Waves roll The Waves keep on crashing on Hawaii.
past Warriors
No. 1 Pepperdine beats
Keenan wins battle
No. 2 Hawaii in 4 tough games
against TheocharidisBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comWith half the starting lineup from last year's NCAA finalist team gone, Pepperdine was still too tough for Hawaii. In a rematch of last year's national championship, the top-ranked Waves defeated the second-ranked Warriors 24-30, 30-28, 30-26, 30-28.
Pepperdine improved to 13-1 overall and 11-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The teams meet again tomorrow.
"We started off a little slow. They had something to do with that," Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy said. "We made a lot of mistakes in Game 1. We cut down on those errors and then we steadied out. They're tough. We expect more of the same on Friday."
A noisy crowd of 4,134 gradually fell silent as the Warriors' (10-5, 6-5) momentum leaked out of the match.
"We were a little bit up and down," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "Our execution wasn't steady enough and that's fixable. I loved the effort. I loved the composure. There was no panic. It's just that our execution wasn't good enough.
"Pepperdine was a little steadier than us. In Games 2 and 3, we spotted them points early and just couldn't quite catch up. Their valleys were a little less pronounced than ours. There were some times when there was some brilliant volleyball. There were marvelous rallies out there."
Outside hitter Fred Winters led the Pepperdine attack with 24 kills. The Waves had three other players with double-digit kills. Middle blocker Brad Keenan pounded 15 kills, while Sean Rooney and Andy Hein chipped in 13 each.
The Warriors were balanced, too, with Costas Theocharidis (25 kills), Tony Ching (13 kills), Eyal Zimet (13 kills) and Delano Thomas (15 kills) in double-figures. But Hawaii was bothered by the towering Pepperdine block. The Waves outblocked the Warriors 13 1/2-7.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Brian Nordberg and Kimo Tuyay could only watch as the ball fell in last night for a Pepperdine point.
The good thing that came out of the match for Hawaii was it learned it could still win with its best attacker hitting negative. Theocharidis was stuffed three times and hit a ball long in his first four attempts of the match. But Warrior middles Thomas and Brian Nordberg were clicking. They combined for 10 of Hawaii's 19 kills in Game 1, without an error between them. With Hawaii holding a slim 17-15 lead, Nordberg's second kill of the game started an 8-2 run that allowed Hawaii to pull away. His third kill put the finishing touch on the game.
There was plenty of action off the court in Game 2 with stunning rallies and players on both sides diving into tables and chairs. Pepperdine led 25-21 but Hawaii scored four of the next five points to get within one.
But reigning AVCA Player of the Year Brad Keenan put an end to Hawaii's comeback. Keenan heated up after hitting negative in Game 1 and got the Waves three kills they sorely needed. His eighth kill of the match gave Pepperdine game point. The Warriors fought off one game point with a solo block by Ching but sophomore Sean Rooney ended the game with a kill.
The Warriors were caught in several out-of-rotation snafus to start Game 3 and never managed to dig themselves out of a 17-12 hole. Game 4 was a back-and-forth battle that kept the crowd at the edge of its seat but the Warriors couldn't extend the match after taking a 28-27 lead. Theocharidis hit long to end the match.
Notes: Hawaii has been involved in all four contests featuring the top two teams in the country. The Warriors have been the No. 2 team in both series. ...Former Warriors Dejan Miladinovic, Vernon Podlewski and Mike Kantor were in attendance yesterday. Also watching the match was UH President Evan Dobelle and former beach volleyball pro Randy Stoklos.
Pepperdine def. Hawaii
24-30, 30-28, 30-26, 30-28
WAVES (13-1, 11-0 mpsf)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Hein 4 13 2 19 .579 0 6 2 Gledhill 4 8 6 21 .095 0 1 8 Keenan 4 15 2 24 .542 0 6 2 Winters 4 24 2 49 .449 1 2 9 Mayer 4 2 2 8 .000 0 6 7 Rooney 4 13 5 35 .229 0 4 2 Endsley 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 DeWolff 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Ka 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Grobe 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Coats 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 11 Totals 4 75 19 156 .359 1 25 41 WARRIORS (10-4, 6-4 mpsf)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Tuyay 4 1 1 2 .000 0 1 7 Zimet 4 13 2 23 .478 0 1 10 Theocharidis 4 25 11 65 .215 1 3 10 Ching 4 13 6 25 .280 1 0 11 Nordberg 4 8 1 15 .467 0 2 1 Thomas 4 15 1 25 .560 0 3 2 Muise 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Bender 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 75 22 155 .342 2 10 49 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- PEP: (4): Winters 2, Keenan, Mayer. Hawaii (2): Theocharidis 2.
Assists -- PEP: (74): Mayer 68, Rooney 2, Hein, Keenan, Winters, Coats. Hawaii (71): Tuyay 67, Muise 2, Thomas, Nordberg.
T -- 2:21. Officials -- Dan Hironaka, Ernest Ho.
Attendance -- 4,134.
UH Athletics
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It was more than a rematch of last season's national championship game. Keenan wins battle
against TheocharidisBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comIt was a rematch of two of the top players in the country. And likely the one who will finish his college career with a second player of the year award three months from now.
Hawaii's Costas Theocharidis won the national honor in 2001, Pepperdine's Brad Keenan in 2002.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Tony Ching stuffed this Pepperdine kill attempt in Game 2, but the Waves went on to win the game to even the match at a game apiece.
Last night, Theocharidis had the advantage in kill numbers, 25-15, at the Stan Sheriff Center. But Keenan's Waves won the more important battle of the scoreboard.
No. 1 Pepperdine extended its winning streak to 12 with a 24-30, 30-28, 30-26, 30-28 victory over No. 2 Hawaii. Both teams expect more smoke in tomorrow's match at 7 p.m.
It was tied 28-28 in Game 4 when Keenan went back to serve. If he needed any incentive to close it out he had only to look across the court and up at the Warriors' 2002 title banner, a championship won via an upset of the then-No. 1 Waves.
"I didn't even notice it until now," Keenan said after the match. "We have pretty much let last year go. It's a new season, a new team.
"The only thing I was thinking was to get (the serve) in, put the ball down. It's always good to play against these guys and very good to get the win, especially here."
It was the third time this season that Hawaii (10-5, 6-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) dropped a home match. Pepperdine (13-1, 11-0) ran its road streak to 6-0.
"You have to give them a lot of credit," Theocharidis said of the Waves. "They didn't get down (after Game 1) and they played well at the end. A couple mistakes on our part here and there ... it could have been a different outcome."
Theocharidis and Keenan do different things for their respective teams. The 6-foot-3 Theocharidis, putting down 20-plus kills for the seventh time this season, again leads the country in kill average (5.18 kpg).
The 6-8 Keenan came into the match as the national block leader (2.34 bpg). He was in on just six block assists last night, and none in Game 4.
"But that's OK," he said. "We got the win. We know we'll have to play even harder Friday because Hawaii will come back hard against us."
Keenan hit .542 last night, with 15 kills and 2 errors on 24 swings.
Conversely, Theocharidis was hitting in negative numbers until the latter part of Game 2, finishing at .215 (25 kills, 11 errors, 65 attempts). He had two kills and his second ace to give Hawaii a 22-21 lead in the deciding Game 4.
Theocharidis put down two more swings to tie it at 26-26 and 27-27. But he did not get another kill, with his final hitting error ending the match after 2 hours and 21 minutes.
Pepperdine's bigger block proved a key with the Waves finishing with an 13.5-7 edge.
The other key was a lack of sustained emotion on the part of the Warriors.
"We had a big meeting after (beating) BYU last week," said Ching, who added 13 kills and 11 of Hawaii's 49 digs. "One of our keys was to play with emotion. We played with a lot of heart tonight but not the emotion we needed.
"We practice (today) and we will focus better on the game plan. We had a couple of fumbles. We'll get those things fixed and we'll be fine."
"Hawaii played tough, they're a tough team," said Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy. "And there are some very good players on both sides of the court.
"Both Keenan and Costas are having very good years. It could very well be that one of them will be player of the year again."
