'Bows ready for road test A sweep at USC would give Mike Wilton 100 wins at UH
By Cindy Luis
Star-BulletinAfter nearly two weeks of hammering out the dents and putting the wheels back on, the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team comes out of the body shop, ready to tackle the road. The Rainbows (2-1) are back at full strength with the return of senior hitter Naveh Milo, their leading passer.
No. 5 Hawaii hopes to return from its season-opening conference trip with two victories over No. 12 Southern Cal (1-1), which would give Mike Wilton 100 wins as the Rainbow coach.
Hawaii lost Milo with a quadriceps pull early in the season-opening match with Penn State. The senior practiced sparingly with the team last week and didn't participate in Friday's match with the alumni.
"When we lost Naveh, the wheels came off and went in four different directions," said Wilton, who is in his sixth season at UH. "We had him back for the first time all the way through practice on Monday and it was the best practice of the year.
"He adds so much just with his leadership factor. He solidifies the passing games and brings a lot of heat on the left side with his hitting and with his jump serve. More than anything, he's got a court presence."
That presence is crucial for Hawaii, which will start four newcomers, including a freshman setter, against Southern Cal. The Trojans are looking to avenge their two losses to the Rainbows at the end of last season that lifted Hawaii into the playoffs and helped eliminate USC.
Southern Cal opened the year with a 3-0 win against Cal State San Bernardino, but lost to Long Beach State, 3-0, Saturday.
The Trojans return two starters from last year's 9-10 team - 6-foot-10 senior middle blocker Szilard Kovacs and 6-5 sophomore setter Donald Suxho.
"Besides a real good setter and their big guy Kovacs, I don't know a heck of a lot about the rest of them," Wilton said. "They've got a bunch of new guys, just like us.
"For us right now, it's more of a function of putting things together on our side. I can't even make a judgement about our team yet. I'll know more this weekend when we play with Naveh in there."
The Rainbows, with 11 players on the travel roster, figure to start three freshmen and a sophomore along with seniors Milo and Sivan Leoni. Jorge "Coco" Perez will set with 6-9 sophomore Andre Breuer and 6-7 freshman Dejan Miladinovic in the middle and freshman Jorge "Jito" Alifonso at swing hitter.
"It is a pretty big jump for our freshmen to be jumping right into the MPSF, but I think they can hack it," Wilton said. "Not only do we need to find out what kind of road team we have, we need to find out what kind of team we have, period.
"We're fortunate that our tougher matches, on paper, are scheduled at home. But we need to get these two on the road. We definitely are a work in pro-gress."
Hawaii is in the Pacific Division of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, along with No. 4 Long Beach State, defending NCAA champion Stanford, Pacific, San Diego State, UC San Diego and Southern Cal. Of the division opponents, Wilton figures the toughest test will come from Long Beach State, which the Rainbows host Feb. 18 and 20.
Top-ranked UCLA and No. 2 Brigham Young should battle for the Mountain Division crown. Both will come to Hawaii for the single crossover conference match.
The remainder of the division: No. 3 Pepperdine, No. 8 UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Northridge, Loyola Marymount and UC Irvine.
MPSF volleyball
Tomorrow: No. 5 Hawaii (2-1) at No. 12 Southern Cal (1-1), 3 p.m.
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