FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Dio Dante, alongside teammate Matt Bender in last month's match against Boise State, has come on strong at middle blocker to help UH reach the postseason.

Dante beats
the odds

The middle blocker comes from
out of nowhere to lead the Warriors
into the MPSF tournament

Dio Dante will be the first to say he is continuing to learn to play volleyball. He came to the game late and is still waiting for the game to come to him.

However, Dante also knows that he is blessed with two things that cannot be taught. He is 6-foot-7 and he has no problem with working hard to get better.

The combination has added up to a starting middle blocker spot for Dante as Hawaii takes on Long Beach State tonight in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball tournament. The sophomore is hoping to repeat his performance of two weeks ago, when he hit .739 (17 kills, no errors, 23 attempts) and was in on 12 blocks in the split with the 49ers.

And he'd very much like to repeat the outcome of the second night against Long Beach, where the Warriors won in an 85-minute sweep. That victory helped Hawaii earn the home-court advantage for tonight's loser-out match.

"Long Beach worked us the first night and we worked them the second," Dante said. "The good thing about playing them back-to-back is we immediately saw what we needed to do the next night. We could take what we wanted and leave what we didn't.

"We've got to come out (tonight) and just do it. I'm confident that everybody on our team is ready to win. It's our home crowd, a great atmosphere for us to take charge and use our momentum against them.

"We will beat them because we are the better team."

The statement has little hint of conceit or bravado. Those who know Dante hear the honesty, the quiet confidence in his words. There's sincerity in the candor, an openness tinged with humility.

That he is a college athlete is almost as big of a surprise to him as being a college student. The all-state volleyball and basketball selection at Maui High could easily have taken another path.

There was a shaky home life after he and his mother moved to Maui from Oregon. They lived for a time in Honokohau Valley in a rustic house with solar power and poor plumbing.

Dante eventually ended up living alternately with Maui High basketball coach Bill Naylor and volleyball coach Albert Paschoal as he finished school.

"My mom and I had our differences," Dante said. "I'm so grateful to the coaches who offered their houses and to their families. Who knows where I would have ended up? Maybe moved back to Las Vegas to live with my dad.

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Dio Dante took up volleyball in high school, but the UH sophomore's limited experience hasn't kept him from becoming a force for the Warriors.

"In the beginning, I didn't even want to play volleyball, but one of my girlfriends wanted me to play. She introduced me to Coach Albert. He's the reason I started playing volleyball. I have him to thank for keeping me motivated."

Paschoal said it was easy.

"This is a kid who had all the odds stacked against him and for some reason, he beat the odds," Paschoal said. "He has the biggest heart. I've been coaching volleyball for about 10 years and I can honestly say he's the hardest worker I've ever had -- every day at practice he'd put out 120 percent.

"Plus he is such a good role model. He is a son to me. I have two boys of my own and I pray all the time that they turn out like him."

The biggest obstacle to Dante going on to play in college was not his lack of experience. Coaches approached him the summer after he graduated while he was playing at the Junior Olympics in Louisville, Ky., but they backed off after checking his grades.

"My SATs were good, but I didn't have the greatest grades, had big-time senior-itis at the end of high school," Dante said. "With the coaches (at JOs), it was, 'Sorry about your grades, we'll see what we can do.'

"It worked out that the UH coaches were interested, plus I didn't want to go that far away from my mother. We've worked out our differences. I'm happy with how things are going right now."

The 21-year-old Dante has worked hard to get into shape and he is no longer what he considers "pudgy." He and his roommate, senior opposite Pedro Azenha, work out in the weight room together and run on their own.

"What is so unprecedented is for him to be playing at this level with so little background in the sport," Paschoal said. "It all comes down to his work ethic."

Warriors coach Mike Wilton agreed.

"He's worked very hard -- every thing about his game has improved," Wilton said. "There was a time when I wasn't sure if he'd ever suit up, let alone play.

"He's not quick, doesn't jump real high, doesn't swing his arm real fast, but he just competes. He's very tenacious, has a good nose for the ball as a blocker and has become a really steady player. I'm very happy for him, how he has progressed. He figures out a way to get it done."

Now that he's begun to get the physical part of volleyball down, Dante is looking at improving his mental game.

"I'm still learning," he said. "It took me about a year to learn the tempo of the game. Now I'm learning about the mental aspects, how to tweak my thoughts so that I can be a better player, finding out what motivates me."

The thought of beating Long Beach State tonight is very motivating.

"We have the ability," he said. "It depends on how we come out, what our mind-set is. We've seen what we can do when we work together. We just have to finish it."