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Thursday, January 18, 2001
Warriors cage Last weekend, Torry Tukuafu burned up with fever.
Nittany Lions
Hawaii readies for Laval tonight
after Tukuafu heats up to help
beat Penn State in four gamesBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinHe played less than a full game against Lewis University on Friday before having to come out.
He hit -.400 with no kills.
Last night, the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team co-captain burned up Penn State with 16 kills (.344 on 32 swings), eight digs and two blocks.
Tukuafu and sophomore All-American Costas Theocharidis combined for 30 kills as the Warriors (3-0) came from behind to beat Penn State, 24-30, 30-17, 30-22, 30-21, last night on the opening day of the Outrigger Invitational Men's Volleyball Tournament before a crowd of 3,283 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Hawaii (No. 6 in the latest AVCA poll) meets Laval University tonight at 7 while Penn State meets UCLA at 5 this afternoon.
After making only two kills in game one, Tukuafu made six in game two and five in game three as the Warriors ignited.
"I was kind of sick all through the weekend and started to feel better on Monday," said the 6-foot-5 senior outside hitter.Tukuafu attributed his effectiveness to a better working relationship with freshman setter Kimo Tuyay.
"Kimo did a really good job getting me the ball tonight," Tukuafu said.
"We've really been working hard on tempo and height and just how to connect well."
Hawaii was tied eight times with the Nittany Lions (1-1) in game one before letting the game get away.
"In game one, we missed too many serves and we didn't pass well," Tukuafu said.
"In the beginning of game two we didn't serve well either but somehow we were able to turn it around."
Hawaii had 13 service errors in the first two games, none in the third game and five in the fourth.
"Penn State played great (in game one)," Hawaii head coach Mike Wilton said. "And we pressed."
Nittany Lions head coach Mark Pavlik, whose team is No. 9 in the poll, said his team stuck to its game plan.
"And then they (the Warriors) elevated their play, which I'd expect them to do and we kind of wilted," Pavlik said.
The Hawaii-Penn State match started one hour and 15 minutes late due to a marathon battle between UCLA and Laval University of Quebec.
The wait frustrated Wilton and his players.
"We'd been waiting like three hours to start playing," Theocharidis said.
"It was boring, and we had to get over the boredom and start playing. We needed a spark or else we'd have been in big trouble."
Bruins win: UCLA defeated Laval, 33-31, 30-23, 22-30, 24-30, 18-16
The scrappy Rouge et Or (Red and Gold) came into the SSC on Sunday and lost a very long three-game match to 10th-ranked Lewis University.
Last night they pushed the physically superior 2000 national champion Bruins (3-2) to the brink of a major upset in a match that lasted two hours and 43 minutes.
Eric Lebreton, a 6-4 opposite, made 28 kills (.250 on 56 swings) and had 11 digs to lead the team (19-4) from Quebec City.
The Rouge et Or actually stood at game point against No. 5 UCLA with a 29-27 lead before losing game one.
Lebreton had 10 kills in that one.
Matt Komer, a 6-7 outside hitter, made five of his team-high 18 kills for UCLA in game five.
Laval head coach Pascal Clement said he appreciated the crowd support his team received.
"I think the crowd here likes any team that plays hard against UCLA," Clement said.
UCLA lost the services of 6-7 outside hitter Mark Williams prior to the match. He sprained his ankle in warmups.
Tonight: UCLA vs. Penn State, 5 p.m.; Hawaii vs. Laval, 7:30 p.m.
Hawaii def. Penn St., 24-30, 30-17, 30-22, 30-21
Nittany Lions (1-1, 0-1 OHI)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Hodge 4 5 5 13 .000 0 1 6 Quinones 4 5 1 9 .444 0 2 7 Slenkers 4 9 4 21 .238 0 2 5 Guerra 4 14 10 40 .100 0 1 3 Mills 4 11 3 20 .400 0 4 1 Koljesar 4 12 7 31 .161 0 2 6 Mattei 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Rojas 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Keil 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Briggs 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Aird 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 56 30 134 .194 0 12 31 Rainbows (3-0, 1-0 OHI)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 4 7 0 8 .875 0 5 1 Tuyay 4 1 0 2 .500 0 2 8 Zimet 4 9 2 18 .389 0 0 9 Theocharidis 4 14 1 29 .448 0 2 4 Davis 4 9 2 14 .500 1 1 1 Tukuafu 4 16 5 32 .344 1 1 8 Podlewski 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Denitz 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Ching 1 2 1 3 .333 0 2 0 Totals 4 58 11 106 .443 2 13 35 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--Penn St. (3): Hodge, Mills, Koljesar. Hawaii(3): Miladinovic, Tuyay, Zimet.
Assists--Penn St. (50): Quinones 40, Guerra 6, Mattei 2, Hodge, Slenker). Hawaii (56): Tuyay 50, Miladinovic 2, Zimet, Davis, Tukuafu, Podlewski.
T-2:00. Officials: Burt Fuller, Ernest Ho
UCLA def. Laval, 33-31, 30-23, 22-30, 24-30, 18-16
Rouge et Or (19-4, 0-1 OHI)
g k e att pct. bs ba d M. Lagrandeur 5 16 10 30 .200 1 5 6 Pelletier 5 12 4 19 .421 1 2 2 Y. Lagraneur 5 8 5 23 .130 1 1 5 D’Amours 5 9 9 24 .000 0 1 10 Giguere 5 2 1 5 .200 0 4 9 Lebreton 5 28 14 56 .250 0 1 11 Lalancette 4 1 1 2 .000 0 0 1 Leclerc 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Perron 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Tremblay 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Belanger 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Totals 5 76 44 159 .201 3 14 47 Bruins (2-2, 1-0 OHI)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Brunham 2 11 2 19 .474 0 0 2 Morrow 2 3 0 6 .500 0 3 0 Mount 5 7 9 20 -.100 0 6 7 Naeve 2 8 1 17 .412 0 2 1 Conners 2 3 0 4 .750 0 1 3 Komer 4 18 4 37 .378 0 3 5 Deban 3 4 4 11 .000 0 3 1 Smith 3 3 1 9 .222 1 4 2 Coon 3 3 2 9 .111 0 5 0 Nelson 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 4 1 Pena 4 2 2 10 .000 0 7 1 Shrader 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Lin 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 5 63 25 143 .266 1 38 28 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--Laval (8): M. Lagrandeur 3, Y. Lagrandeur 2, Lebreton 2, Leclerc. UCLA(3): Naeve, Smith, Pena.
Assists--Laval (69): Giguere 61, Y. Lagrandeur 4, Pelletier 2, M. Lagrandeur, D'Amours. UCLA (58): Conners 29, Nelson 22, Komer 3, Deban, Smith, Pena.
T-2:43. Officials: Burt Fuller, Wayne Lee.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu