DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Delano Thomas hit one past Pacific's Sean Rodgers as the Warriors beat the Tigers in four games last night.
Ailing Warriors Senior Tony Ching, the reigning national Player of the Week, was too ill to compete for the No. 2 Hawaii volleyball team yesterday.
take Tigers
in 4 games
Ching and Jeschke miss the match
with the flu, but UH takes care of businessBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comWas it a problem for the Warriors?
No.
A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,885 watched Hawaii play in and out of focus before dismantling No. 6 Pacific 30-16, 24-30, 30-16, 30-26 . The Warriors improved to 16-5, 10-5 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. The Tigers fall to 13-9 and 8-6. The teams meet again today at 7 p.m.
Ching missed the match because of the flu. He participated in Hawaii's prematch practice, but his fever shot up, so he was sent home to rest. Ching could be activated for today's match if his condition improves. Arri Jeschke, who was supposed to take Ching's spot on the suit-up roster, suffered from the same symptoms and also missed the match.
The Warriors didn't have to go too deep into their bench for a replacement. Hawaii welcomed freshman Pedro Azenha back into the lineup and the rookie demonstrated his fire power, crushing 15 kills and launching three aces from the service line. Azenha quit the team before the Pepperdine series, but asked to be reinstated a week later.
"I'm really happy to be back with the team. I think I did a good job," Azenha said. "It's not easy to be in the place of Tony Ching. He's an idol here. I think I did a good job."
Azenha wasn't alone in doing a good job. Setter Kimo Tuyay incorporated everyone into the offense. Costas Theocharidis (20 kills, .325), Eyal Zimet (10 kills, .350) and Delano Thomas ( 10 kills, .412, three aces) finished with double-digit kills. Middle Brian Nordberg added eight kills on .538 hitting.
Hawaii continued its unreal serving, collecting nine aces and undoing a Pacific offense that had flashes of being brilliant when it could run its middle attack. The Tigers, meanwhile, struggled from the serving line, missing 19 serves and getting one ace.
"They have good trouble-ball hitters and we had them in trouble a lot," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "They have a lot of practice at it."
Senior Aaron Wachtfogel, likely the shortest hitter on the court at 6-foot-1, led the Tigers with 17 kills.
Except for the first 10 points of Game 1, Hawaii merely had to put the ball in play and let Pacific make the mistakes. The Tigers gave 13 points to Hawaii (six missed serves, seven hitting errors) and struggled with their passing. The Warriors got four aces, two from Thomas and one apiece from Azenha and Zimet on a combination of jump-serving blasts and changeups. Thomas nearly served out the game, getting five points before foot-faulting (stepping on the service line) at game point.
It didn't matter, as outside hitter Martin Berntsen's jump serve went into the bottom of the net to give the Warriors the game.
With opposite Nils Dauburs (one kill, seven errors, -.600) in the tank, Pacific could have quickly plummeted in Game 2. Instead, the Tigers got a lift from Kaneohe's Brian Zodrow. The 6-foot-3 opposite didn't put the team on his shoulders, but he was a source of consistency.
The Tigers missed fewer serves, doubled their number of blocks and took advantage of a complacent Warrior team. Hawaii had an 18-15 lead but didn't shut the door. Pacific fought back and tied the game at 23 and went on a 7-1 run to close the game. Zodrow roofed Theocharidis on a 1-1 opportunity and then teamed with Sean Rodgers to stuff Theocharidis again to bring the Tigers to game point. Wachtfogel crushed his 11th kill of the match to end it.
"We're human, and when things come real easy, there can be a letdown," Wilton said. "One and three were real easy. We are a very good serving team and there are times when the serving is not so good and that requires that you grovel and scrap for every point. Certainly, UOP is a very good team. We backed off a little bit and they stepped it up. For having a couple of guys sick, the match turned out pretty good."
The Warriors proved Game 2 was an aberration as they blew out the Tigers in Game 3. Hawaii outhit Pacific .577 to .069, getting seven kills from Theocharidis and four from Thomas. Hawaii opened a 9-5 lead and didn't look back.
Pacific redid its lineup for Game 4 and got better results but self-destructed late in the game. The Tigers trailed by a point (23-22) but would get no closer as they missed crucial point-scoring opportunities.
TIGERS (13-9, 8-6 MPSF) Hawaii def. Pacific
30-16, 24-30, 30-16, 30-26
G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Jenson 3 2 0 5 .400 0 2 0 Wachtfogel 4 17 7 41 .244 0 3 2 Berntsen 4 16 4 25 .480 0 1 4 Dauburs 3 2 7 11 -.455 1 2 1 Tamas 4 1 0 7 .143 0 0 4 Rodgers 4 9 2 18 .389 1 3 1 Gawlik 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Brizuela 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Zodrow 3 7 2 17 .294 1 3 8 Edwards 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 54 22 124 .258 3 14 28 WARRIORS (16-5, 10-5 MPSF)
G K E ATT PCT. BS BA D Tuyay 4 0 0 0 .000 0 2 5 Zimet 4 10 3 20 .350 0 3 4 Theocharidis 4 20 7 40 .325 0 2 8 Azenha 4 15 5 24 .417 0 2 6 Nordberg 4 8 1 13 .538 0 5 2 Thomas 4 10 3 17 .412 0 2 4 Muise 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 11 Bender 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 63 19 114 .386 0 16 40 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (9): Thomas 3, Azenha 3, Zimet 2, Theocharidis. Pacific (1): Tamas.
Assists -- Hawaii (61): Tuyay 55, Zimet 2, Muise 2, Theocharidis, Azenha. Pacific (52): Tamas 47, Jenson 3, Dauburs, Rodgers.
T -- 2:01.
Officials -- Ernest Ho, Dan Hironaka.
A -- 3,885.
UH Athletics
