STAR-BULLETIN / 2002
The Warriors' Tony Ching blasts a kill past Loyola-Chicago's Brad Stoub during last season's match against the Ramblers.
Contenders After a smorgasbord of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation teams, the Hawaii volleyball team has something a little different on the menu this week.
keep coming
at Warriors
UH hopes to build on momentum,
but a tough Loyola-Chicago comes in
on a five-game win streakBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.com
The second-ranked Warriors (11-5) have a midseason break from the rigors of MPSF play with two non-conference matches against No. 12 Loyola-Chicago (10-3). But the Ramblers aren't necessarily lighter than Hawaii's heavy regime of tough conference foes. In fact, the Warriors don't expect a respite at all.
Who: No. 12 Loyola-Chicago UH volleyball
When: Tomorrow and Friday, 7 p.m.
TV: Live, KFVE-TV
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
Internet: uhathletics.hawaii.edu
"I don't know what kind of breather it is," Warriors coach Mike Wilton said. "This team beat the tar out of Ball State and I thought Ball State was as good as most of the MPSF. They beat them 3-0. It's just more of the same. It's another good team coming in.
"I knew they were going to have a lot of guys back. We don't have any cannon fodder. There is none. Adopting an attitude that this is a breather could be a fatal flaw."
The new-and-improved Warriors don't seem headed toward that fatality. After turning a corner at Brigham Young, Hawaii seems to have shaken the inconsistencies that plagued its path earlier this year.
The Warriors put together solid back-to-back performances against Pepperdine last week. Splitting the series was the best Hawaii could do at this point in the season as it tries to gather more momentum. The Warriors eye this week's matches as potential building blocks.
"They count in the overall record and since we don't have any chance of hosting the MPSF, we're trying to improve our overall record so we can have a chance to get an at-large bid," All-American Costas Theocharidis said.
"I hope we carry the momentum that we have built from BYU and the Pepperdine matches. We just want to go into the playoffs having a big winning streak. Ever since we started playing as a team and got chemistry going, we've been having really competitive practices and raising the level.
"We don't show the inconsistencies we had in the beginning of the year. We have an upward trend coming. We're going to get better and better. We're trying to get as confident as we can for the playoffs."
Their confidence may not be built at the expense of Loyola-Chicago. Since the teams began playing each other in 2000, the Ramblers have been steadily improving.
Loyola-Chicago picked up its first win of the series last year when it shocked Hawaii in the season opener. This year, the Ramblers are streaking and have lost just one game in winning five straight matches. Loyola-Chicago knocked off perennial Midwestern powers Ohio State and Ball State in the last two weeks.
"The team is playing pretty well right now," said first-year head coach Tim O'Brien. "We're looking not to peak in February. We want to keep playing some good ball and keep improving and make sure we're staying on top of our game as the season progresses."
The Ramblers are making O'Brien's adjustment to coaching in Division I look easy. O'Brien came to Loyola-Chicago from Springfield College after Gordon Mayforth resigned to coach in Japan.
O'Brien may be a little wet behind the ears, but his players aren't. Senior setter Shane Davis distributes an even offense, with Justin Schnor blasting 4.67 kills a game. Three other players (Dan Kellum, Dan Haas and Mike Alesch) put away over two balls per game, while middle Shawn Schroeder delivers over three kills a game.
"The best part is that we've got a bunch of older guys playing for us," O'Brien said. "Five of those guys were impact players on last year's team. They know how close they've been the last two seasons to winning the MIVA title and they're pretty driven to get themselves back into position to play for that title again."
The Ramblers are on spring break. They arrived in Honolulu yesterday and had a beach workout.
Warrior honored by AVCA and MPSF: Theocharidis was named the AVCA and MPSF Player of the Week for his efforts in Hawaii's MPSF series split with No. 1 Pepperdine last week. The three-time All-American tallied 54 kills in two matches and hammered a season-high 29 kills to lead the Warriors over the Waves in the rematch last Friday. Theocharidis needs 28 kills to reach the 2,000-kill mark.
"I've lost count. I don't know," said Theocharidis of the sixth AVCA weekly honor of his career. "It doesn't matter to me. It reflects a great team effort. I did my part, my teammates did their part and I think we got the job done."
In the wake of Pedro Azenha's departure, redshirt freshman Matt Bender will be the first off the bench for Theocharidis or Tony Ching. The 6-foot-3 outside hitter from Arizona has been the Warriors' serving specialist this season.
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