Hawai'i Pounds UC San Diego

[Ninja]

Zimet 13 kills as 11 of 12 Warriors see action

3/26/2003 -LA JOLLA, Calif. EThe Warrior volleyball squad posted their eighth consecutive victory and improved to 12-5 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play tonight, as they put together a team effort to defeat UC San Diego, 30-25, 30-19, 30-26.

With the nation's leading kill and point producer Costas Theocharidis taking a night-off, 11 of the 12 Warriors on the active roster saw action in Hawaii's first straight set sweep of an MPSF team since Feb. 14, when the men of WarEtook care of eighth-ranked Cal State Northridge.

Senior outside hitter Eyal Zimet led all attackers with 13 kills, hitting .611 with just two errors in 18 attacks. Seven other Warriors attacked at over .300, as Hawaii hit .458 as a team.

The action opened with UC San Diego seizing the early momentum, moving-out to a 7-4 lead. The Warriors caught-up to the Tritons at 11-11 after a kill one of a game-high eight kills by Zimet. After trading points for a few more serves, Hawaii finally began to pull away as they neared the home stretch of game one, putting together three straight points to take a 19-16 lead.

But the Tritons fought right back, running-of three points of their own to draw even with the Warriors at 19-19. After going point-for-point with UC San Diego for a few more scores, Hawaii rode a kill and a block assist by Thomas and another Zimet kill to lead 24-21. Five more Warrior kills sealed the fate of the Tritons, as Hawaii took the first game, 30-25.

With junior setter Kimo Tuyay distributing the balls, Hawaii out-hit UCSD, .442-to-.314. Ching followed Zimet's eight terminations with six of his own, hitting .462. Zimet committed only one attack error in 12 swings to hit .583 in the frame.

Warrior boss Mike Wilton emptied his bench-save Theocharidis-in the second game, as every Hawaii player besides the three-time All-American saw action. The Warriors led early and never looked back, jumping-out to an 8-2 lead en route to the 30-19 victory. UC San Diego called a timeout trailing 19-10, as Hawaii out-hit the Tritons, .571-to-.000 at that point.

Zimet again set the tempo in the second game, recording four kills on as many attempts before being subbed-out by freshman reserve Arri Jeschke. Seven different Warriors recorded kills in game two, as the “Men of WarEout-hit the hosts, .583-to-.071. Sophomore setter Daniel Rasay entered the match with Hawaii up 20-10, and promptly carried the Warriors to an attack percentage of over .600.

The Tritons fought hard again to open the third game, sticking with the national champions up until both teams were deadlocked at 11-11. But Hawaii got it together shortly after, storming off to a five-point run to lead 16-11. Azenha gave the Warriors another boost, recording a kill and two service aces to help Hawaii run-of four straight points.

Hawaii stretched their lead out to 29-24 at their first crack at match point, but UC San Diego recorded consecutive points, before Jeschke recorded the game's final point on his third kill of the evening.

The Warriors and Tritons will conclude their MPSF series on Friday, with another contest scheduled for 7 p.m. Volleyball fans can tune to the action on the radio on KKEA AM 1420, with Scott Robbs calling the shots. Internet listeners can tune into KKEA's broadcast, through the University of Hawaii athletics website, at uhathletics.hawaii.edu.

(Story courtesy of Hawai'i sports information office.)

AVCA Link:
www.avca.org/CollegiateDetail.asp?id=275&catid=6

Stats:
athletics.ucsd.edu/mvbfol/03mvb22.htm

[V]

It's nice to read the stats to see Bender played a full match and tallied up 8 Kills .357. Just too bad this match wasn't played in Hawaii for I would've loved to have seen Jeschke play (which he did in this match) as well.

[V]

Advertiser Staff

Even with its best player on the bench and three starters suffering from persistent coughs, the second-ranked University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team showed no ill effects yesterday, cruising to a 30-25, 30-19, 30-26 victory over UC San Diego in LaJolla, Calif.

The Warriors, who have won all 28 matches in this series, improved to 18-5 overall and 12-5 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The Tritons, who have never won more than two MPSF matches during a season, fell to 5-17 and 1-16.

UH will clinch a berth in the MPSF Tournament if it wins tomorrow night's rematch or if UCLA loses to Cal State Northridge tonight.

Last night, the Warriors won without outside hitter Costas Theocharidis, who was rested, allowing second-year freshman Matt Bender to start at opposite hitter.

"Bender has been working very hard," UH coach Mike Wilton said. "He's been a thorn in their side in practice. We wanted to give him a chance."

Bender, usually the serving specialist, had eight kills and six digs.

"It was a lot of fun," he said. "It was nice to be relied upon. It was good to know that my coach trusts me and my teammates trust me. That's the best feeling in the world. That's why people play team sports."

UH libero Jake Muise said he had little doubt Bender would play well.

"Those guys," Muise said of the UH reserves, "play against the best every day. I have the most faith in them."

By the middle of the third game, 11 of the 12 players on the active roster had played. The lone exception was Theocharidis, UH's career kill leader.

"They wanted to rest Costas," Bender said. "We need him for the MPSF (Tournament) and stuff."

Outside hitter Tony Ching, who missed the last two matches because of flu-like symptoms, started despite a persistent cough.

[V]

Warriors notch sweep of Tritons on the road

No. 2 Hawaii has no problem with the MPSF's last-place team

From staff and wire reports. Honolulu-Starbulletin

SAN DIEGO >> After the Rainbow Warriors had several recent dominating performances from the service line, coach Mike Wilton warned them about becoming too reliant on the serve.

Had the Warriors been playing a different opponent, their iffy serving production in the beginning of last night's match might have been costly. But No. 2 Hawaii smoothed out enough serving-wise and controlled the other aspects of the game to pick up its first sweep of a conference opponent in more than a month.

Before a gathering of 462 at RIMAC Arena, No. 2 Hawaii defeated UC San Diego 30-25, 30-19, 30-26 as expected. The Warriors (18-5, 12-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) ran their winning streak to eight. The Tritons dropped to 5-17 and 1-16.

Freshman Matt Bender got his first start yesterday. The 6-foot-3 outside hitter played for All-American Costas Theocharidis, who spent the match in sweats on the bench. Bender swung 14 times and finished with eight kills.

Senior Eyal Zimet led Hawaii in kills with 13 on .611 hitting.

A flu-weakened Tony Ching (seven kills, .375) started the match before ceding his spot on the court to freshman Pedro Azenha, who was blistering at the net and from the service line.

Azenha hammered nine kills in 14 swings with no errors for the best Hawaii hitting percentage (.643) of the match. The rookie also had three of Hawaii's four aces.

"Tony was efficient. He hit for a pretty good percentage," Warriors coach Mike Wilton said. "He doesn't have all of his strength back, there's no question about that, but he needs to play a little bit. I'm hopeful that we have the same good fortune on Friday to play a lot of people."

The Warriors didn't get the chance in Game 1, as the Tritons gave them plenty to handle. UCSD middles Kevin Keyser (11 kills, .625) and Andy Rupp (10 kills) combined for half of the Tritons' kills in Game 1. Hawaii had its hands full before distancing itself after the last tie at 20. The Warriors would made quick work of the Tritons the next two games.

"Their middles gave us problems," Wilton said. "They were setting the middle a lot. We had a little trouble with that. It wasn't going to beat us or anything.

"Game 1 was a little exercise in getting in sync, getting used to not having Costas on the floor. They (the Tritons) played very well in Game 1. They scored almost every time we served them. They had a couple of nice serving runs, so that made the first game pretty close. We took care of business at the end. The wheels kind of came off for them in Game 2."

Hawaii ran the score up to 20-10 in Game 2 before Wilton replaced most of his starters with the reserves. Seldom-used Arri Jeschke replaced Zimet and joined Daniel Rasay, Bender, Azenha and Josh Stanhiser on the court. The Warriors' second team did fine, with Azenha blasting a kill to bring Hawaii to game point. Bender finished the game with one of his two blocks.

Wilton kept in most of the reserves for Game 3, which was close until Azenha's serving took over. With Hawaii protecting a slim lead (16-13), the Sao Paolo, Brazil, native launched back-to-back aces that started a four-point spurt that allowed the Warriors to pull away. His final ace gave Hawaii a 27-21 lead. Jeschke put down the second and third kills of his Hawaii career to conclude the sweep.

"The guys that came in did a great job too," Wilton said. "I don't think we really served great tonight. We served quite a few balls out in Game, 1 but once we got into a nice rhythm and played some pretty good defense. I was pleased. I was expecting a tougher match."

He might get one tomorrow. The second match of the series starts at 5 p.m. Hawaii time.

[socalicolocal]

Hey V, you mentioned that you would have loved to see Jeschke play. i got a copy of the game on video if you are intersted in seeing it.

[V]

Guest-socalicolocal said:

Hey V, you mentioned that you would have loved to see Jeschke play. i got a copy of the game on video if you are intersted in seeing it.

Thanks! I am thinking Wilton may use the same players he did during the UCSD match when USC comes to Hawaii, but if he doesn't, I'll gladly take up on your offer!

Thanks, once again.