DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Brian Nordberg watched as Pacific's Sean Rodgers passed the ball last night. The Warriors won in four games.
Warriors turn The second blackout of the season at the Stan Sheriff Center did not alter the outcome of the match between No. 2 Hawaii and No. 6 Pacific last night. It only extended a men's volleyball match that the Warriors refused to lose.
lights off against
Pacific in 4
Theocharidis leads Hawaii
with 28 kills in a match delayed
by a power outageBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comCostas Theocharidis pounded 28 kills and had 11 digs as Hawaii defeated Pacific 30-28, 30-22, 27-30, 30-25. The senior All-American pounded the match-winner off the head of Martin Berntsen.
The match was delayed 23 minutes by the power outage.
The Warriors won their seventh straight and improved to 17-5, 11-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Tigers dropped to 13-10 and 8-7.
"It was frustrating," middle blocker Brian Nordberg said. "It's one of those matches where you come away with a win but you don't feel satisfied. I think the team feels the same. It's almost better to play to your potential and play great volleyball and lose than not play the best volleyball of the year. Pacific came out, they played well so I'm glad we did walk away with a win."
Warriors coach Mike Wilton agreed.
"It was an ugly match," Wilton said. "That's the only way I can describe it. We're a mentally frazzled team right now. We missed three days of school the week before and the tests they had this week were compounded by the tests they missed last week. A lot of them were up all night and I'm sure that's what did Tony (Ching) in.
"What you saw tonight was what you get. That power outage put us in nap mode. Pacific played better, served better and more strategically tonight. We really struggled but had the character to pull it out. Pedro did a great job, but we badly missed Tony."
Hawaii also got double-digit kill performances from Pedro Azenha (15), Eyal Zimet (10), and Delano Thomas (10 ). Thomas also had five aces.
Kaneohe's Brian Zodrow led the Tigers, hitting .522 and crushing 16 kills.
As the power was returning, Pacific put on a different kind of show for the 4,122 people in attendance. The Tigers danced in a circle while getting warmed up for the continuation of the match. They took turns dancing in the middle of the circle; libero Mike Gawlik breakdanced and middle blocker Sean Rodgers did "the sprinkler." But coach Joe Wortmann elicited the loudest cheering. With a clipboard in his hand, Wortmann got down and did his own kind of twisting much to the delight of his players and the fans.
"The dancing was better than the volleyball," Hawaii associate coach Tino Reyes said. "Act II was the best."
That was the Tigers' best performance, as the Warriors continued their wicked serving. Hawaii has had eight aces or more in its last three matches. The Warriors destroyed the Tigers' passing with 12 aces.
Hawaii barely escaped Game 1 with a win. Neither team had more than a three-point lead and the game was even at 28 before Costas Theocharidis ricocheted two kills off the block to finish off the game.
The Tigers never got over the call by the officials at the end of the first game and they dropped into a 15-6 hole to start Game 2. Pacific's passing crumbled as Hawaii blitzed the Tigers with five aces, getting two apiece from Thomas and Azenha. Pacific didn't go quietly. The Tigers made a run, scoring five of the next six points and seemed on the verge of trimming the deficit, but a controversial call swung the momentum back in Hawaii's favor. The Tigers hit a ball that landed before Azenha got a hand underneath it, but officials did not blow their whistle and play continued. Theocharidis put away the ball to give the Warriors a 19-12 lead. Pacific battled but couldn't overcome the enormous gap.
The lights went out in Game 3 with Hawaii leading 6-5. Perhaps the dancing loosened up the Tigers, who played fearlessly the rest of the game. Behind the serving of Nils Dauburs, Pacific grabbed a 12-9 lead as Dauburs notched his third ace of the match. Dauburs got two more aces for a 23-17 lead as the Tigers demolished Hawaii's passing.
"It was better. They still got quite a few aces, but we were able to pass a lot more balls and run a better offense," Pacific coach Joe Wortmann said. "And then having Brian Zodrow have a great breakout performance was very helpful.
"We had a great crowd here that was cheering for Pacific. Maybe my dancing spurred them on (in Game 3). We have a great team, a great relationship with our players. I didn't mind getting in there and dancing."
Hawaii got four kills from Azenha to zip out to an 8-4 lead in Game 4. The Tigers continued to fight but ultimately could not overcome Hawaii.
The Warriors travel to San Diego this week for conference matches against UC San Diego on Wednesday and Friday.
Notes: Kimo Tuyay, Delano Thomas and Tony Ching have been invited to play for the World University Games team. The international tournament is in August. ... Ching missed yesterday's match with the flu.
Hawaii def. Pacific
30-16, 24-30, 30-16, 30-26
TIGERS (13-9, 8-6 MPSF) 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
