[UH VOLLEYBALL]
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He has been the ultimate Warrior. Through five seasons, 111 matches and countless practice swings, Dejan Miladinovic has been there. Miladinovic steady as UH sweeps
By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.com
The senior blocker for the Hawaii volleyball team hasn't been the dominant force in the middle that he was his first two seasons, the ones prior to shoulder surgery. Some of that has been due to the impressive attack numbers put up by reigning national player of the year Costas Theocharidis, numbers helped in part by one of the biggest decoys in the country -- the 6-foot-7 Miladinovic.
Last night in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament first-round contest against Long Beach State, in his 76th and final home match at the Stan Sheriff Center, Miladinovic was his usual, steady self. The Serbian's numbers were solid -- 8 kills, hitting .333, with an ace, a block solo and 5 block assists.
He teamed with Eyal Zimet for Hawaii's final block of the night, a block of Jeff Wootton that gave the second-seeded Warriors match-point on the seventh-seeded 49ers. When the Beach's Tim May hit wide, Miladinovic stood at mid-court, pumping his fist and celebrating the 30-26, 30-28, 30-28 victory.
In all four of his seasons, Miladinovic and Hawaii have advanced past the first round. Twice they lost in the MPSF tournament's semifinals and, last year, in the final. Next week, they head to Pepperdine, where they'll face a surprising opponent in UC Santa Barbara on Thursday.
Last night, the Gauchos upset UCLA 3-2 at Pauley Pavilion.
"I'm happy that it will be Santa Barbara," said Miladinovic. "It's going to be a battle with them. We swept them (3-0) then they swept us. We'll see who's the better team.
"We probably wanted to see UCLA, but now all we want is to win the next two and get to the final four. I think this is the team that will be able to that."
It was his last game at the Sheriff Center as a player, but it is likely he'll be back next season as a graduate assistant.
"And I hope I'll be back, celebrating hanging a banner," he said.
"There still more volleyball for us to play," said Zimet, "but he will definitely be missed next year. He's so huge, so intimidating there. I would not want to be the opponent hitting against him."
Hawaii (21-7) was in control for most of the night but began to struggle in Game 3. Miladinovic did not get a kill until midway through the game, when he put down his seventh to pull Hawaii to 16-13. Kill No. 8 -- the 1,072nd of his career -- happened seconds later when he slammed back an overpass of Zimet's serve to cut the 49ers' lead to 16-14.
The Warriors played catch-up for the next 10 minutes, trailing by as many as four before finally tying at 24 on Zimet's 12th kill. Hawaii never led until the block by Zimet and Miladinovic put the Warriors up 29-28.
The play had been called during the timeout at 28-28 and the pair executed it perfectly.
"We were told to commit on their No. 2 (Wootton)," said Zimet. "That's where the ball went and that's where we were."
That's exactly how it's been for Miladinovic since arriving as a freshman in the fall of 1998. He's been there.
30-26, 30-28, 30-28 Hawaii def. Long Beach State
49ERS (13-18)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Wootton 3 14 3 27 .407 0 1 4 Ekins 2 1 0 1 1.000 0 1 0 May 3 5 4 11 .091 2 2 0 Touzinsky 3 3 4 9 -.111 0 0 3 Marbach 1 0 1 3 -.333 0 0 0 Lee 3 10 1 13 .692 0 2 1 White 3 0 0 0 -- 0 0 5 Hagstrom 3 2 0 6 .333 0 1 1 Kijewski 1 0 0 0 -- 0 0 0 Samuelson 2 0 0 1 .000 0 1 0 Blain 2 1 0 1 1.000 1 2 2 Meine 3 10 4 18 .333 0 2 2 Totals 3 46 17 90 .322 3 12 18 WARRIORS (21-7)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Miladinovic 3 8 3 15 .333 1 5 0 Tuyay 3 0 0 0 -- 1 2 1 Zimet 3 12 1 15 .733 0 3 5 Theocharidis 3 16 3 33 .394 0 0 4 Ching 3 5 7 14 -.143 0 2 5 Thomas 3 7 2 9 .556 1 2 0 Podlewski 3 0 0 0 -- 0 0 3 Delgado 1 1 0 2 .500 0 0 0 Rasay 1 0 0 0 -- 0 1 1 Totals 3 49 16 88 .375 3 15 19 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--LBSU 5 (Wootton 2, Touzinsky, Hagstrom, Meine). Hawaii 3 (Miladinovic, Theocharidis, Ching).
Assists--LBSU 45 (Blain 29, Ekins 11, Hagstrom 2, Wootton, Marbach, White). Hawaii 43 (Tuyay 33, Rasay 7, Miladinovic, Podlewski, Zimet).
T--1:47. Officials--Les Calles, Wayne Lee. A--5,746.
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