Rainbows add needed
height for the 1998 season

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

Call it faith. Blind faith.

Mike Wilton puts a tremendous amount of it into his sight-unseen recruiting. All the University of Hawaii men's volleyball coach often has to go on is word of mouth and a grainy videotape.

So far, so good. It's the way Wilton recruited former NCAA Player of the Year Yuval Katz and it's the route Wilton hopes will lead to the Rainbows being at home in the Special Events Arena April 30-May 2 for the NCAA final four.

"Being in the arena then would be wonderful," said Wilton. "But as far as projecting out that far, I'll know more this fall as to how we're going to be. We've got our second annual Block Party (intrasquad scrimmage) on Nov. 15 then have Pepperdine over for a preseason series Thanksgiving week. That should give us a pretty good indication of how we are competitive-wise."

On paper -- make that tape -- the Rainbows look good. And big.

Committing for the upcoming season are 6-foot-7 blocker Dejan Milodinovich from Yugoslavia; 6-7 outside hitter Ole Kaven from Germany; and 6-9 Andre Breuer, the starting middle blocker on the German national team. Also signing are setter Adu Rondo of Brazil and Jorge Alifonso, a 6-3 opposite from Puerto Rico.

Hawaii had three players commit in spring: Elijah Neverdon, a 6-1 hitter from University High; 6-2 freshman hitter Caleb Fetui of McKinley High; and Chris Kosty, a 6-3 junior transfer from Golden West College in California. The Rainbows lost six players from this past year's team that went 18-11 and lost to Brigham Young in the MPSF tournament quarterfinals.

"On tape, they're talented players," said Wilton. "But viewing a tape then putting everyone together in the gym ... there's lot of questions there. I won't bother with any prognosticating on what kind of team we'll have. All I can say is we've got some pretty talented guys coming in. But it is almost like starting completely over."

The only players returning with significant playing time are junior middle Sivan Leoni and senior swing hitter Naveh Milo. Returning junior Mason Kuo is penciled in at starting setter.

Noam Katz, the younger brother of two-time All-American Yuval, is scheduled to join the Rainbows for the 1999 season.

"I'm pretty happy about where we're at right now," said Wilton. "It was a really good summer for recruiting."