final score, with Collins and Rivera hitting consecutive balls into the net. Collins led UCSB with 22 kills while David Kohl added 13.
"Everybody did their jobs tonight," said Tukuafu. "When everybody does their jobs, we are a great team. We're doing a lot of things better -- blocking and defense. We've been working on the little things that make the difference.
"We don't need to prove anything out there. We are a good team. We've got to come out and play instead of thinking about it."
NOTES: Defending national champ UCLA ended a four-game skid last night, outlasting Pacific, 15-2, 9-15, 15-13, 10-15, 15-12. Prior to last night, the Bruins had been swept by No. 1 BYU twice in Provo, including losing 15-0 in Game 2 last Friday. UCLA also suffered five-game home losses to UC Irvine and Long Beach State. The win by the Anteaters was their first in 36 matches against UCLA. UC Irvine is coached by former Wahine assistant Charlie Brande ... It was the first time in school history that UCLA has lost four in a row, a string of 1,111 matches dating back to 1963 ... Bruins coach Al Scates was supposed to sit out the Long Beach State match Wednesday but his suspension was put on hold because of an appeal. The league suspended Scates for his derogatory remarks on the officiating at BYU.
