Age not factor for O'Brien

[V]

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Assemble a lineup of the Loyola-Chicago men's volleyball team, and it won't be easy to pick out Tim O'Brien.
At 25, O'Brien is the youngest head coach in NCAA men's volleyball, and he often is mistaken for a player.

O'Brien, who was not old enough to rent a car until last June, is a year younger than Hawai'i opposite hitter Eyal Zimet.

Still, said O'Brien, whose team faces UH tomorrow and Friday: "I do feel prepared. On occasion, it's a little overwhelming. But we have good seniors; they've been very special. All of our players are solid individuals."

Only a couple of years older than his senior players, O'Brien said: "I get their sense of humor and they get mine. We have a great relationship."

This season, O'Brien has led the Ramblers to a 10-3 record, an accomplishment considering that he also is a full-time assistant coach for the school's women's volleyball team.

With the women's team competing in spring training, O'Brien has had to scramble between coaching jobs. Often, both teams practice on the same day.

"The practices never overlap," he said. "It's nothing that can't be worked out. ... You know, sometimes you're tired and sometimes you're not. But I know I'm fortunate. A lot of people say they're sort of jealous that I get to coach college athletes. It's a great opportunity for me, and I enjoy it."

When O'Brien was hired as an assistant coach for the women's team last May, he had heard rumors that the men's coach, Gordon Mayforth, was planning to accept a professional coaching job in Japan. When Mayforth did leave, O'Brien applied to fill the vacancy.

"This was a job I was hoping to get," O'Brien said. "I didn't know if I would get it at 25."

O'Brien was hired in July. "I feel fortunate," he said.

"He's doing a good job," said Lewis coach Dave Deuser, whose team competes in the same conference.

The NCAA limits men's volleyball programs to offering the financial equivalent of 4.5 scholarships. Because of budget constraints, O'Brien said: "We don't have 4.5. We don't have the capability. We have just about four right now."

What's more, O'Brien said Loyola requires incoming freshman student-athletes to earn a minimum score of 1,000 on the SAT — 250 points more than the minimum score allowed under the NCAA's sliding scale. "We have to pass on a lot of good athletes," he said.

With tuition and room and board, it costs $27,500 annually to attend Loyola-Chicago.

"Nobody (on the team) is on more than half-scholarship, so everyone is still paying at least $13,000 to go to school," he said. "They're making a commitment to play for us."

O'Brien said the majority of his players are majoring in business or accounting. The team's cumulative grade-point average is above 3.0.

[V]

UH hopes to build on momentum, but a tough Loyola-Chicago comes in on a five-game win streak

By Grace Wen
[e-mail]

After a smorgasbord of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation teams, the Hawaii volleyball team has something a little different on the menu this week.

The second-ranked Warriors (11-5) have a midseason break from the rigors of MPSF play with two non-conference matches against No. 12 Loyola-Chicago (10-3). But the Ramblers aren't necessarily lighter than Hawaii's heavy regime of tough conference foes. In fact, the Warriors don't expect a respite at all.

"I don't know what kind of breather it is," Warriors coach Mike Wilton said. "This team beat the tar out of Ball State and I thought Ball State was as good as most of the MPSF. They beat them 3-0. It's just more of the same. It's another good team coming in.

"I knew they were going to have a lot of guys back. We don't have any cannon fodder. There is none. Adopting an attitude that this is a breather could be a fatal flaw."

The new-and-improved Warriors don't seem headed toward that fatality. After turning a corner at Brigham Young, Hawaii seems to have shaken the inconsistencies that plagued its path earlier this year.

The Warriors put together solid back-to-back performances against Pepperdine last week. Splitting the series was the best Hawaii could do at this point in the season as it tries to gather more momentum. The Warriors eye this week's matches as potential building blocks.

"They count in the overall record and since we don't have any chance of hosting the MPSF, we're trying to improve our overall record so we can have a chance to get an at-large bid," All-American Costas Theocharidis said.

"I hope we carry the momentum that we have built from BYU and the Pepperdine matches. We just want to go into the playoffs having a big winning streak. Ever since we started playing as a team and got chemistry going, we've been having really competitive practices and raising the level.

"We don't show the inconsistencies we had in the beginning of the year. We have an upward trend coming. We're going to get better and better. We're trying to get as confident as we can for the playoffs."

Their confidence may not be built at the expense of Loyola-Chicago. Since the teams began playing each other in 2000, the Ramblers have been steadily improving.

Loyola-Chicago picked up its first win of the series last year when it shocked Hawaii in the season opener. This year, the Ramblers are streaking and have lost just one game in winning five straight matches. Loyola-Chicago knocked off perennial Midwestern powers Ohio State and Ball State in the last two weeks.

"The team is playing pretty well right now," said first-year head coach Tim O'Brien. "We're looking not to peak in February. We want to keep playing some good ball and keep improving and make sure we're staying on top of our game as the season progresses."

The Ramblers are making O'Brien's adjustment to coaching in Division I look easy. O'Brien came to Loyola-Chicago from Springfield College after Gordon Mayforth resigned to coach in Japan.

O'Brien may be a little wet behind the ears, but his players aren't. Senior setter Shane Davis distributes an even offense, with Justin Schnor blasting 4.67 kills a game. Three other players (Dan Kellum, Dan Haas and Mike Alesch) put away over two balls per game, while middle Shawn Schroeder delivers over three kills a game.

"The best part is that we've got a bunch of older guys playing for us," O'Brien said. "Five of those guys were impact players on last year's team. They know how close they've been the last two seasons to winning the MIVA title and they're pretty driven to get themselves back into position to play for that title again."

The Ramblers are on spring break. They arrived in Honolulu yesterday and had a beach workout.

[V]

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Why, as singer Avril Lavigne might ask, does the University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team have to go and make things so complicated?

How could a program, dependable in almost every way, offer such riddles as:

• Why does UH struggle in Game 3?

In 16 matches this season, the Warriors have won 37 of 59 games. But while they have a combined record of 23-9 in Games 1 and 2, their third-game record is 7-9.

UH coach Mike Wilton theorized that a quality schedule makes it difficult for the Warriors to dominate a match. Of the nine times the Warriors have won the first two games, they are 4-5 in Game 3.

"For anybody wondering, there are no lollipops on our schedule," he said.

Another factor is the extended intermission between Games 2 and 3 in matches played in the Stan Sheriff Center. For most road matches, that intermission is three minutes, the same time span as the break between the other games. But UH's marketing department requested a 10-minute break between Games 2 and 3 for home matches; the usual three-minute intermission applies for the other breaks.

"It's kind of a momentum buster," outside hitter Tony Ching said of the extended intermission.

"The first year," senior outside hitter Costas Theocharidis said of the 10-minute break "really bothered me. You have so much energy in the game and you have to take 10 minutes off. That kind of throws you off. It takes you out of your rhythm. There are times we're up 2-0 and the opponent will come back and just beat us. It really bothers me."

In six Mountain Pacific Sports Federation home matches this season, the Warriors are 1-5 in Game 3.

• Why does UH split so many two-match series?

When it comes to the 12-member MPSF, the parity's over. The 10 California teams play home-and-home series against one another. UH and Brigham Young play two-match series against the other MPSF teams, alternating home sites every year. For instance, if UH hosts a two-match series against UCLA this year, next year the teams will meet in consecutive matches in Los Angeles.

Wilton acknowledge that it is a "difficult chore" to win consecutive matches against an MPSF opponent. If a team wins the match, it can correct mistakes in time for the rematch. UH has split five of the six two-match series this year.

Wilton said the consecutive-match format was developed several years ago as "a cost-cutting measure of some kind. Nobody (from California) wanted to travel to BYU or Hawai'i every year."

What's more, led by a bloc of Southern California schools, the MPSF voted not to implement a film-exchange program among member schools. Because all of UH's home matches are televised and available through satellite transmissions, opponents are able to scout the Warriors. In contrast, sometimes the UH coaches don't learn of an opponent's lineup change until the pre-game introductions.

Wilton said such disadvantages are "volleyball life for us. We have to deal with it. That's all we can do."

• Why does UH middle blocker Brian Nordberg use that unique serving style?

Some believe Nordberg's serving style resembles a badminton player's. Others believe he appears to be chasing butterflies.

"It's a running jump-float serve," Wilton said.

After a running start, Nordberg will jump as he approaches the serving line and strike the ball as if he were rabbit-punching a speed bag. By design, the ball will float in front or to the side of passers, making the receiving team scramble to start its offense.

Nordberg's serving style, in a rotation of rippers, is likened to "a power pitcher who all of a sudden can throw a knuckleball," Wilton said. "Brian knows where he wants to serve it, and he makes his directional changes at contact. The ball can go to so many areas. I guess that's why baseball catchers wear big mitts when they catch knuckleball pitchers."

Nordberg said he tried to develop a jump serve soon after transferring from UC Santa Barbara in August 2001. But a chronic shoulder injury made it "difficult to spend the time I wanted to in the gym," he said. "I couldn't split time hitting balls in practice and working on the jump serve."

He settled on the jump-float serve, which gave him the momentum from a running start without adding stress to his right shoulder.

Nordberg is tied with setter Kimo Tuyay for the team lead in serving accuracy (.947), committing four errors in 76 attempts.

"It's all about team responsibility," he said. "I want to get a serve in (play). Hopefully, that takes off a lot of pressure on the other guys. I think if they know I'm consistent, they can go out there and bomb their serves. I kind of like playing that team role, even if it means sacrificing a little bit on my serve."

• Explain Nordberg?

"You definitely can't describe him as normal," team captain Eyal Zimet said of Nordberg, who wears a headband made of Saran Wrap. "He's the most positive abnormal person I've met."

Wilton said Nordberg, who often performs yoga-like stretching exercises before matches, is a "free spirit."

Theocharidis said the best explanation can be found at the multi-plex.

"Go watch the movie, 'Old School,' " Theocharidis said of the comedy starring Will Ferrell. "He's the main character. The way he acts and behaves, he's an 'Old School' guy. If you see the movie, he's not hard to explain."

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Excerpt from the article-

What's more, led by a bloc of Southern California schools, the MPSF voted not to implement a film-exchange program among member schools. Because all of UH's home matches are televised and available through satellite transmissions, opponents are able to scout the Warriors. In contrast, sometimes the UH coaches don't learn of an opponent's lineup change until the pre-game introductions.

Wilton said such disadvantages are "volleyball life for us. We have to deal with it. That's all we can do."
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What bloc of southern calif coaches? Scates, Dunphy, Douglas, Preston? Anyone else think Hawaii gets screwed every year?