By Stephen Tsai
stsai@staradvertiser.com
Entering the final weekend of the regular season, the Hawaii volleyball team remains in contention for the final berth in the eight-team Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs.
“Stayin’ alive,:” UH coach Charlie Wade said. “I need to do John Travolta dance moves.”
The Warriors, who are 8-14 in the MPSF, need to win both road matches against UC San Diego on Friday and Saturday while Cal State Northridge (9-14) must lose its regular-season finale against Long Beach State on Saturday.
The Matadors, who won both matches in Honolulu last month, own the tiebreaker against the Warriors.
The Matadors have lost four in row and eight of their past nine matches. They are closing the season with six consecutive road matches. They are 4-8 in away matches this season.
“Obviously, we have to win on Friday,” Wade said. “If we do that, it’ll make for a very interesting Saturday night.”
The Warriors did not practice on Wednesday because of their travel schedule. They departed Honolulu early Wednesday to Los Angeles, then caught the connecting flight to San Diego.
“We got the connection so we didn’t have to drive from Los Angeles,” Wade said.
The Warriors also brought their usual travel players. Outside hitters Siki Zarkovic, JP Marks and Johann Timmer were held out of the match against the alumni this past Sunday. All three traveled to San Diego.
Wade said he expects all three to be available against the Tritons.
“Even if we have guys down, the A side/B side thing all year has been a coin flip,” Wade said of the daily scrimmages between the first and second units. “There’s not much difference from anybody we’re starting.”
The Warriors won the first 39 matches overall against the Tritons, but are 4-4 in the past four years. The Tritons are 4-18 in the MPSF this year, but defeated UC Irvine at home and went to five sets against the Anteaters on the road.
The Warriors practiced Monday and Tuesday in Manoa. They will have a full practice today.
