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Don't believe the forecast that says Malibu has flat waves. The Hawaii volleyball team doesn't. And while the surf may be down, the Waves of Pepperdine are definitely towering. Warriors embark
on final road tripBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThird-ranked Hawaii plays second-ranked Pepperdine tomorrow and Saturday in two pivotal Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches. It is the last and most important road trip for the Warriors, who conclude the regular season with six home games against UC Irvine, UCLA and Brigham Young.
"This road trip is huge for us," outside hitter Jose Delgado said. "The other team is going to see where we stand right now. We have a great team but we have to bring it to the court right now."
Tomorrow's match marks the beginning of a three-team fight for hosting privileges during the MPSF playoffs. The Warriors clinched a spot last week when they won three of four matches. Hawaii, Pepperdine and UCLA each have two losses, but the Waves and Bruins have more wins than the Warriors.
"It's the most important series so far," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "There's of course other series after that that will be equally if not more important but for now this is it. They are good. (Brad) Keenan is a very active middle. He's a good read blocker. They set him a lot with what we call a G-set (G for girl). It's the step-out to the pin. They set him the girl set a lot and he's good with it.
"The key to the match is that we've got to try to keep them out of system as much as possible. They run real fast sets to the left pin. When they're in system, they're a real handful. They're a big team."
The 6-foot-8 Keenan and 6-9 outside hitter Sean Rooney provide the bulk of the offense. Rooney stepped into the starting role vacated by All-American Scott Wong. The freshman leads the team in kills with 4.14 per game.
Keenan was a second-team All-American last year and is making a case for first team honors this year. He is second in blocking behind the Warriors' Dejan Miladinovic with 1.73 per game. Keenan leads the conference in serving with 48 aces this season and is one of the reasons why Pepperdine is a lethal serving team.
"They may be the best jump serving team in the country," Wilton said. "That's what a couple of coaches have told me. And from what I can see on the tape, they can bring it. The entire team jump serves."
The Waves have won six straight and are 9-1 at home this season. The Waves' only home loss was in January to UC Santa Barbara, a team that Hawaii split with last week.
"They have some talented guys, but everybody is vulnerable," Miladinovic said. "We'll try to exploit those weaknesses, but there are not that many of them. There are definitely things that we can take advantage of on offense and defense."
The Waves may seem formidable, but they are susceptible to bad breaks as their loss to Pacific indicates. Wilton says the Warriors need to pass well and force bad passes from the Waves. Pepperdine has struggled at times with its passing and given up almost an ace per game.
The task will be more trying because Hawaii will be without one of its best servers again. Freshman Delano Thomas did not fulfill the academic obligations required to travel.
"It's a moot point," Wilton said. "He's a good player and he would help, but he didn't take care of business. So we've got to move on. Hopefully he'll rate out good next Monday."
Notes: Pepperdine has three players from the islands on their roster. Pono Kahale and James Ka are graduates of the Kamehameha Schools and Arist de Wolff is a St. Louis alum. ... Pepperdine leads the series 24-17 and is one of six schools to lead the all-time series against Hawaii. ... Both matches will be broadcast on KCCN-1420 (AM) starting at 4:45 p.m.
UH Athletics