The Hawaii volleyball team will be without one of the vital parts of its engine today when it takes on No. 11 Stanford for the second match of the conference series. Back spasms
knock Zimet out
of UH’s lineupBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comSenior Eyal Zimet won't start and is questionable to play because of lower back muscle spasms. Zimet was pulled from Wednesday's match after struggling with his hitting and passing, which were hampered by the lower back pain. It's a problem that has plagued him much of his Warrior career.
"I kind of doubt (he'll play today)," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "It's always good to practice the day before you play. If you can't practice, that's not good."
Freshman Pedro Azenha will get his first Hawaii start in today's 7 p.m. match at the Stan Sheriff Center. Azenha came off the bench to replace Zimet in the Warriors' last two matches. The 6-foot-5 opposite didn't play in Hawaii's first four matches after sitting out an NCAA suspension for playing in an international tournament.
The Warriors (5-0, 1-0 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) barely beat the Cardinal (2-5, 0-3) on Wednesday, and that was due in part to Zimet's absence. Without his calming presence on the court, Hawaii sometimes unravels. In the Warriors' offense, Zimet's contributions come mostly from consistent passing. Hawaii could have used Zimet during its seven-point passing collapse that allowed Stanford to come from behind to win Game 3 on Wednesday.
The 6-2 outside hitter also provides the team with other intangibles, which makes Wilton hesitant to yank him from a match even when he struggles with his hitting.
"Eyal is a very important fixture to our cohesiveness because he's calm, he's unflappable, he's a warrior," Wilton said. "Even when he's having an off night, I'm reluctant to pull him because of that."
Zimet said yesterday that his teammates would be fine without him and that they'll be able to follow senior Tony Ching's example on the court.
"Tony doesn't have to do much beyond what he's doing," Zimet said. "He's the natural leader. He plays with a lot of emotion and that motivates the players around him."
Ching can't be the only motivational spark. It was obvious that everybody came out flat in the mid-week contest.
"We showed up in the beginning motivation-less," senior Costas Theocharidis said. "We had no motivation whatsoever. We didn't try to win, we tried not to lose. Stanford played well and took advantage of our slump.
"We have to play much better (today). We're going to have an even harder time. They had four guys and we just had trouble blocking."
The Cardinal are still looking for their first MPSF win. They've dropped several close matches already. Stanford coach Don Shaw wasn't sure what he would change for today's showdown.
"Win. That would be different," Shaw said. "We need to play at a steadier level, a higher level for a longer period of time. And that's what we're trying to do. The whole idea is to push them to the limit. I'm just disappointed we didn't win."
Notes: The UH coaches were undecided about who would play libero tonight at the end of yesterday's practice. Junior Jake Muise started against the Cardinal but was replaced by freshman Matt Motter. Both have strengths and weaknesses that make it difficult for the coaching staff to stick with one.
"It's probably a game-time decision. We may change our mind again," associate coach Tino Reyes said. "We don't want somebody to win a position by default. We're still not 100 percent sure. Statistically, they're close. When Motter's in, we win. It's close. But he hasn't backed up the performance in practice.
"Jake has all the attributes to be a good libero. For him, everything has to be performance-based. He's a team player."
When: Today, 7 p.m. Hawaii vs. Stanford
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
TV: KFVE
Radio: 1420-AM
Standings
MPSF Overall W L PCT W L PCT CS-Northridge 2 0 1.000 6 1 .857 Long Beach State 2 0 1.000 6 1 .857 Pepperdine 2 0 1.000 4 1 .800 UC-Irvine 1 0 1.000 7 0 1.000 Hawaii 1 0 1.000 5 0 1.000 Brigham Young 3 1 .750 4 2 .667 Pacific 1 1 .500 2 4 .333 UC-San Diego 0 1 .000 2 2 .500 UCLA 0 2 .000 3 3 .500 UC-Santa Barbara 0 2 .000 2 5 .286 USC 0 2 .000 1 4 .200 Stanford 0 3 .000 2 5 .286 Yesterday
Long Beach St. def. UCLA, 22-30, 31-29, 26-30, 30-17, 15-13
Pepperdine def. UC Santa Barbara, 30-8, 30-28, 30-27
UH Athletics
