Hawai'i / UOP

[Barefoot In Kailua]

Warriors win an exciting game one 37-35.

[georgia(pacific)girl]

Thanks for the update, keep us posted ;D

[Barefoot In Kailua]

Hawai'i takes game two 30-27

The Tigers are down 2 games to none, but they hanging tough.

[dreamteam]

30-27 Hawaii wins game two
Check out the webcast:
www.k5thehometeam.com/

[Barefoot In Kailua]

Hawai'i wins game three 30-27
Takes the match 3 games to none 37-35, 30-27, 30-27

Congrats to the Tigers on their season, and for putting up one heck of a fight. UOP battled hard all night.

Congrats to the Warriors, Keep on rolling !

[SC1]

I heard Wachfogel got hurt anyone who saw the game have any details?

[Psychopotamus]

He wasn't hurt it was cramps. Pretty bad ones judging by how he kept falling down everytime he jumped.

[georgia(pacific)girl]

Thanks Barefoot, our newspaper didn't have a summary of the game this morning. Good luck to the Warriors.

[V]

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer


The University of Hawai'i men's volleyball team went through the spectrum of emotions — frustration, anger, elation — in gaining a 37-35, 30-27, 30-27 playoff victory over Pacific last night in the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Warriors, seeded third but ranked No. 2 nationally, advanced to Thursday's semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament in Malibu, Calif. Top-ranked Pepperdine plays UC Irvine in the other semifinal.

The winner of the match between UH and No. 2 seed Brigham Young is expected to earn, at the least, the at-large berth in next month's NCAA final four.

"Whoever wins that one is going to be in," UH coach Mike Wilton said.

But the Warriors stumbled in the first step of their quest of repeating as national champions, falling behind 6-1 in Game 1.

Later, the Warriors were scolded twice — the first when Tony Ching hit a shot after referee Verna Klubnukin whistled the play dead, and then when Costas Theo-charidis, penalized for stepping across the 3-meter line during a back-row attack, punted the volleyball. Theocharidis received a yellow card, and the Tigers were awarded a point for the attack error and a bonus point for the penalty.

"It was frustration," Theo-charidis said. "A stupid call ruins everything. I got mad at myself, but I said either I'm going to let the call bother me for the rest of the game or I'm going to let my anger out. I did what I did."

Wilton said: "We absolutely do not condone that type of thing. It was poor to do that, but it wasn't like a real horrible sportsman thing. It was a young man being frustrated. That's how I took it. He apologized, and I accepted the apology. That was the end of that."

The Tigers served for game point six times, the last at 35-34 following Martin Bernsten's ace. But his ensuing serve did not clear the net, and Theocharidis hammered the next two kill attempts.

"That first game set the tone," UH setter Kimo Tuyay said. "If we lost that game, our hopes would have been down."

Instead, the Warriors seized the ebb and flow of the match. In Game 2, it was the Warriors' turn to take a 6-1 lead.

After that, the Warriors rotated leading actors. Middle blocker Delano Thomas, who wore a waist-wrap to ease lower-back spasms, controlled the middle — he finished with seven of the Warriors' 13.5 blocks — and slowed the Tigers' offense with blistering serves. The Tigers used five passers, two more than usual, to receive Thomas' jump serves.

"For some reason, I was jumping a lot higher," said Thomas, who is 6 feet 7. "That helps with the serve."

Thomas, who missed last week's regular-season finale because of back spasms, kept his pledge to play last night. "It's the playoffs," he said. "You can't sit out the playoffs. It's one loss and you're done for the season. I was going to play no matter what."

Ching, one of four seniors playing his final match in the Stan Sheriff Center, contributed 19 kills and four blocks. Theocharidis had 18 kills and outside hitter Eyal Zimet had 10 digs.

"We have so many guys who can step up," Tuyay said. "My job is to find those guys. I've got the easiest job: find the guy who can put the ball away."

Zimet said: "I'd hate to be our opponent because you have to pay attention to everybody."

When the Warriors appeared to be unraveling early, because of jitters and frustration, they found calming guidance from two unlikely sources — Ching, nicknamed "Testosterone Tony" for his angry play, and Thomas, the quietest starter.

"It's a team of leaders," said Zimet, the team captain. "Everybody is a leader. Everybody steps up at the right time. That's why we're so dangerous."

Ching said: "We wanted to make good plays and do big things. We were a little hyped. We know we had to settle down. We told ourselves not to worry about the score. Once we worried only about our side of the net, we played better."

The Warriors will leave Tuesday for Malibu, site of the tournament's semifinals and championship match. The tournament winner earns the MPSF's automatic berth in the final four. UH has never won this tournament.

But this time, Theocharidis said, "We think we can run the table. That's our goal."

Box Score
the.honoluluadvertiser.com/dailypix/2003/Apr/20/volleybox.gif

[V]

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

Everyone knows that Hawai'i men's volleyball coach Mike Wilton can dance the haka. He's also a pretty cool coach.

He showed that last night in a critical Game 1 when UH nearly unraveled against Pacific in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament's opening round.

Wilton refused to panic after his defending national championship team fell behind 29-26 and his best player, Costas Theocharidis, kicked the volleyball into the upper bowl in frustration.

"You gotta be patient," said Wilton, who said he had no intention of taking Theocharidis out of the game. "The frustration was running real high. We had some calls go against us that were kind of hard to believe, but that's life. That's volleyball. We had composure when it mattered the most."

With Wilton sitting calm on the sideline, Hawai'i overcame six game points by Pacific and rallied to win 37-35 with Theocharidis hammering the final two points. Hawai'i went on to win the next two games by identical 30-27 scores. Hawai'i will play BYU in the semifinals at Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif.

"I have faith in these guys," Wilton said. "They were making me nervous. We were making a lot of errors, but the effort was there. I really felt it was just a matter of time."

The Warriors are trying to become the first team to win back-to-back national titles since UCLA accomplished the feat in 1995-96.

"He's a real even-keeled person," Hawai'i outside hitter Tony Ching said of Wilton. "That's his character. He just kind of sits there and lets things go where they may. It's good for our team because we have a lot of fired-up people. He keeps us nice and relaxed instead of being all emotional."

Wilton has pushed all the right buttons this week in preparation for the MPSF Tournament.

On Monday, Wilton played the role of Waikiki beach boy, allowing his team to bond and relax at the world famous beach.

But by midweek, Wilton turned serious and answered media questions only about Pacific.

Apparently, Theocharidis got the serious message. Hawai'i's star opposite hitter said he kicked the ball to vent his frustration at an officiating call.

"I decided either I have it in my mind, and it's going to bother me for the rest of the game, and it's going to affect my performance, or I'm just going to let it out," Theocharidis said. "So I decided to kick the ball. Good thing we didn't lose the game because of that. We came back and played really well. I think the whole match was the first game."

Added Pacific outside hitter Aaron Wachtfogel: "You never know what kind of match it could be if we would have won Game 1. It's a big game when you're playing it, and it would have been big to win, but you've got to forget about it after that."

[V]

By Leila Wai
Special to The Advertiser

Grimacing and clutching his back, Delano Thomas turned away, then turned around again and faced the net, taking up his front row position.

He moved with the serve from senior Tony Ching, which came back over the net on an overpass. Thomas leapt up and slammed the ball down for a kill.

Game 2, Warriors.

Thomas, who has been suffering from back spasms and wears a brace for support, made Pacific feel his pain in helping the University of Hawai'i to a 37-35, 30-27, 30-27 sweep of the No. 7 Tigers in an MPSF Tournament first-round match last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"It's sore, but it will be all right," Thomas said. "It's great when I play, as long as I play and keep moving it is all right. Towards the end it got a little sore."

The 6-foot-7 middle blocker injured his back over a week ago, and has been undergoing ice treatments and electrical stimulation. He missed UH's last regular-season match of the season against USC.

Last night he finished third on the team with eight kills, hitting .353, behind Ching (19) and Costas Theocharidis (18).

It was his blocking, however, that may have had the biggest impact on the game. The role of the middle blocker is to at least get a touch on the ball, slowing it down so the defenders have a chance to play it.

"Delano was just awesome tonight," fellow middle blocker Brian Nordberg said. "I think the best thing about Delano's game is that he does it all: everywhere from hitting to blocking to serving, he's just an animal.

"He's really diverse and tonight he just had a great blocking game. It is really fun to watch him."

Thomas finished with seven blocks, including teaming up with setter Kimo Tuyay to give Hawai'i its first lead of the first game at 20-19. His lone solo block gave the Warriors a 31-30 lead in the same game.

He also joined up with Eyal Zimet and Theocharidis for a triple block that ended the match.

"My blocking was on tonight," Thomas said. "I felt like I knew where the ball was going."

Hawai'i coach Mike Wilton said the Warriors ran some blocking schemes and that Thomas made some "nice" reads on the Tigers' hitters.

The team leader in service aces with 40, Thomas added three more against Pacific.

"Serving too, he's just a bomber," Nordberg said.

[V]

Hawaii beats Pacific after winning a frightening first game

By Grace Wen
[e-mail]

On the brink of a very long night after a disastrous start, second-ranked Hawaii dug deep and redirected itself to a thrilling sweep of seventh-ranked Pacific to advance to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation semifinals.

Before an exuberant crowd of 6,399 at the Stan Sheriff Center, the Warriors defeated the Tigers 37-35, 30-27, 30-27. Hawaii (24-5) will travel to Pepperdine for the MPSF semifinals and face second-seeded Brigham Young, a 3-1 winner over Cal State Northridge. The top-seeded Waves swept eighth-seeded Long Beach State and will play fifth-seeded UC Irvine, which defeated Stanford in four games. Pacific ends the season at 18-14.

"It was a big test and we had answers when it really, really mattered," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "We did a gamut of things you don't like. We squandered some pretty nice leads and we had to come from way back in Game 1.

"Give Pacific credit. They didn't go away. What showed tonight is that Pacific has been playing at a higher level of intensity than we last played them. We've been kind of a modified cruise control and they've been battling tooth and nail every time out. They were a little more comfortable with the heightened anxiety."

The first playoff match for the Tigers in four years ended after Game 1. Pacific coach Joe Wortmann stood the entire match and paced the sidelines, but he couldn't help his team on the court.

"The guys were literally leaving body parts on the floor," Wortmann said. "We did put ourselves in a position to win a game or even be right there in Games 2 and 3. They stepped up when they had to, Eyal stepped up at the end of the second game. I told my guys we'd play as hard as we can. When it started, they looked a little rattled."

The Tigers' Achilles' heel was their serving (four aces, 13 errors) and Wortmann was hoping that at the crucial times, his team wouldn't miss from the serving line, but it did.

The Warriors, meanwhile, seemed startled by the ferocity at which the Tigers attacked them in the beginning.

"It wasn't very good preparation for the playoffs, our last few games," said senior Eyal Zimet, who had five kills. "We had a rough start. They were really on their serves tonight. We had a few bad passes and mistakes in the beginning. But we were consistent enough to come back slowly and tire our opponents and that's what happened.

"We knew we were going to prevail. We were good enough when we needed to be. I wouldn't want to be our opponent."

Hawaii seemed like a great opponent, as the Tigers pounced on the Warriors early. In mere minutes, Hawaii dropped into a 6-1 hole in Game 1. The Tigers were more aggressive with their serving and opened the game hitting 1.000, with four different players getting kills. But Pacific's serving would cool off.

Hawaii played a pulsating game of catch-up to clean up their early mess. The Warriors were down by at least three most of the game until a serving run by Brian Nordberg revived Hawaii. Nordberg's first serve hit the tape and dropped over for an ace. Ching blasted a kill, and Delano Thomas and Kimo Tuyay stuffed Aaron Wachtfogel for the Warriors' first lead of the game at 20-19. Hawaii used a 6-4 run to squeeze ahead 26-23.

But Pacific responded with a 6-0 run to get to game point first. Wachtfogel shot a ball into the deep right corner that landed out, but officials called it good. The point started a run in which Hawaii unraveled and only recovered after staring at game point for the Tigers. But Pacific couldn't finish, as their serving failed them again. The Tigers missed nine serves, including three that could have ended the game.

Nils Dauburs served into the bottom of the net and it was the new life Hawaii needed. Theocharidis went back to the service line, ripped an ace and Hawaii got a key block from Ching and Nordberg to tie the game. There were five ties after 30 and the Tigers went up 35-34 off an ace by Martin Berntsen. But Berntsen misfired on game point and the Warriors would close out the game on two kills from Theocharidis, who finished the night with 18 kills.

Hawaii's momentum carried into Game 2, as the Warriors built a 6-1 lead. Pacific continued to battle and would tie the game at 11, but the Tigers could not overcome the hump to get ahead. Senior Tony Ching blasted through the block for a match-high 19 kills. Ching nearly closed out Game 2 for Hawaii, getting three of the Warriors' final five kills in the game.

"We were overexcited I think," Ching said. "We had four seniors, we all wanted to have good games for the last home match. We settled in and started playing well. Game 1 could easily have gone the other way. We focused in and did our thing.

"Winning Game 1 was a big factor. They were up big on us. They had many opportunities to put us away."

Hawaii opened a 14-7 lead in Game 3 that spelled the end for Pacific.

Wachtfogel and Berntsen led the Tigers with 15 kills. Sophomore Brian Zodrow, a Saint Louis alumnus, had six kills.

[V]

By Cindy Luis
[e-mail]

Where is a match won and lost? What are the intangibles, the little things, that are the difference between going on in the playoffs and going home?

When Hawaii and Pacific look back on last night's first-round match, the teams will be able to point to the defining moment as coming late in Game 1. It was some 30 minutes into the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation postseason contest at the Stan Sheriff Center, a match that would last 1 hour and 52 minutes and end with a 37-35, 30-27, 30-27 Warrior victory.

Taking Game 1 had been important all season. The Warriors were 2-2 when dropping the first set, the Tigers 3-8.

But Hawaii didn't appear to be in danger of losing Game 1 for the first time since March 14. The Warriors looked to be cruising to their 14th consecutive win, up 26-23, and looking at point No. 27.

That is until UOP's Aaron Wachtfogel hit an angle shot to the deep back corner. The Warriors saw it as an out ball; the crowd of 6,399 saw it as an out ball; television replays showed it as an out ball.

The linesman saw it differently and that was all that mattered. Instead of 27-23, it was 26-24. Then 26-25 as the normally supportive fans were uncharacteristic with their boos, even jeering the "sportsmanship reminder" made over the public address system.

The Tigers grabbed the momentum and swung it around for another four points, using an ace, a Warrior net violation, the ensuing yellow card on Costas Theocharidis for kicking the ball and a kill by Wachtfogel on an overpass to reach game point at 29-26.

Where would it go from here?

"The whole match was that first game," said Theocharidis, putting down 18 kills. "I'm just happy that it (the yellow-card point) didn't lose the game for us. We came back and played really well after that.

"Game 1 was big for us and big for them. After losing, they seemed to get tired and we took care of business."

Next up is a trip to Pepperdine and Thursday's semifinal with BYU.

When Hawaii got rattled in Game 1 after the bad call, it reminded some of the 1996 NCAA title match, when the Warriors were two points away from defeating UCLA in four. Instead, Hawaii hung on to a bad call and never shook it off, losing Games 4 and 5 and the banner.

But not last night. Tiger coach Joe Wortmann's worst fears of poor serving during a critical situation were realized when Nils Daubers served into the bottom of the net.

An ace by Theocharidis. A block by Tony Ching and Brian Nordberg. And Hawaii was back on the tightrope at 29-29.

The Tigers had five more game points, the Warriors two. But Hawaii made its second one count, with three unanswered points-- two on kills by Theocharidis -- to pull it out at 37-35.

"We've been in that spot before, we've been down 29-24 and come back to win," said Ching, who had a match-high 19 kills. "We never feel we're out of it. They were up a bit on us, had many opportunities to put us away. Winning Game 1 was a big factor

"They gave us a great match, battled with us, dug everything. It was a great atmosphere to play in and should be a good sendoff for next week."

Wortmann's focus will be on next season.

"Let's talk about how well we played," said the UOP coach. "We played well in Game 1 and it set the tone for us, showed that we were going to play as hard as we could play.

"We've gotten better since they last saw us (last month). If they weren't focused tonight, they would have lost that first game. If they weren't focused, they may have lost the match. To their credit, they stepped it up. They're the reigning national champs and they know they'd better play hard and they'd better play well."

[vbfanny]

I thoought maybe UOP could do it!!! OH WELL

[tigfan]

Costas is a great player...and the Hawaii men's team played well... but I have to be honest when I say that Costas' temper tantrum on the court changed my impression of him. I'm not going to defend the call...as there were many questionable calls both ways all night... but c'mon... don't take your ball and go home. He's lucky he only got a yellow card... He was punished for it, the Tigers got a free point, and Hawaii still won anyway, but Costas lost some respect from me. Good luck to the Hawaii vs. BYU. You gave my Tigers a good match.

PS... If the whole Olympic thing doesn't work out, the San Francisco 49er's might need a punter... I'm not sure the "punt" will be tolerated at the international level...

Just my opinion