DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Costas Theocharidis hit one through the block of Pepperdine's Fred Winters and Brad Keenan last night.
No. 2 Hawaii beats After just three matches, the Hawaii volleyball team's new lineup looks like it has figured out how to play together.
No. 1 Pepperdine
The Warriors hand the Waves
their first MPSF loss of the seasonBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comHawaii executed exhilarating defense and got solid production from four of five hitters last night to salvage a split with top-ranked Pepperdine. Before a rowdy crowd of 5,607 at the Stan Sheriff Center, the Warriors defeated the Waves 30-25, 31-29, 26-30, 30-16.
No. 2 Hawaii improved to 11-5 overall and 6-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Waves suffered their first MPSF loss of the season and dropped to 13-2 and 11-1.
"One of the things we thought about Wednesday night's match was that we played well as a team but the score wasn't in our favor, so we actually got a positive feeling out of losing on Wednesday," middle blocker Brian Nordberg said. "Tonight, we fought our hearts out. We used a lot of positivity from Wednesday night to win.
Freshman Azenha
leaves men's teamFreshman Pedro Azenha has quit the Hawaii volleyball team. Azenha informed coaches yesterday morning and did not show up for last night's rematch against Pepperdine. He told the coaches that he would like to transfer.
The 6-foot-5 opposite saw playing time in 22 games and started matches against Stanford and Brigham Young. Azenha averaged 3.41 kills and 0.77 digs for Hawaii.
"He came in and said he wasn't getting a fair chance to play," assistant coach Aaron Wilton said. "If he's not happy, then it's a good decision for him."
The Warriors were deep at outside hitter, with three seniors -- Costas Theocharidis, Eyal Zimet and Tony Ching. All three were starters on last year's national championship squad.
"This team can play a lot better. That's a great feeling to know that there's room for improvement."
Yesterday's match marked the start of the second half of conference play. Hawaii has 10 matches to go in the MPSF and the lighter -- if any part of the conference docket could be considered easy -- portion of the schedule ahead of it.
"The chemistry is real good now," associate coach Tino Reyes said. "Everybody is on this thing about giving maximum effort and it showed tonight. If we keep playing and working hard, then positive things are going to happen. It's too late to catch Pepperdine. They're a real nice team."
Costas Theocharidis carved up the Pepperdine block for a match-high 29 kills. Senior Tony Ching heated up and finished with a double-double (19 kills, 11 digs). Nordberg and his counterpart in the middle, Delano Thomas, added 10 kills apiece for the Warriors.
Sophomore Sean Rooney led the Waves with 19 kills, but Hawaii was effective in limiting Fred Winters to 17 kills and a .170 hitting percentage.
The Warriors made up for a not-too-crisp start in Game 1 by being steadier than the Waves when it counted. Pepperdine had a three-point lead early (7-4), but that would be the largest by any team until the closing plays of the game. Hawaii led 26-24 after consecutive hitting errors by Winters.
Pepperdine got one more point from a kill by Rooney before Hawaii closed out the game with a kill by Ching, two kills by Theocharidis and a Theocharidis dig that hit the net and dribbled over between two Pepperdine blockers.
Hawaii seemed set for another slow start after spotting Pepperdine a 4-1 lead in Game 2. The Warriors withstood an early barrage of blocks and used a 6-1 run to get their first lead of the game at 18-15. But the Waves answered back behind the serving of Winters, who torched Hawaii for two aces during a 6-0 run that propelled Pepperdine ahead 21-18.
A late blitz like that would have unraveled the old Warriors, but Hawaii entrenched itself into a battle and caught the Waves at 26 after Eyal Zimet and Delano Thomas stuffed Brad Keenan. The game was tied three more times before Thomas fired a kill off the block and then dug Rooney to prevent a Pepperdine kill. The ensuing set was put down by Theocharidis as the Warriors took a 2-0 lead in the match.
Hawaii showed its mettle again in Game 3 after trimming a 23-18 deficit to three. The Warriors were within two at 26-24 after tenacious defense in which all three back-row players pumped their legs to save one rally before setter Kimo Tuyay stuffed Winters one-handed. But that would be the closest the Warriors would get. The Waves got two kills from Winters and Rooney to put the exclamation point on the game as Pepperdine avoided being swept.
"We were just real mad that we dropped that third game and we were just gunning out for them," Nordberg said.
Ching shook off a hot-and-cold match by ripping seven of Hawaii's 20 kills in Game 4. Ching's only ace of the match gave the Warriors a 24-11 lead and they had no trouble finishing off the Waves.
"Everything was pretty much off," Keenan said. "It wasn't one of our best matches.
The Warriors play nonconference matches against Loyola-Chicago Wednesday and Friday.
Hawaii def. Pepperdine
30-25, 31-29, 26-30, 30-16
WAVES (13-2, 11-1 MPSF) G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Hein 4 9 3 16 .375 0 8 1 Gledhill 4 2 5 14 -.214 0 4 4 Keenan 4 10 5 21 .238 0 6 1 Winters 4 17 9 47 .170 1 3 7 Mayer 4 2 2 6 .000 0 2 8 Rooney 4 19 3 41 .390 0 5 8 Wagner 1 1 0 4 .250 0 1 1 DeWolff 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Ka 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Coats 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Totals 4 60 27 149 .221 1 29 38
WARRIORS (11-5, 7-5 MPSF) G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Tuyay 4 1 1 5 .000 2 0 9 Zimet 4 5 6 17 -.059 0 1 13 Theocharidis 4 29 6 54 .426 1 3 7 Ching 4 19 6 31 .419 0 1 11 Nordberg 4 10 2 14 .571 0 1 2 Thomas 4 10 2 18 .444 1 4 3 Muise 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Totals 4 74 23 139 .367 4 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, Rooney 2. Hawaii (3): Theocharidis, Ching, Tuyay.
Assists -- PEP: (57): Mayer 52, Hein 2, Keenan 2, Rooney. Hawaii (69): Tuyay 62, Ching 3, Zimet 2, Theocharidis, Nordberg.
T -- 2:16.
Officials -- Ernest Ho, Wayne Lee.
Attendance -- 5,607.
UH Athletics
