No. 2 Warriors still a marquee attraction

[V]

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Despite dropping to No. 2 in this week's USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 15, the University of Hawai'i remains as one of the top attractions in men's volleyball.

Friday's match against Brigham Young — the second match of a two-night series in Provo, Utah — will be played in the 22,700-seat Marriott Center on the Cougars' campus. (Tomorrow's match between the teams will be played in the 2,000-seat Smith Fieldhouse.)

BYU is attempting to break its NCAA record for the largest attendance for a men's volleyball match. The record of 14,156 was set for the match between UH and BYU on Feb. 19, 1999, also at the Marriott Center.

"It should be an electric environment," UH coach Mike Wilton said.

BYU coach Tom Peterson said he would have preferred to play in the fieldhouse, where the Cougars enjoy an intimidating home-court advantage, but sponsors and administrators "want to try and break the record. Everybody involved thought it would be a good thing."

As of yesterday afternoon, only a few hundred tickets had been sold for Friday's match. But a BYU spokesman said he expects a large walk-up crowd. "That's what happened the last time, when we set the record," he said.

He said BYU students will be admitted for free as part of the activity fee they pay each semester. In addition, fans may purchase $1 vouchers that can be redeemed for tickets.

This is the second time this year a UH road match has been moved to a larger venue. UC Irvine set an attendance record of more than 3,000 when it moved a Jan. 31 match from 600-seat Crawford Hall to the 5,000-seat Bren Event Center.

For tomorrow's match, the Warriors will use the lineup they unveiled against Cal State Northridge last Friday. In that rotation, senior Eyal Zimet, who has played opposite hitter most of his career, opens at libero, the back-row defensive specialist, and freshman Pedro Azenha starts at opposite.

Wilton said the move eases the stress on Zimet's sore back. A libero is not permitted to block or attack.

"We don't have to worry about his back from match to match or practice to practice," Wilton said.

Wilton said Azenha, a past member of Brazil's junior national team, is projected to play opposite hitter the rest of his UH career.

"This is good for Pedro, because he's used to playing all of the time," Wilton said. "It was hard for him not to play, and to pretend, 'I'm happy to sit here and chew gum.' "

Jake Muise, who started the first five matches at libero before losing his starting job to freshman Matt Motter, made the 12-player travel squad. Muise will back up Zimet.

Wilton said Motter will serve as the primary understudy to left-side hitters Costas Theocharidis and Tony Ching. Matt Bender, who has been used as a serving specialist, is Azenha's backup at opposite hitter.

"Bender's got game," Wilton said. "He's got a really live arm."

After last week's split against Northridge, UH, which was ranked No. 1 last week, dropped to No. 2 in this week's national poll.

Pepperdine, the defending Mountain Pacific Sports Federation champion, ascended to No. 1, receiving 14 of 16 first-place votes. UH had the other two No. 1 votes, although neither came from Wilton.

"We've had too many no-shows for me to vote us No. 1," Wilton said.

[Zippy]

Why don't they charge the students a small fee like $3 or something? Why do students get in free? Is it part of their package of being students at BYU? If this is going to be a record-breaking night, they might as well make a buck.

[halesvb11]

"He said BYU students will be admitted for free as part of the activity fee they pay each semester."

same thing applies here, at my school. we pay about 110 a semester for free admittance to any sporting event. we get an athletic card, and it allows you to get a ticket to the events that require them. best game i ever saw was for free. we almost beat miami the year that they walloped nebraska in the rose bowl.

[V]

Warriors step into Cougar country

No. 2 Hawaii travels to No. 4 BYU for two big conference matches

By Grace Wen
[e-mail]

Sometimes it's good to ignore the old adage that if it isn't broken, you don't need to fix it.

Hawaii coach Mike Wilton was reluctant to tweak the Warrior volleyball team's lineup, since the previous rotation produced a national title last year.

But the second-ranked Warriors have been consistently inconsistent lately in their play. Since starting the season with five straight wins, Hawaii has split every Mountain Pacific Sports Federation series with the exception of Long Beach State. Part of the Warriors' results can be attributed to parity in the league, but Hawaii hasn't been able to put together two solid outings in a row. They Warriors can come out smoking hot the first night and dead flat the next, or vice versa.

It's unlikely Hawaii (9-3, 5-3) will get to mount much of a win streak this week with two conference matches at No. 4 Brigham Young (8-2, 8-2) tomorrow and Friday. Both matches start at 4 p.m. Hawaii time.

"It's going to be a heck of a match. They're a good team. They've got balance," Wilton said. "They have a real good athletic setter. He makes a lot happen. They run people all over the place with their offense. You've got to really pay attention to what they do. It should be a wonderful match.

"I think we could win two. I think we could lose two. It all depends on what's going on upstairs. If we bring it both nights then it'll be real good for us. It's a real good opportunity for us to play here. They have the largest amount of noisy fans and that's good. That's what everybody that plays dreams of. If you're any kind of player at all, that brings out the best in you."

It won't be easy to come away with two wins. The Cougars get amped easily in Smith Fieldhouse. BYU owns a 14-11 lead in the series, but more telling is the Cougar's 9-2 record against Hawaii at home. Except for a loss to UC Santa Barbara last weekend, BYU has been consistently beating opponents this season.

But the Warriors' new lineup will give them an edge in just about every aspect of the game. If you missed the debut last week, don't worry; they don't plan on shelving it anytime soon, not with the results they got.

Hawaii hit 100 points above its season average of .368 and nearly every player hit .300 or better in the three-game sweep of Cal State Northridge.

The rotation helps Hawaii resolve some of its issues with playing time and health. With Eyal Zimet playing libero, the Warriors are a much more consistent passing and ball-handling team, and there's less pressure on Zimet's often ailing back, since he's neither hitting or blocking.

The new lineup also works freshman Pedro Azenha in at opposite. Azenha brings some definite heat with his swing and is a valuable third option in the offense.

"Being a libero is a lot less stressful on (Eyal's) body," Wilton said. "Pedro can play and Eyal can sure play libero real good.

"There was some nice chemistry and we're just scratching the surface with that thing. The more we do it, the better we'll get at it. That's my belief."

And it helps that the player most affected by the change believes, too.

Before last Friday's match against Cal State Northridge, associate coach Tino Reyes sat down and talked with Zimet about the possibility of his new role becoming a permanent one.

"I asked him if it was OK," Reyes said. "He said 'I'll do anything to help the team.' I hugged him and said 'thanks.' "

Zimet said he was a little thrown off by Reyes' sudden display of affection, but agreed that changing positions could be in the best interest of the team.

"I think it's a winning lineup and as long as it stays that way, that's good," Zimet said. "I'm definitely going to miss hitting. It seems like I'm going to be a little bit less involved, that I'm contributing less in my eyes. I know it's not true. As long as it helps the team win, that's the ultimate goal. The rest is kind of minor.

"It's a different role. I didn't really play it before. The game looks different to me. It's a little bit harder because you're always in and out of the game. You have to talk yourself into concentrating all the time. You're like a train, going in and out, in and out of the station."

Notes: Friday's match has been moved to the 22,700-seat Marriott Center to accommodate a larger crowd. The Cougars are hoping to break the NCAA single-match attendance record of 14,156 set in 1999 against the Warriors. ... Libero Jake Muise is one of the 12 players on the travel roster. Junior Arri Jeshke did not make the trip. ... BYU setter Carlos Moreno is a former Brazilian Junior National teammate of Azenha. ... Wilton briefly considered the BYU head coaching vacancy last May but says he has no regrets about sticking with Hawaii.

[sweetieVBfan]

oh poor arri. he's such a cutie.

[BYU STUDENT]

Here at BYU we pay 75 bucks at the beginning of the year. This gets us season football tickets and free admittance into any other sporting event. it's a sweet deal and creates large student turnouts to every sport.

Also, the game on Thursday will be at the Smith Fieldhouse, but it holds over 5,000 people, not 2,000.