Saturday, February 9, 2002
|
On a cold, damp night outside, the Hawaii volleyball team made it look even cooler on the volleyball court. UH leaves UCSD
out in the coldBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThe Warriors didn't generate much heat. But then again, they didn't need to.
Before 3,371 (4,759 tickets issued) at the Stan Sheriff Center, third-ranked Hawaii swept UC San Diego 30-23, 30-20, 30-18.
Hawaii improves to 8-2 and 5-0 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. UCSD falls to 1-8, 0-7.
"We played like we were very physically cold the first two games," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "I asked them during the break and they said 'yeah, it's freezing in here. The group that was out there in Game 3 did a nice job. They had some energy."
By the third game Wilton was resting half his starters. Daniel Rasay, Tony Ching and Delano Thomas were in for the starters. Ching, playing for the first time since injuring his shoulder in the series against Loyola-Chicago, pounded four kills in limited duty.
Jake Muise provided a spark midway through the game with an ace and two kills.
For the first time this season Costas Theocharidis was not the game leader in kills. The junior hit .353 and had seven kills.
Freshman Jose Delgado reflected Hawaii's performance. The outside hitter struggled early but overcame it to lead the Warriors with 11 kills.
"The game was kind of slow but we did a good job," Delgado said. "All the guys coming off the bench played really hard. It's good to happen so we can rest Costas (Theocharidis), Eyal (Zimet) and Dejan (Miladinovic)."
Game 1 was a sluggish affair, devoid of any real action. UCSD started with a 2-0 lead with a block and an ace by Chris Mortimer. But just as quickly Hawaii scored the next three points from Triton errors. The Warriors were slow and methodical in building a 14-9 lead. They took advantage of four UCSD hitting errors to widen the gap to 24-16. From there, the Warriors inched their way to the finish.
Noticeably absent was Vili the Warrior, who was stuck in a traffic jam and didn't reach the arena until the start of the second game.
"I think he really helps," Wilton said. "It's our home and Vili's part of it. He's part of our family and it's nice to have him here."
Perhaps buoyed by the pounding of the drums, Hawaii opened Game 2 with a 12-4 lead. UCSD offered little resistance. Three of the Tritons' points had been scored on Warrior serving errors. Three straight kills by Joe Griffin cut the Warrior lead to five at 15-10.
But it didn't get any better or closer for UCSD as Hawaii ran the score to 24-16 off a kill by Delgado. Two hitting errors and a semi-controversial call by referee Wayne Lee brought the score to 27-16. Lee called a back-row attack on setter Jordan Hove who was in the front row. Hove attacked a ball on the second contact that had been passed by libero Dickens Tai in front of the 10-foot line.
Triton coach Ron Larsen received a yellow card after arguing to no avail. Two service errors and a block by Delgado and Miladinovic ended the game.
The rematch is today at 7 p.m.
Hawaii def. UC San Diego
30-23, 30-20, 30-18TRITONS (1-8, 0-7 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Hove 3 1 1 7 .000 0 3 2 Cogorno 2 4 6 14 -.143 0 2 1 Mortimer 3 2 2 12 .000 0 1 2 Foott 2 5 2 11 .273 0 2 0 Oksenendler 3 6 5 17 .059 1 4 0 Perrine 3 7 5 22 .091 0 1 2 Waller 2 9 5 24 .167 0 1 2 Tai 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 14 Miller 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Toren 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Griffin 2 4 3 11 .091 0 1 0 Totals 3 38 29 118 .076 1 15 23 WARRIORS (8-2, 5-0 MPSF)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 2 4 0 6 .667 0 5 1 Tuyay 2 3 0 3 1.000 0 1 3 Zimet 3 7 0 12 .583 0 1 3 Theocharidis 2 7 1 17 .353 0 3 6 Delgado 3 11 6 23 .217 0 4 5 Nordberg 3 5 2 12 .250 0 4 1 Muise 1 2 1 3 .333 0 0 0 Podlewski 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 10 Ching 2 4 1 7 .429 0 2 5 Thomas 1 4 0 4 1.000 0 1 0 Rasay 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Totals 3 47 11 87 .414 0 21 36 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--Tritons (3): Hove 2, Mortimer. Hawaii (2): Muise, Rasay. Assists--Tritons (37): Hove 33, Tai 2, Perrine, Mortimer. Hawaii (41): Tuyay 22, Rasay 16, Ching, Podlewski, Zimet.
T--1:32. Officials--Wayne Lee, Dan Hironaka. A--3,371.
UH Athletics