[UH VOLLEYBALL] STATE COLLEGE, Pa. >> Amidst the showers on the sprawling Penn State campus, the Hawaii volleyball team practiced for the second time in less than 24 hours yesterday morning. Warriors wake up and practice
By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.com
Perhaps chilled by the rain and low temperatures, the usual spirit and warmth of the team were markedly absent as the Warriors ran through two hours of drills. Practice was cold and tense yesterday at the Recreation Hall with several players slightly on edge and exchanging terse words.
"We arrived last night and we're still on California time," senior Dejan Miladinovic said. "We practiced until 10:30 p.m. People probably didn't get much sleep and we woke up to practice this morning. That's like two practices in a 12-hour period without much sleep.
"You can't have the best attitude. It just takes a toll on you. People were a little bit grumpy this morning. It was basically 7:30 in the morning California time. We're used to practicing in the afternoons and now you switch practices to the morning. Your body clock is off.
"This is the NCAA final four. Maybe people are a little bit nervous. People will loosen up when we get some rest and tomorrow we'll be fine."
Warriors coach Mike Wilton is trying his best to soothe and calm his team.
"We got after them in practice today because some of them seemed a couple of time zones away," Wilton said. "Most of our guys are here in Pennsylvania but some of us are somewhere between California and Penn State. But they're getting there."
They had better get here soon or the Warriors' season could end before the weekend. And that's something that none of them wants after a six-year absence from the final four.
Hawaii practices at 1:10 p.m. (EDT) today. Host Penn State has finals this week and has been practicing at 8 a.m.
Notes: Attendance should be high at this week's final four. Only 400 tickets are left in the Rec Hall which has a capacity of 6,050 ... Penn State sports information director Jen Armson estimates that she received about 300 phone calls on Sunday from fans in the 50th state. All of them wanted to know if Hawaii was going to be in the final four. Unfortunately, Armson hadn't been notified at the time and couldn't give an answer ... Penn State coach Mark Pavlik isn't a superstitious man. Pavlik no longer has the burgundy blazer that he wore as an assistant coach when the Nittany Lions won their first and only NCAA championship in 1994. His wife made him promise to burn it before they got married ... Pennsylvania has had a state-sanctioned high school boys volleyball championship since 1933.
UH Athletics