Warriors open ‘new
season’ against UCLA
Throw out the records. Throw out the history.
The new season begins this week and that's the approach the Hawaii volleyball team is taking in preparing for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament. Although it's hard not to get caught up in the rivalry with UCLA, the Warriors know that it's "one and done" for the team that loses Saturday's first-round match.
No. 6 Hawaii (17-11) makes its second trip to the mainland after four full days at home when traveling to play No. 3 UCLA (23-5) on Saturday. The teams split at the Stan Sheriff Center with the Warriors winning in five on Feb. 26 and the Bruins winning in four two nights later.
"I'm looking forward to it, it should be a good one," Warrior senior setter Kimo Tuyay said. "I love playing at Pauley Pavilion. We won there the last time and I'm excited about this.
"We're the underdogs, they're the No. 3 seeds. What we have to do is go in, play hard and play not to lose and like we have nothing to lose."
And Hawaii has everything to gain. A victory over the Bruins would send the Warriors into the MPSF semifinal, likely at BYU.
The top-seeded Cougars host No. 8 UC Irvine on Saturday. The other matches pit No. 7 UC Santa Barbara at No. 2 Long Beach State and No. 5 Cal State Northridge at No. 4 Pepperdine.
The highest remaining seed after the first round hosts the semifinals on April 29 and the May 1 final. The MPSF tournament winner earns the automatic berth into the NCAA championship tournament May 6-8 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"Nothing is automatic in this league, not this season," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "I think it will be a chore for Irvine to win at BYU.
"In the other matches, Santa Barbara has been struggling and Northridge has lost a couple in the last week. Still, anything is possible."
Hawaii winning at UCLA had been near impossible before 2001. The Warriors were 1-17 at Pauley Pavilion against the Bruins until that season, when Hawaii split its MPSF matches with UCLA.
In 2003, Hawaii swept UCLA in Westwood for the first time.
"It's a fun place to play," Wilton said. "I'm glad we're still playing. I think we did some good things last week (against Pepperdine) and we're aiming to get better each day we practice this week.
"UCLA is a good, solid team. We've shown we can be a good team at times. Friday, we had empirical evidence of 'can-do.' What the guys have to remember is that it's three out of five and not best two out of three. Friday, we got stuck in Game 3 but showed great resolve at the end to finish it."
Playing with confidence is one of keys in continuing the season.
"When we are confident, we play good," sophomore hitter Pedro Azenha said. "We had one of the best efforts of the whole year (Friday).
"We've got enough to win (at UCLA). It's going to be an awesome match."
Hawaii currently has no injuries that should affect its preparation. Sophomore middle Mauli'a LaBarre is still bothered by a broke right pinkie finger; that will require surgery after the season is over.
For UCLA, freshman Steve Klosterman sat out Saturday's win at UC Santa Barbara with tendinitis in his shoulder. He was expected to be back at practice.
BYU players cleared: Following an internal investigation by BYU, in conjunction with the NCAA, it was determined that all of the Cougar players are eligible. The main focus was BYU sophomore Victor Batista of the Dominican Republic, who allegedly had played professionally under an assumed name; however, Brazilians Carlos Moreno and Fernando Pessoa were also investigated.
The announcement came Friday, but "UCLA is still whining about it," Wilton said.
UCLA coach Al Scates was quoted in yesterday's issue of the Daily Bruin as saying, "we know that the players get paid. The NCAA is obviously not making an effort to rule these players ineligible. So teams will continue to recruit professionals."
Scates also referred to former Warrior Costas Theocharidis as the "consummate professional" and the "only player the NCAA has ever ruled ineligible."
Wilton took issue with Scates' comments.
"The kid played with other players who did take money," Wilton said of Theocharidis, a native of Greece.
Theocharidis' status ruling came after he had completed his four years with the Warriors and was at the heart of the NCAA stripping UH of its 2002 national championship. That decision is still under appeal.
Of interest is that the NCAA did nothing about the matches that Theocharidis played in as a senior last season.
