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Thursday, March 1, 2001
BYU packing The news struck Mike Wilton like a thunderbolt.
the fans in
UH VOLLEYBALL NOTEBOOK
Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinBrigham Young University, the new No. 1 team in NCAA men's volleyball, set a Smith Fieldhouse attendance record on Friday when 6,119 fans squeezed in to watch the host Cougars defeat UCLA in four games.
In effect, BYU took away the Bruins' No. 1 ranking.
But it was the fan figure that caught the eye of the University of Hawaii men's volleyball head coach.
"They had to turn away about 2,500," said Wilton.
"They've been doing real good for years now. They used to be No. 2 in attendance to us. But now I wouldn't be surprised if they've gone ahead of us."
Wilton recalls a time when there were so many fans waiting for his players after a match that some had to be wheeled out, hidden in laundry hampers.
"That was a different time," said Wilton, referring to the 1995 and 1996 seasons when Israeli Yuval Katz was Hawaii's cornerstone.
The program's popularity reached its zenith in 1996 when Hawaii went unbeaten through the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation season and gained a NCAA final berth.
"But it was a lot more possible for youth to come to games then,"said Wilton.
The cost of a student ticket now is $6.
But tomorrow night, when the sixth-ranked Warriors (5-2 MPSF, 8-3 overall) host No. 5 Stanford (5-2, 8-2), students with an ID will get in for $1.
With that admission price for what will be a critical conference match for Hawaii, Wilton said he hopes to see a much bigger crowd.
"We've been drawing at about 32 percent of our capacity," he said.
"Before we moved into the arena, they did a marketing study and found that our target age-group market should be 13-29. So, (assistant coach) Tino (Reyes) and I and the department went after that group and they came. And (Jim) Leahey and the TV guys did a great job of telling people how much fun it was. Everybody would stand up and dance at matches, not just one or two people. We used to have a lot of sellouts."
Wilton said he really appreciates the loyal fans who've stuck with the team. But he said he's been huddling with the marketing department to find a way to get more kids back into the seats.
"I know the problem is not the team," said Wilton, "because we have a real, good exciting team right now."
The Warriors currently sit in third place behind Stanford and Long Beach State (7-2, 11-2) in the MPSF Pacific Division.
Theocharidis back
Costas Theocharidis is back to full strength after his bout with food poisoning on the road two weeks ago."I lost maybe eight pounds but I got it all back," said Theocharidis at practice yesterday.
Setter Kimo Tuyay said he, too, is healthy again after suffering from a virus and strep throat on the same trip.
He sat with Theocharidis on the bench during the loss at Long Beach State. But neither was well enough to even talk.
Theocharidis continues to lead the Warriors with 4.21 kills a game, despite missing matches against UC San Diego and Long Beach State.
He's followed by Torry Tukuafu's 3.26. Brenton Davis remains the team's top percentage hitter at .512.
Dejan Miladinovic (.415) and Theocharidis (.409) are also hitting over .400 for Hawaii. Miladinovic's 1.88 per game leads the team in blocking.
The Cardinal are led by Curt Toppel, a 6-9 middle blocker , who is averaging 5.21 kills and hitting .353. Marcus Skacel, a 6-5 outside hitter, is next with 4.18 kills.
The top percentage hitter is Brett Youngberg a 6-8 middle blocker, at .503.
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