By Daniel Miller
Daily Bruin Reporter
The No. 2 men’s volleyball team will face two players UCLA
head coach Al Scates called “the best” when it matches
up against No. 3 Hawai’i Friday and Saturday night at the
Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
Scates called junior outside hitter Costas Theocharidis, who was
the 2001 AVCA National Player of the Year and the 2001 MPSF Player
of the Year, the best hitter in the country, noting that he
“is a great blocker too, he is just a great all-around
player.”
Theocharidis is second in the nation with 5.6 kills per
game.
In senior middle blocker Dejan Miladinovic, the Warriors have
the leading blocker in the nation (and the best, according to
Scates) as Miladinovic averages 1.73 blocks per game.
The Bruins (23-4, 15-3 MPSF) beat Hawai’i 3-0 Jan. 19 to
win their fourth straight Outrigger Hotels Invitational title as
junior middle blocker Scott Morrow limited Theocharidis to a .200
hitting percentage, below his average. Morrow will not have the
chance at a repeat performance as he is sidelined for up to four
weeks with a tear in his quadriceps tendon.
Scates said junior outside hitter Eyal Zimet is another player
the Bruins will have to limit because he is a “great passer
and digger.”
“We have the edge in setting, and our libero (sophomore
Adam Shrader) is better than theirs ““ he is one of best in
the league,” Scates said
The Bruins will face the Warriors (17-6, 14-4 MPSF) in front of
approximately 8,000 people.
Freshman outside hitter Jonathan Acosta, who has been plagued by
a torn abdominal muscle for much of the season, did not travel with
the team, and his status will be reevaluated Thursday as he begins
to work on strengthening the torn muscle.
In Acosta’s place, Honolulu native sophomore outside
hitter Parker Smith will see playing time.