Sunday, February 10, 2002
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It was better and slightly warmer. UH toys with UCSB,
win in 3 gamesBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThe Hawaii volleyball team brought a little more heat and packed more of a punch as it swept UCSD 30-15, 30-26, 30-24 yesterday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
And not surprisingly the third-ranked Warriors did it without starters Dejan Miladinovic and Eyal Zimet, who suited up but were only on "emergency alert".
They were never needed, as a crowd of 3,156 watched young guns Jose Delgado and Delano Thomas fire away at the Tritons. UCSD didn't challenge Hawaii with its serving as the Warriors nailed nearly every pass and outhit the Tritons .438 to .141.
"Everybody played pretty well. We were just business-like," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "It wasn't like we were playing at a high emotional level, we just took care of business."
Kimo Tuyay set Hawaii to a .500 hitting percentage in Game 1. There wasn't a drop-off with Daniel Rasay stepping in the rest of the match. The freshman dished 30 assists and ran a balanced attack. Delgado led the hitters with 13 kills. Thomas hit .786 with 11 kills and no errors. Tony Ching collected 10 kills and Brian Nordberg contributed eight.
"The team chemistry was great tonight," Thomas said. "We played great. A lot of things went our way tonight. We played comfortably. Good things happen when you're relaxed.
"There was a lot of energy on the court. It was just fun."
The Tritons didn't muster much, but they battled their best in Game 2. As Wilton predicted, UCSD scrapped for every point it got, sometimes recovering balls two or three times in the same play. But the Tritons were never able to terminate the rally.
Eric Perrine pounded a match-high 16 kills but didn't get much support from anyone else.
"We're just not as good as they are," UCSD coach Ron Larsen said. "Everything comes down to the point that we can't slow them down enough. We can't serve well enough to keep them out of their system.
"Hawaii's very good. They've got a lot of interchangeable parts. They've got fabulous depth, much more than they've had in a long time. Rasay can just come in and set almost as well as Tuyay can. If something's not going well then it's pretty easy to put someone in and plug a hole."
By Game 3, Wilton had cleared his entire bench with Jake Muise seeing front row duty and picking up three kills. Even seldom suited-up Ryan Woodward put away a ball at 29-24 for the Warriors. Like Game 2, the Tritons served out on game point to end the match.
"It's a good thing when we can get all our players in," Tuyay said. "And we can see how deep we are on our team, when other players come in and do just as good as we always do."
Hawaii improves to 9-2 and 6-0 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. The Warriors move into a tie with UCLA for first in the MPSF. UCSD falls to 1-9, 0-8.
Hawaii will not play in another 10 days, when they take on Long Beach State Feb. 20.
30-15, 30-26, 30-24 HAWAII DEF. UC SAN DIEGO
Tritons (1-9, 0-8)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Hove 3 3 0 6 .500 0 3 3 Cogorno 2 4 4 12 .000 0 0 3 Mortimer 2 0 2 2 -1.000 0 0 0 Foott 3 3 1 5 .400 0 2 0 Oksenendler 1 0 2 6 -.333 0 1 1 Perrine 3 16 7 32 .281 0 1 2 Tai 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Miller 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Kimball 2 3 1 5 .400 0 3 0 Toren 2 2 2 8 .000 0 1 1 Griffin 3 6 5 16 .062 0 2 0 Totals 3 37 24 92 .141 0 13 15 Warriors (9-2, 6-0)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Tuyay 1 0 0 0 .000 0 2 2 Theocharidis 2 1 2 2 -.125 0 2 0 Delgado 3 13 5 22 .364 1 5 2 Ching 3 10 1 15 .600 0 2 8 Nordberg 3 8 2 10 .600 0 6 1 Thomas 3 11 0 14 .786 1 3 1 Miladinovic 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Muise 1 3 3 8 000 0 0 0 Podlewski 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Bender 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Woodward 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 0 Rasay 2 1 0 2 .500 0 0 0 Totals 3 48 13 80 .438 1 20 19 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--UCSD (2): Hove, Perrine. Hawaii (2): Nordberg, Thomas. Assists--UCSD (34): Hove 30, Tai 3, Cogorno. Hawaii (45): Rasay 30, Tuyay 13, Thomas, Muise.
T--1:30. Officials--Ernest Ho, Wayne Lee. A--3,156.
UH Athletics