Friday, April 27, 2001
[ UH WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
UH brings ‘A’ PROVO, Utah >> When they needed it most, the Warriors pulled through.
game, beats BYU
Upset puts Warriors in
MPSF final tomorrow
against BruinsTheocharidis player of year
By Grace Wen
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii men's volleyball team needed a win to keep its NCAA final four hopes alive. The Warriors did it in dramatic fashion last night, toppling No. 1 Brigham Young, 30-26, 25-30, 30-27, 30-24, in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs.
The Warriors avenged the two losses suffered against the Cougars two weeks ago to advance to tomorrow's MPSF final against UCLA. The Bruins outlasted Long Beach State, 27-30, 30-25, 30-24, 23-30, 15-7, in yesterday's earlier semifinal.
After the match, the Warriors celebrated on the court. And then they thought about the next step.
A victory tomorrow gives them the automatic berth in next week's final four at Long Beach State. A loss means Hawaii is in contention for the at-large berth, along with BYU and final four host Long Beach State.
"It's a great feeling for us, but I think they're (BYU) going to get the (at-large ) bid," said UH senior Torry Tukuafu, who played for BYU as a freshman. "So if we take care of business (tomorrow), we'll see them again. It would be my dream, us and BYU in the finals. No California teams in the final four. But we still have another game to take care of."
Last night, the Warriors dominated in almost all aspects of the game, out-hitting (.240 to .208), out-blocking (19 to 16), and out-serving (four aces to none) the Cougars.
"The bottom line is that they played better than we did in almost every phase of the game," BYU coach Carl McGown said.
UH head coach Mike Wilton saw it differently. "It was a typical playoff game between two real good teams," said Wilton.
Wilton said the big difference was serving. "We didn't get a bunch of aces, but we just caused them to pass the ball not as well as they did last time," he said.
Another difference was hat BYU had limited use of outside hitter Mike Wall, who sprained his ankle in the Cougars' quarterfinal win against UC Irvine.
Costas Theocharidis led Hawaii's attack with 18 kills but struggled a bit as the Cougar defense camped on him most of the night. Outside hitter Eyal Zimet picked up the slack. The sophomore, known for steady passing and strong serving, hammered 15 kills to go with eight digs and four blocks.
Hawaii fought off an early deficit to take Game 1.
After dropping Game 2, Hawaii took control of the match.
The Warriors pulled away in Games 3 and 4, maintaining their composure every time the Cougars tried to challenge.
Hawaii def. BYU, 3-1
30-26, 25-30, 30-27, 30-24
Warriors (19-6, 13-5 mpsf)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 4 6 2 15 .267 0 7 4 Tuyay 4 2 1 5 .200 0 4 4 Zimet 4 15 3 25 .480 0 4 8 Theocharidis 4 18 12 50 .120 1 2 5 Davis 4 13 3 26 .385 0 10 1 Tukuafu 4 10 8 25 .080 0 9 4 Podlewski 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Ching 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 64 29 146 .240 1 36 35
Cougars (21-4, 14-4 mpsf)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Wall 2 0 4 6 -.667 0 2 2 Acosta 4 20 7 35 .371 0 3 6 Olsen 4 4 1 11 .273 0 7 3 Mayol 4 9 4 25 .200 1 0 1 Lebron 4 2 0 4 .500 0 4 8 Bunker 4 12 7 24 .208 0 1 2 Wilson 2 0 1 4 -.250 0 1 0 Alleman 3 13 5 25 .320 0 3 6 Pessoa 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Slabe 3 3 4 10 -.100 0 3 4 Totals 4 63 33 144 .208 1 30 42 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--UH (4): Theocharidis, Tuyay, Tukuafu, Ching. BYU (none).
Assists--UH (60): Tuyay 52, Zimet 4, Davis 2, Miladinovic, Theocharidis. BYU (61): Lebron 57, Pessoa 2, Acosta 1, Alleman.
T--2:15. Officials--Rick Olmstead, Les Calles, J. Martin, M. Farrish. A--1,584.
University of Hawaii sophomore outside hitter Costas Theocharidis was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year yesterday. Theocharidis player of year
Star-Bulletin staffThe 6-foot-3 Greek led the Warriors during the regular season with kills (417) and is fifth in the NCAA in kill average (5.09).
Also named to the first team was junior libero Vernon Podlewski. Setter Kimo Tuyay was co-Freshman of the Year, along with Long Beach State middle blocker Scott Touzinsky.
Two other island products were also honored: Punahou alumnus Scott Wong and Kamehameha graduate Josh Day.
All-MPSF
Player of Year: Costas Theocharidis, Hawaii.Co-Freshmen of Year: Kimo Tuyay, Hawaii, and Scott Touzinsky, Long Beach State.
Coach of Year: Carl McGown, Brigham Young.
First team
Costas Theocharidis Hawaii So. OH Dave McKenzie Long Beach St. Sr. Opp Hector Lebron BYU Sr. S Scott Bunker BYU Sr. OH Mike Wall BYU Jr. OH Eric Helenihi UC Irvine Jr. MB Vernon Podlewski Hawaii Jr. L
Second team
Dejan Miladinovic, Hawaii, Jr., MB; Curt Toppel, Stanford, So., Opp.; Adam Naeve, UCLA, Sr., MB; Brad Keenan, Pepperdine, So., MB; Scott Wong, Pepperdine, Jr., OH; Mark Williams, UCLA, Sr., OH; Adam Schrader, UCLA, Fr., L
Third team
Marcus Skacel, Stanford, Jr., OH; Matt Olsen, BYU, Sr., MB; Eyal Zimet, Hawaii, So., OH; Keith Barnett, Pepperdine, Sr., S; Jim Polster, Long Beach St., Sr., OH; Brett Youngberg, Stanford, Sr., MB; Fernando Pessoa, BYU; Fr., L.
Honorable mention
Joaquin Acosta, Brigham Young, Jr. OH; Scott Morrow, UCLA, So., MB; Trevor Julian, USC, Sr. OH; Scott Touzinsky, Long Beach State, Fr., OH; Matt Prosser, Long Beach State, Sr., MB; Brook Billings, USC, Jr., Opp; Vladimir Andric, Pacific, Sr., OH; Mark Ekins, Long Beach State, So. S; Todd Steinert, UC Irvine, Sr., S; Josh Lukens, Stanford, Sr., S; Brenton Davis, Hawaii, Sr., MB; Rich Nelson, UCLA, So., S; Kimo Tuyay, Hawaii, Fr., S; Brian Nordberg, UC Santa Barbara, So., MB; Monte Tucker, UC Irvine, So., OH; Josh Day, USC, So., MB; Donny Killian, Pepperdine, Sr., MB; Chris Tamas, Pacific, So, S; Dave Kohl, UC Santa Barbara, Jr., OH; Sean Rodgers, Pacific, Fr., MB.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii