[ UH VOLLEYBALL ]
Hawaii has fun
picking apart alumniThe Warriors avenge
last year’s loss with
plenty of ribbing
Respect their elders? Hardly.
This year's edition of the Hawaii volleyball team met its past with predictable results and good-natured ribbing. A lot of ribbing.
But between the varsity booing assistant coach Aaron Wilton during pregame introductions and model/actor Jason Olive quietly offering to pay off the referee to change a call, there was plenty of good volleyball.
An estimated crowd of 1,500 braved the elements to watch the varsity sweep the alumni 30-18, 30-25, 30-28 at the Stan Sheriff Center. It was an impressive warmup for the Warriors, who open the season next week at the 10th Outrigger Invitational.
"It was fun," said Olive, who tied for team-high honors with seven kills. "I think that's one of the best teams I've ever seen them have. Their setter (Brian Beckwith) is really good and with Delano (Thomas) hitting outside ... it seemed like they had a three- or four-pronged attack.
"We could have used a few more guys, we were a little undermanned, but it was a lot of fun."
There was also some revenge for the varsity, which lost this meeting last year. And there was some payback for the trash-talking Wilton had done during the past month.
"I think I started it before Christmas break, reminding them how they lost to us last year," said Wilton. "I wanted to get them fired up and obviously it worked. Maybe if I didn't talk as much smack we would have been able to creep up on them and taken a game off them.
"We didn't exactly test them. They went through us like a hot knife through butter. I see them every day in practice and they have a chance to be a great team."
Some of that showed as the Warriors went with a mixture of youth and young experience to open the match. Running the Hawaii offense for the first two games was freshman Beckwith, who connected with returning sophomore hitter Jose Delgado for 10 kills.
Delgado appeared to be fully recovered from a back injury suffered last month. He hit 1.000 in Game 1 with five kills.
Thomas, a sophomore who is moving from the middle to the outside, also had 10 kills before being subbed out early in Game 3.
Warrior coach Mike Wilton used 15 players, subbing liberally in Game 3. The alumni took advantage of it, taking a 25-24 lead on two aces by Olive.
The Warriors rallied to close it out on a 6-3 run, highlighted by Arri Jeschke's ace. Hawaii hit .418 to the alumni's .154 and had an 11-8 edge in blocks.
Sophomore Mauli'a LaBarre and junior Josh Stanhiser each had six kills and were in on four blocks.
"I respect the alumni a lot," said LaBarre. "They played before us, they're the reason why we have great fans."
Olive and Tony Ching led the alumni team with seven kills.
"I think it's hard to be an alumni guy and play once a year," said Mike Wilton. "Their rust showed. Last year, they played well and we didn't. Tonight, we played well.
"I thought Delano did some good things. Being on the outside demands more of him. And Mau (LaBarre) did a nice job. He's going to be a good one for us."
Golden masters: In a spirited match, the White rallied past the Black 12-25, 25-18, 25-22.
The rosters included players from UH's pre-NCAA era of the 1960s and early '70s.
The best individual matchup was between the two boys varsity coaches from Kamehameha Schools, head coach Pono Ma'a on the Black team and assistant Mike Among on the White.
Ma'a won the statistical battle with 14 kills, four blocks and three aces to Among's six kills and three blocks. Malu Sagiao led the White with nine kills and three blocks, while Troy Hotz added six kills.
An 8-0 service run by Mitch Varney helped the Black rally in Game 1, going from a 7-5 deficit to a 13-7 lead. The Black finished it out with a 12-5 spurt that included two of Ma'a's aces.
After tying the match with a victory in Game 2, the White had two chances to win the match. The first came at 14-5 -- Game 3 was scheduled for a 15-point cap -- but as White captain Clyde Ching was about to serve, it was announced that the scoring would go to 25.
The Black pulled to within 23-20 behind the serves of Kale Feldman and Sid Inouye, but a kill by Jeff Hottendorf gave White match point. Two kills by Ma'a brought the Black to 24-22, but Jim Danz's serve went long to end it.
Alex Berganio added nine kills for the Black, with Inouye and Tom Davidson in on three blocks.
Hawaii def. Alumni
30-18, 30-25, 30-28
alumni g k e att pct. bs ba d Ching 3 7 6 19 .053 1 1 3 Denitz 3 0 0 2 .000 0 1 3 Leoni 3 2 1 8 .125 0 3 0 Miladinovic 3 5 2 15 .200 1 2 4 Olive 3 7 2 10 .500 0 1 4 Wilton 3 4 6 18 -.111 1 2 7 Hotz 3 4 0 6 .667 0 0 3 Totals 3 29 17 78 .154 3 10 24 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
warriors g k e att pct. bs ba d Delgado 2 10 4 14 .429 1 1 3 Beckwith 2 3 1 4 .500 0 1 1 Bender 2 5 1 10 .400 0 2 0 LaBarre 3 6 1 12 .417 1 3 4 Thomas 3 10 3 21 .333 1 2 3 Stanhiser 3 6 1 9 .556 1 3 1 Tuyay 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Kalima 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Muise 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Jeschke 1 1 0 2 .500 0 1 3 Reft 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Azenha 2 6 1 11 .455 0 1 2 Woodward 1 3 1 5 .400 0 0 0 Rasay 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Dante 1 2 1 3 .333 0 0 0 Totals 3 52 14 91 .418 4 14 22
Aces -- Alumni (5): Olive 2, Ching, Denitz, Leoni. Hawaii (6): LaBarre 3, Jeschke 2, Thomas. Assists -- Alumni (29): Denitz 27, Olive, Hotz. Hawaii (45): Beckwith 25, Tuyay 9, Rasay 7, Delgado 2, LaBarre, Azenha.