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Saturday, March 10, 2001
Warriors After sweeping its previous two matches, the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team decided to try something it hadn't accomplished in quite a while.
pepper Waves
Theocharidis pounds 34 kills
as Pepperdine falls in five games;
rematch tonightBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinWin a five-game match at home.
The No. 5 Warriors had lost the last seven matches that went the distance at the Stan Sheriff Center, dating back to Feb. 24, 1999.
But last night before 4,586 fans, Hawaii defeated No. 3 Pepperdine, 33-31, 27-30, 30-21, 26-30, 15-13.
"We couldn't seem to win those matches and it was a bad feeling," said Costas Theocharidis, who equalled his career-high with 34 kills and added 10 digs.
"But, thank God, we won the most important tie-breaker of the last two years," he said.
The win solidified Hawaii's (12-3, 7-2 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) hold on first place in the Pacific Division.
The Waves fell to 12-4 overall, and 7-4 in the Mountain Division.
"It was a real good sign for us because we stuck in there and played with composure," said Tony Ching, who came in to sub for starter Torry Tukuafu in game 4.
The last time Theocharidis had 34 kills (he's done it three times) was also against Pepperdine (March 10, 2000).
"Yeah, but we lost that one (in four games)," he said. "And it's so sweet to win this one against the No. 3 team in the country."
Waves head coach Marv Dunphy said he thought Theocharidis has "pretty good range," and blamed himself for not calling better blocking assignments on the sophomore All-American.
Punahou graduate Scott Wong, Pepperdine's senior All-American outside hitter, led the Waves with 23 kills and 12 digs. He also had three service aces.
But Wong, one of four Waves who had four service errors, lamented that he didn't serve better.
"They're very tough servers," said Hawaii head coach Mike Wilton. "But I think in game 3, some of their velocity was gone."
Wilton said he wasn't entirely pleased with his team's play and suggested he will be bringing the Warriors into the gym early this afternoon to "tweak a few things" before tonight's rematch at the Stan Sheriff Center at 7.
A sweep of the Pepperdine series is critical because there will be only one more conference match at home (USC on March 16) before a grueling four-match conference road trip March 28-31.
"This was a cliff-hanger and the kind we want to win," said Wilton.
He said Hawaii's ability to come back from a 26-22 deficit in the first game was a key to the match.
It wasn't as dramatic as the third-game rally from a seven-point deficit against Stanford last Saturday, but it proved once again the Warriors have resilience.
They caught up with Pepperdine, 27-27, on an attack error by Lance Walker, who then put the Waves back in front.
Brenton Davis (11 kills and game-high .474 hitting percentage) tied it again before Fred Winters took it back for the Waves.
Theocharidis, who had seven kills in the game, scored three of Hawaii's last five points to nail down the comeback.
"We let game 1 slip away and that hurt," said Dunphy. "We didn't execute as well as we're capable of doing."
Pepperdine outblocked the Warriors, 2-1, in taking a close second game.
But the Warriors won back the advantage in blocks, 3.5 to 0, in the third game.
Wong had eight kills to lead Pepperdine to an easy fourth-game victory.
Hawaii took a quick 2-0 lead it never relinquished in the fifth game on a Pepperdine service error and a combination block by Dejan Miladinovic (match-high seven block assists) and Eyal Zimet.
The Warriors and Waves came into the match first and second in MPSF team blocking and Dunphy said he thought Hawaii's ability to outblock his team, 15.5 to 10, was a major factor.
Hawaii outhit Pepperdine, .366 to .291.
Hawaii def. 33-31, 27-30, 30-21, 26-30, 15-13
Waves (12-4 overall, 7-4 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Barnett 5 4 2 8 .250 2 4 6 Van Reusen 5 8 2 13 .462 0 3 4 Keenan 5 12 3 26 .346 0 5 4 Winters 5 16 8 36 .222 0 1 3 Walker 5 19 11 40 .200 0 0 4 Wong 5 23 7 46 .348 0 3 12 O’Connell 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Showley 4 2 1 3 .333 0 0 0 Olson 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Totals 5 84 34 172 .291 2 16 39
Warriors (12-3 overall, 7-2 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 5 8 2 16 .375 0 7 3 Tuyay 5 1 0 4 .250 1 2 7 Zimet 5 6 1 12 .417 0 5 10 Theocharidis 5 34 10 65 .369 1 4 10 Davis 5 11 2 19 .474 1 5 3 Tukuafu 5 10 4 24 .250 0 2 8 Podlewski 5 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 1 Denitz 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Ching 2 2 1 4 .250 0 0 2 Totals 5 73 20 145 .366 3 25 44 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--Pepperdine (9): Keenan 3, Wong 3, Barnett 2, Walker 1. UH (5) Zimet 2, Theocharidis 1, Davis 1, Tukuafu 1..
Assists--Pepperdine (80) Barnett 74, Winters 2, Wong 2, Van Reusen 1, Olson 1. UH (66): Tuyay 55, Miladinovic 5, Zimet 2, Davis 2, Theocharidis 1, Podlewski 1.
T-2:27 Officials: Dan Hironaka, Wayne Lee. Att: 4,586.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii