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Hawaii Beat

By Star-Bulletin Staff



Aiu looks to Hawaii
to improve his Buffs


It's a chance to get better. Pi'i Aiu knew that when he agreed to bring his Colorado team to this year's Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic.

The 21st-ranked Buffs are young, particularly on the outside, where they lost three starters from last year's 19-11 team. CU knows it's in for a tough match today at 5 p.m. against host Hawaii, with its two All-Americans -- Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku -- on the outside, and impressive size in the middle.

"Every team in this tournament presents a matchup problem for us physically," said Aiu, a Kamehameha Schools graduate. "If we can control the tempo, we'll be in the game. What we want is to have a chance to be swinging for the game (to win it)."

The Buffs (0-2) didn't get that chance yesterday, losing to No. 9 Ohio State 32-30, 30-21, 26-30, 21-30, 15-11. Stacey Gordon had 29 kills to lead the Buckeyes (1-1) into today's 3 p.m. contest against UCLA at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Aiu said he has seen improvement in his young team. Kim Taskey had 15 kills to lead Colorado yesterday.

"We're getting better every day," he said. "This is why we're here. For the experience."

Pestolesi playing again: Tom Pestolesi, a former Hawaii volleyball player and the men's and women's volleyball coach at Irvine Junior College, just missed winning the Motherlode Volleyball Classic Master's title yesterday in Aspen, Colo.

Eric Anderson and Andrew Cavanaugh defeated Pestolesi and Bill Stetson 15-9 in the finals.

Seasiders storm through Florida

After two whole years without a national championship, the Brigham Young University volleyball team appears to be back in title form.

The Seasiders beat the nation's No. 1 team on its own floor yesterday, sweeping Barry 30-20, 30-26, 30-21 at Miami, Fla. It was Barry's first loss in 24 matches.

Yu Chuan Weng smashed 17 kills to lead the Seasiders, and she got help from Chun Yi Lin and Ashley Moeai. Lin nailed 12 kills while hitting .417, and Moeai put down 10 kills and hit .533. Setter Kaala Lo dished out 41 assists to join Lin and Weng on the all-tournament team.

The 26th-ranked Seasiders finished the tournament 3-0 and are on their way to Washington for another tournament before returning home.

Sea Warriors slam Vulcans: Susy Garbelotti put down 27 kills and Teisa Fotu scored 12 to help Hawaii Pacific to a 22-30, 30-26, 30--22, 30-15 win at the Hawaiian Style Classic at Hilo yesterday.

Vera Oliveira dished out 47 assists.

Sara Pilgreen led the Vulcans with 17 kills, while Heidi Fabritz added 13 and Cheriesse Shiroma scored 12.

Silverswords split: Chaminade won one and lost one at the St. Mary's tournament at San Antonio, Texas, yesterday, The Silverswords survived host St. Mary's 20-30, 30-27, 30-19, 26-30, 15-5, but were swept by nationally ranked Metro State 30-20, 30-19, 30-28 to start their season 3-1.

Valasi Sepulona led the attack for Chaminade, registering 28 kills in the two games.



See line scores and results in
the [Scoreboard] section.



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