It's never too early to teach the basics.

At 6:15 Monday morning in Gym I, Hawai'i volleyball coach Mike Wilton asked left-side hitter Matt Vanzant to do a standing-broad jump.

Wilton marked the spot of the landing, then asked for another jump, saying, "this time focus on the double-arm lift."

Swinging both arms upward during the takeoff, Vanzant jumped a couple of inches farther.

The double-arm lift, which is used at the end of the four-step takeoff on serves, "is the key," Wilton insisted. "Serving is all about technique."

The Warriors worked solely on serving during Monday's 90-minute practice in preparation for Wednesday's road match against UCLA.

The Warriors hope to avoid last week's implosion, when they failed to serve accurately or forcefully in losses to Loyola-Chicago and Penn State.

The serving problem "is the hottest iron in our fire right now," Wilton said.

At its root, a volleyball offensive system is the pass-set-spike sequence. A tough serve is the best way to take an offense out of system.

"That's all the game is: serving and receiving," UH middle blocker Dio Dante said.

The Warriors' problems were twofold. They missed too many serves and, when they become too cautious, that led to easy passes. Loyola-Chicago noticed the Warriors were tentative, especially on their first serves. The Ramblers made a point to attack quickly on first serves.

"We're giving up too many easy points with easy skills we should be good at," UH setter Brian Beckwith said.

Wilton said some Warriors lost confidence in their ability to serve tough consistently.

"We're afraid to miss our serves," Beckwith said. "When you begin worrying too much, that piles up into more missed serves."

Dante added: "It's pretty much what you battle in your head as a player. When you get behind the service line, there's nobody else to help you. It's all you back there. It's all on your shoulders. If you can overcome that, then you can become a great server. That's what separates the good players from the not-so-good players."

Each Warrior launched scores of serves during Monday's practice.

Wilton implored them to make the proper strides in the right-left-right-left takeoff.

"It should be big, bigger, biggest," Wilton said of the steps.

When opposite attacker Jim Clar was inaccurate on serves down the line, he was encouraged to launch crosses.

Beckwith, who worked all summer on his jump serves, now is focused on his jump-floats.

"It gets in," he said of the float serve, "and it scores points. You bet I'm sticking with it."

UH also played a game of "Ace the Wiz," in which hitters served against liberos Eric Kalima and Mike China. None of the servers managed an ace.

"I bet a lot of our practices are going to be like this for a long time until things start to really improve," Beckwith said. "It's going to be serving and serving and passing and passing."

Hakala said he is not concerned about the collective serving problems.

"I've played volleyball for 18 years," said Hakala, a co-captain. "Even the youngest of my teammates have played this game for five years. (The skill) is not going to disappear overnight. We're Division I athletes. If you look at it that way, it's hard to lose confidence. Everybody knows it's going to fluctuate. There are going to be off nights and good nights. But as long as you can keep that goal in mind, you can do it."

The Warriors, who departed Monday afternoon, were scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles Monday night. They brought 13 players.

The final spot went to Michael China, a backup to libero Eric Kalima. China was picked over Ric Cervantes, who started the first two matches, because of his serving. China and backup setter Sean Carney are the pinch-servers.

Wilton said he has not decided between Matt Vanzant and Jake Schkud as the second left-side hitter. Vanzant is the better passer; Schkud is the superior hitter.

"By committee, we're going to have to do it for a while," Wilton said. "If some guy falters, then we've got to bring somebody in. Schkud came in and gave us a lift (last week). A fireman's role might be very invaluable for us."

Meanwhile, UH fell from No. 3 last week to No. 9 this week in the CSTV/AVCA coaches' top-15 poll.

Brigham Young, which won the Outrigger Invitational, ascended to No. 1, replacing UC Irvine.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.