Hawaii outside hitter Costas Theocharidis was named the National Player of the Week for the second time this season by the volleyball coaches. Theocharidis is national
player of weekStar-Bulletin staff
Theocharidis averaged 6.14 kills, 0.71 blocks and a dig per game in a rare two-match sweep of UCLA last weekend.
The AVCA honor is the fourth of Theocharidis' career. He was the organization's Player of the Year last season and Newcomer of the Year before that.
Warriors move up: Hawaii (19-6) moved up in the latest Volleyball magazine poll, skipping over the Bruins (23-6) to third place.
BYU (19-5) is still ahead of UH, moving from third to second. The Warriors play the Cougars this weekend for their final regular-season home matches.
Pepperdine remains in the top spot with a 23-4 record.
The AVCA coaches' poll will be released today.
The Warriors may not have gained the respect of their opponents, either. Despite sweeping the regular-season series against UCLA for the first time since 1988, Bruins' coach Al Scates told the Daily Bruin that UCLA could have won had its entire team been intact.
"We could have beaten them with a full squad, but we didn't have that," Scates said. "They had 8,000 people in the stands and five Samoan warriors with spears running around."
Hawaii coach Mike Wilton shrugged his shoulders in response to Scates' statement. His players felt the same way.
"We beat them and that's in the past," middle blocker Dejan Miladinovic said. "We're not worried about them anymore. A win is a win."
UH outside hitter Tony Ching did not practice yesterday. Ching's right elbow was inflamed after he landed on it during Saturday's match. He is day to day, according to trainer Michelle Landis.
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