Thursday, April 22, 1999
Tukuafu seeks
a masterpiece
A win over UCLA in the
By Cindy Luis
MPSF playoffs this Saturday
would make UH's season
a beauty
Star-BulletinThe season is in his hands, like a piece of wet clay on a potter's wheel. Torry Tukuafu has an idea for a shape, hoping to avoid the one false move that would have the whole thing collapse.
"There's a fine line between beauty and mud," said Tukuafu, who is minoring in ceramics at Hawaii. "It's all a matter of perfection. I don't think about creation, I think about the process.
"I'm not thinking about what I'm making but about my hands being in the right place -- am I making the right moves? Something that looks extremely gorgeous can, in a second, fall in on itself."
Tukuafu was speaking about ceramics, but it could have easily been about volleyball. The 6-foot-6 outside hitter for the eighth-ranked Rainbows is committed to having the playoff season extend beyond this weekend.
Avoiding a first-round collapse means Hawaii needs to beat No. 3 UCLA in Saturday's match at the Stan Sheriff Center. It will not be an easy task -- the Bruins are 9-3 in the Sheriff Center dating back to 1995, including winning the MPSF Tournament title here in 1996 and their 17th NCAA championship last May.
A win Saturday would put Hawaii on a plane, most likely to Provo, Utah, where top-ranked BYU is expected to be the host for the MPSF semifinals. The Cougars face unranked Pacific on Saturday.
"I'm not making any predictions, but I plan on being in Provo next week," said Tukuafu. "I don't think there's any doubt that we can beat UCLA.
"Yes, we just lost to them at their place, but that's a hard place to play. Not many teams win there. The thing is, I've beaten these guys. We can do it, too."
Tukuafu was on the BYU team last year that earned a rare sweep of UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. In the year since then, he has changed schools and marital status.
During last month's road trip to BYU, Tukuafu and Brigham Young-Hawaii volleyball player Andrea Gomez were married. He has been commuting from Laie to Manoa, a 2-hour round trip that both say has become a grind.
That problem will be solved next fall when Andrea Tukuafu joins the Wahine volleyball team as an outside hitter.
"It's been a tough year for him," said Andrea, a voice major and aspiring singer who last Saturday enchanted the Sheriff Center crowd with the National Anthem and Hawaii Pono'i.
"The commute has taken so much energy out of both of us. That's more than two hours out of the day that we could be spending . . . just having a regular life."
The day is made longer because Torry Tukuafu is usually the last to leave practice, spending an extra 30 minutes on his serve-receive and passing. Tukuafu plays a large -- but unfamiliar -- role in the Rainbows' defensive scheme as one of the primary passers.
"I'm not the passer I want to be," said Tukuafu. "But I will be. If I want a future in volleyball, I've got to become good at it.
"My role has changed from when I was at BYU. My job is to pass for this team, create our offense. It's a lot of pressure, which is why I try to take those extra reps before and after practice."
Tukuafu had originally planned on being a Rainbow. Since Utah has no high school boys' volleyball programs, he spent part of his senior year at Kahuku High, living with relatives and earning all-state volleyball honors.
But he missed his parents and siblings. He returned to Heber City, Utah, to finish his senior year at Wasatch High.
Tukuafu met Rainbow coach Mike Wilton at a summer camp at BYU and it appeared Tukuafu would enroll at Hawaii. But he ended up in the Cougars' program for two years, one as a redshirt.
He fell in love with Gomez while the two worked at volleyball camps last summer. She had already fallen in love with Hawaii, and Tukuafu, who didn't want a long-distance relationship, moved here to be with her and to finally become a Rainbow.
"We're happy to have him," said Wilton. "Torry is a wonderful young man, has a great work ethic and gives you all he's got all the time.
"He's been challenged in his new role as a passer, but he's rising to it. His value on the court is so great. He's a total team guy."
Tukuafu knows Hawaii's season in his hands. He said he'll do everything he can to make sure it doesn't turn to mud.
MPSF VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
What: No. 3 UCLA (20-6) at No. 8 Hawaii (18-9).
