Sunday, February 3, 2002
[ UH WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
STOCKTON, Calif. >> Before the Hawaii volleyball team's last match of a weeklong road trip, Hawaii coach Mike Wilton was deeply concerned for his team against Pacific. Rasay boosts Warriors
over unranked PacificFrom staff and wire reports
His two assistant coaches, Tino Reyes and son Aaron Wilton, were battling flu-like symptoms and barely made it to the match.
And Wilton was also worried about which team would show up. The Warriors of the previous night had played ugly and come out flat against the Tigers, who weren't much better.
After Hawaii dropped Game 1 last night, despite playing much better than the previous night, Wilton searched and found an answer in Daniel Rasay.
Rasay buoyed the Warriors' spirits and set them to a 28-30, 30-27, 30-22, 30-19 win in front of a small crowd of 552 at the Spanos Center.
Fourth-ranked Hawaii improved to 7-2 and remained perfect in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play at 4-0. Unranked Pacific is 2-7 and 1-6.
"It was a well-played match by both teams," Wilton said. "Both teams played really hard. Tonight was good volleyball. We had a real concern of coming ready to play. We had to lay it on the table. They had an answer for everything we did.
"We were struggling in Game 2 and I put Daniel in to set. He did a nice job of getting our hitters good swings. He spread the ball around. He located well. He did a nice job."
Though Wilton says there is no setter controversy, Rasay's role as a "relief pitcher" has been valuable during the last two games. He gave the Warriors a lift on Friday and dished 40 assists and blocked five balls yesterday as Hawaii outhit .382 to .235 and outblocked Pacific 16.5 to 4.5.
All-American Costas Theocharidis returned to form, blasting 29 kills in 60 swings with just two errors. Aaron Wachtfogel led Pacific again with 22 kills.
The win will make the long flight back easier to endure.
"It's going to do wonders for the trip back," Wilton said. "I'm ready to come home. We're all ready to come home."
Hawaii returns today. The Warriors next match is Friday against UC San Diego.
28-30, 30-27, 30-22, 30-19 HAWAII DEF. PACIFIC
Warriors (7-2, 4-0)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 4 5 1 13 .308 0 8 2 Tuyay 3 0 0 1 .000 0 0 1 Zimet 4 9 1 20 .400 0 5 9 Theocharidis 4 29 2 60 .450 0 3 6 Delgado 4 12 7 23 .217 0 4 3 Nordberg 3 6 1 9 .556 0 3 0 Muise 2 0 0 0 000 0 0 0 Podlewski 4 0 0 1 .000 0 0 12 Thomas 3 3 0 7 .429 1 3 1 Rasay 3 0 0 2 .000 0 5 2 Totals 4 64 12 136 .382 1 31 36 Tigers (2-7, 1-6)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Wachtfogel 4 22 9 54 .241 0 0 8 Bernsten 4 20 6 40 .350 0 2 8 Zodrow 4 5 11 20 -.300 0 1 6 Hoefer 4 13 3 18 .556 0 3 3 Gerlach 4 8 3 15 .333 0 1 6 Tamas 4 2 2 4 .444 0 2 10 Gawlik 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 15 Jenson 2 1 1 2 .000 0 0 0 Yeoman 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 71 35 153 .235 0 9 56 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--Pacific (2): Bernsten, Hoefler. Hawaii (4): Zimet,Theocharidis, Delgado, Rasay. Assists--Pacific (69): Tamas 63, Gerlach 2, Wachtfogel 2, Bernsten 2. Hawaii (61): Rasay 40, Tuyay 21.
T--1:38. Officials--Eric Asami, John Kinyon. A--552.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
