No. 1 BYU takes
on new-look HawaiiThe Cougars don't know what
to expect against the Warriors
Tom Peterson doesn't know what to expect.
MPSF volleyball
Who: No. 1 BYU (15-3, 13-1) at No. 5 Hawaii (13-5, 10-4).When: Tomorrow and Saturday, 7 p.m.
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
Radio: Live, 1420-AM.
TV: Live, KFVE (Ch. 5)
Tickets: $3-14
Series: BYU leads 16-3
Last season: The teams split in Provo with the Cougars then ending the Warriors' season in the MPSF Tournament semifinals.
"I hear great things about the Hawaii crowds," said the second-year Brigham Young volleyball coach, who has never brought a team to the Stan Sheriff Center. "When you have 8,000-10,000 fans ... that's a great atmosphere. The Hawaii fans love volleyball. I just hope we play well."
Peterson won't be the only one with questions about playing in the Sheriff Center tomorrow and Saturday. The host Warriors will have plenty of their own when putting four new starters on the court against the top-ranked Cougars.
Peterson had expected to see Pedro Azenha, Delano Thomas, Jose Delgado and Brian Beckwith lined up against his team. But the suspension of Azenha, Thomas and Delgado, and the illness of Beckwith means No. 5 Hawaii (13-5, 10-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) will have four different players when it tries to end the longest winning streak in the country.
BYU (15-3, 13-1 MPSF) has not lost since Jan. 17, when it fell to Cal State Northridge in five. Since then, the Cougars have won 14 in a row, seven in sweeps. It's pretty impressive, considering BYU lost three of its first four matches to open the season.
"The streak is nothing we key on," said Peterson, whose team was a unanimous No. 1 choice in yesterday's AVCA Top 15 poll. "What we worry about is wins and losses, and we're geared to play well. You don't want it to be added pressure to be No. 1. Talking sports psychology, you can either relax or you put more pressure on yourself. We try to stay as even as possible.
"This is a very important trip for us. Our strength is that it is hard to key on any one player. We have a lot of guys we can go to."
The Cougars are talented at every position, with four All-MPSF players back from a team that lost to Lewis 3-2 in the NCAA Championship match last May. Senior hitter Fernando Pessoa leads BYU in kills (4.19 kpg), with senior opposite Joe Hillman, who had a match-high 26 kills against Pepperdine on Saturday, second (3.63 kpg).
Senior hitter Jonathan Alleman (3.40 kpg) is one of only two Cougars who have played in every game, the other being senior libero Shawn Olmstead (1.82 digs per game).
Junior setter Carlos Moreno is very talented and, at 6-foot-4, is a solid blocker. He was named the National Player of the Year this week for leading his team over the Waves twice, averaging 16.75 assists and 1.38 blocks.
Putting up a big wall for the Cougars are 6-5 sophomore Victor Batista (1.14 bpg) and 6-8 junior Michael Burke (1.50 bpg).
"They have really, really good players," said Hawaii coach Mike Wilton. "They are basically All-MPSF at all positions. BYU certainly has the upper hand right now."
Hawaii's practice was spirited yesterday as replacement starters Arri Jeschke, Matt Bender and Ryan Woodward injected enthusiasm while also getting on-the-job training.
Beckwith returned to practice after being sidelined with a throat infection but is working himself back to playing condition. As anticipated, Wilton said that senior Kimo Tuyay will start as setter tomorrow against the Cougars.
"It's a good chance for these guys to step up," said UH assistant coach Aaron Wilton, pressed into duty as an outside hitter for the second team during yesterday's practice. "They (the first team) started off kind of slow today, but they picked it up at the end, started playing with emotion. They kind of hammered us down at the end.
"They're playing against the No. 1 team in the nation, and who doesn't dream about that? They can just go out and play, they have nothing to lose. It will be interesting."
Peterson has dealt with some lineup changes due to injuries this season but, except for the early stumble, "we've played well together," said the Cougar coach. "But we know this is a hard road trip. I haven't been to Hawaii with a team. We've got questions about adjusting to the time difference, where to go, how to get places. And we've got a bunch of guys coming from weather that just warmed up to 60.
"We know we have to win at least one match here and these are very important matches for us. Pepperdine was a good measuring stick for us and now we'll have another test. After the match (Saturday), I asked the guys if they thought we still needed to improve. The players agreed we need to keep working to improve and not worry about the standings or the rankings.
"I think we're doing pretty well with the process."
UH Athletics
