DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
AS Hawaii's first player to reach the 2,000-kill mark, there is no denying All-American Costas Theocharidis is an exceptional volleyball player. The Warriors have been
more successful
when Theocharidis
gets his setsBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThe Hawaii career leader in three categories (kills, attack attempts and aces) defies conventional volleyball wisdom that a team needs balanced hitting to win. Traditionally, the more options there are in a team's offense, the harder it is to defend them. But Theocharidis supersedes the norm.
"If Costas is an average hitter, I would say yes it is better to have a balanced offense, but you've seen him. He can hit against a double block," assistant coach Tino Reyes said. "He's as good as there is against a double block. So it doesn't really matter. What matters is if you get him the ball in the crucial times."
When the Warriors do distribute the ball to more than one player and Theocharidis doesn't lead the team in either hitting category (kills or attempts), Hawaii tends to struggle or lose matches.
In four of the five Mountain Pacific Sports Federation series Hawaii has split this season, the wins and losses can be traced to how many sets Theocharidis received in the matches.
When Hawaii knocked off then-No. 1 UC Irvine in the first match, Theocharidis saw 42 of 120 (or 35 percent) of Hawaii's total attacks. The next day when the Anteaters blew out the Warriors, Theocharidis was second in attempts (20) to Tony Ching (21).
Against Brigham Young, it was a similar story. In the Warriors' loss, the offense was balanced, with three hitters within two or three sets of each other. Theocharidis, Pedro Azenha and Ching totaled 12 kills apiece in the match. In the victory the next night, Theocharidis was the recipient of 55 sets. The next hitter had 21 sets.
Warriors coach Mike Wilton doesn't think it's Theocharidis' numbers that affect the outcome of the game.
"It's more situational. There are certain times when he needs to have the ball and then there's a feel for it, too," Wilton said. "He will communicate to the setter when he wants the ball. That's important.
"We have a pretty balanced attack. Tony takes a reasonable amount of sets. Our attack is balanced enough. We maybe set Costas a bit too much. ... It has to do with the situation. He gets a lot of balls after 20 and of course he's going to get a lot of the bad-pass balls, too. That's how things are."
And that's how they've been for most of his career. Theocharidis cemented his place in the Hawaii record book when he registered the 2,000th kill of his career last Friday against Loyola-Chicago. The milestone might not be touched for a long time.
Theocharidis said he isn't tired of being fed most of the balls and that his shoulders don't hurt from carrying the hitting load. After 4,098 career swings, he still wants the next ball just as much as ever.
"It's a lot of pressure, but I perform better under pressure," Theocharidis said. "When I was back home, they called me Russian. You know, they're cold-blooded murderers with their game face on all the time. When the game comes down to 30-30 and I know I'm going to get the ball, I don't feel a lot of pressure. I feel like it's just another point, like it's the beginning of the game. I think that's why I've been successful.
"I believe in these guys. I have so much confidence in myself and my abilities and that my setter can set me the ball where I want it that I really want the ball every single time. I want it every single time."
And conference splits this season dictate that Hawaii needs to give Theocharidis the ball to win.
"The critical points, he has to have the ball for the most part," Reyes said. "I don't care if the other team knows that, because they still got to stop him anyway. They know he's going to get a lot of sets. But there's critical times throughout the game when he needs to get the ball to stop runs and to keep the run going on our side."
The following are the team hitting percentages and Theocharidis' hitting percentages in MPSF losses this season: The Costas factor
vs. Stanford (in five games)
Team: .335
Theocharidis: .390vs. UC Irvine (in three games)
Team: .217
Theocharidis: -.100vs. CSUN (in four games)
Team: .248
Theocharidis: .245vs. BYU (in three games)
Team: .378
Theocharidis: .455vs. Pepperdine (in four games)
Team: .342
Theocharidis: .215Season stats -- Team: .364; Theocharidis: .357
>>Theocharidis led or tied for the team lead in kills in 15 of 19 matches (including the Shanghai exhibition).
>>Hawaii is 2-2 in matches when Theocharidis doesn't lead in hitting.
UH Athletics
