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Saturday, January 13, 2001
Inspired It wasn't so much that the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team swept Lewis University (Ill.), 30-20, 30-20, 30-19, last night.
Warriors win
Hawaii turns on the emotion
to sweep Lewis; Penn State
on horizonBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinIt was the emotionally charged, in-your-face manner in which the Warriors did it before 3,568 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center that impressed head coach Mike Wilton.
"We had a pointed talk about that," said Wilton, who was not satisfied with Hawaii's relatively uninspired 3-1 win over the Flyers on Wednesday night.
Last night emotion permeated every aspect of the Warriors' game.
Instead of outblocking Lewis, 11-7, as they did two nights before, they stuffed the Flyers, 14-3.
Dejan Miladinovic had a match-high eight blocks, seven in game 3.
Instead of outhitting them, .315 to .216, Hawaii scalded them, .417 to .065.
"Our serving pretty much took them out of their offense," said Wilton. Hawaii had seven service aces to Lewis' one.
"It made it a lot easier to predict what they were going to do offensively."
You could feel the intensity coming when All-American Costas Theocharidis, who had a match-high 16 kills and hit .406, tossed in a little shadow boxing gesture during the introductions.
"When you play in this incredible gym in front of this incredible crowd, you have to play like this," said Theocharidis .
Last April when Lewis came to town for two matches, Hawaii won in four in the first match, and then the Flyers shocked the Warriors with a sweep in the second match. It ended a seven-win streak for Hawaii.
"I reminded them of that," said Wilton. "They were pretty embarrassed."
Hawaii fell behind 9-6 in the first game last night. But after a 6-0 run, the Warriors not only took control, they pounded their chests and roared at Lewis.
Lewis became increasingly frustrated and trash talking ensued.
After Theocharidis blistered a kill to give Hawaii a 23-17 lead in game 2, he and 6-foot-5 Lewis senior middle blocker Paul Aviles got into a verbal confrontation at the net. When Aviles pointed his finger at Theocharidis' face, the 6-3 Hawaii sophomore had to be restrained by a teammate.
He said the incident with Aviles occurred just when the tendinitis in his shoulder was flaring up. It made him want to intervene in a trash-talking battle between Hawaii's Tony Ching and Aviles.
"That time I had a really, really big pain in my shoulder, and I had to scream, I had to do something," said the native of Greece.
Theocharidis said he told Aviles, "Shut your mouth."
Wilton took the flareup as a positive sign.
"We have some fiery guys and the fur flies in practice a lot of times, and I like that," he said.
"I wasn't angry," Theocharidis insisted with a wry smile after the match. "I took acting lessons so I had to show some acting skills. I heard also the Baywatch chicks are around here. You never know, maybe it's my future."
Ching, a sophomore from Kamehameha, said the incident was "just part of the game."
"The crowd doesn't get into it if we don't play with emotion," he said.
Wilton was pleased with Ching's nine-kill performance (he hit .462) while filling in at opposite for team captain Torry Tukuafu.
"He's a real good player and we need to get him out on the floor as much as possible," said Wilton. "He can play all three outside hitter spots. That's the first time he's ever played opposite -- where Torry plays. Torry is coming off of the flu. He had it the first night and we just wanted to rest him."
Tukuafu played part of one game.
The only other time Hawaii trailed last night was in game 3 when the Flyers had a 3-0 lead. But a 9-1 run, sparked by five Theocharidis kills, decided the contest.
"I think they learned a lesson from last year," said Lewis head coach Dave Deuser.
"I think the story of tonight's match is the consistency of Hawaii's team, a team that has five of seven starters returning," said Deuser. "We have four new starters."
Hawaii faces Penn State on Wednesday, the first day of the seventh Outrigger Hotels Invitational.
HAWAII DEF. LEWIS, 30-20, 30-20, 30-19
Flyers (0-2)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Getz 3 6 3 20 .150 0 0 4 Alifonso 3 9 8 21 .048 1 0 4 Aviles 3 4 6 18 -.111 1 1 3 Barreto 3 8 7 21 .048 0 0 2 Miller 2 4 1 7 .429 0 0 1 Martins 3 2 0 3 .667 0 1 4 Rivera 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Flores 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Perez 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Elsea 1 0 2 3 -.667 0 0 0 Totals 3 33 27 93 .065 2 2 22
Warriors (2-0)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 3 5 0 9 .556 0 8 1 Tuyay 3 1 1 4 .000 0 2 1 Zimet 3 7 1 13 .462 1 1 8 Theocharidis 3 16 3 32 .406 0 5 5 Davis 3 7 0 8 .875 0 5 1 Tukuafu 1 0 2 5 -.400 0 2 0 Podlewski 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Denitz 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Ching 3 9 3 13 .462 0 3 4 Totals 3 45 10 84 .417 1 26 24 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--Lewis (1): Alifonso. Hawaii (7): Zimet 3, Miladinovic, Tuyay, Theocharidis, Ching.
Assists--Lewis (31): Martins 22, Perez 5, Aviles 2, Flores 2. Hawaii (44): Tuyay 39, Podlewski 2, Ching 2, Denitz.
T-1:27. Officials: Wayne Lee, Dan Hironaka.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii