The new year may be a day away, but for the Hawaii men's volleyball team 2003 is already here. Hawaii starts working
toward title repeatThe UH men’s volleyball team
gets back to work with its
season opener coming next weekBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThe Warriors got an early start yesterday as 16 players on the 18-man roster reported back to the Manoa campus for the first official practice. While the other students on campus won't be back until Jan. 13, Hawaii is gearing up for its season opener against Lewis next Wednesday. UH has six practices this week and a few next week to put together a lineup.
It shouldn't be difficult with 10 returnees and eight newcomers who picked up a lot of experience during fall training.
Nobody seemed to mind being back early as players sprinted around the gym with enthusiasm.
It was wonderfully warm in Gym I and sophomore Delano Thomas couldn't be happier. The middle blocker left his hometown of Sacramento, Calif., where he said it was 30 degrees.
"It's hard. At first you always want more of a break but it's good that we're back here practicing," Thomas said. "I feel comfortable with these guys. A lot of them are returning. We lost two players but we have a couple of guys who can fill their shoes. I'm excited."
Thomas is expected to be one of them. The 6-foot-7 middle will try to fill the gap left by the loss of all-time blocking leader Dejan Miladinovic, who completed his eligibility. Though Thomas missed Hawaii's trip to China, the sophomore had an excellent fall and moved with more confidence on the court.
"As a player, you don't really notice if you're getting better," he said. "You just play it day by day. My coaches tell me I'm getting better. I had a good time with the junior national team. I came back with more experience."
Thomas isn't the only experienced one. Hawaii is two or three deep at every position. Seniors Costas Theocharidis, Eyal Zimet and Tony Ching provide a solid core at the outside hitting position. With several outstanding hitters, sophomore Jose Delgado will redshirt after seeing some time as a starter last season.
Setters Kimo Tuyay and Daniel Rasay have the same roles as last year with Tuyay as the starter and Rasay as the backup.
In the middle, junior Josh Stanhiser will be opposite Thomas. The 6-10 Stanhiser gave up his spot on the Rainbows' basketball team to focus on volleyball and gained a decent amount of experience last semester.
The Warriors didn't have much of a break after concluding their fall practice during an eye-opening trip to Shanghai. Hawaii lost both exhibition matches but got an idea of where it needed to be to start defending its national championship. The Warriors worked in small groups after the trip before taking two weeks off for finals and the Christmas holidays.
The defending national champions didn't look like they had accumulated any rust during their break. Serving and passing repetitions and blocking drills were handled with ease. Hawaii's newcomers are fitting right in with the veterans.
Practice began with high fives and Warriors coach Mike Wilton's inspirational quote from Ralph Marston: There are many difficult obstacles in your path. Don't allow yourself to be one of them.
"(The message) is for all of us," Wilton said. "It's easy to do that. We all do that.
"We had a real good fall. There's a lot of returning starters. We have two spots we have to fill and we're working on that right now."
Wilton said that Stanhiser would start at middle if Hawaii were playing today.
At the libero spot, juniors Jake Muise and Arri Jeschke and freshman Matt Motter are battling for the position. Motter is the most versatile of the bunch. He is listed as an outside hitter, setter and libero on the roster.
Notes: Freshman Pedro Azenha will sit out Hawaii's first four matches of the season because he competed in an international tournament. ...Middle blocker Brian Nordberg was en route from Wisconsin yesterday and is expected to practice today. The senior missed fall training after shoulder surgery, but has been cleared to play. Freshman middle blocker Dio Dante is also expected later this week.
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