The word came at about 6 a.m. yesterday from the NCAA volleyball committee. Hawaii's season is alive for at least one more match.
"I kind of had the idea we were in but it was reassuring to finally get the word," said Hawaii senior captain Erik Pichel, whose team joins host UCLA, Penn State and Lewis in the title event starting Thursday. "I think the hardest thing (after Friday's semifinal loss to UC Santa Barbara) was looking at the disappointed faces of all our fans. After all their great support all season vxxx it hurt to lose for us, but to disappoint 10,000 people (in the arena) and an entire state was very hard."
It wasn't a hard choice for the three-man selection committee, said committee chair Bob Hiegert. The three teams considered for the at-large spot were Hawaii, midwest runner-up Ball State and UC Santa Barbara, which lost in five games to UCLA in Saturday's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title match Saturday at the Special Events Arena.
"We go by the book, go right down the list for criteria," Hiegert, the Cal State Northridge athletic director, said last night in a phone call from California. "Ball State was eliminated first, based on head-to-head (losses to UCLA, Penn State and Hawaii). On every point, Hawaii was a notch above Santa Barbara. Overall record, strength of schedule, record against common opponent. The only one Hawaii wasn't was in head-to-head with Santa Barbara, and that was tied 1-1."
When asked what the decision would have been had UC Santa Barbara defeated UCLA for the automatic berth Saturday, Hiegert said the committee didn't discuss the what-ifs.
"Let's just say it would have been a very interesting discussion," he said.
Hawaii (26-2), seeded second, will meet third-seeded Penn State (24-5) in Thursday's first semifinal at 2:30 p.m. HST. It is will be a rematch of last year's semifinal at Springfield, Mass., which the Nittany Lions won in five games. Hawaii defeated Penn State in the second match of this season in straight sets.
The second semifinal has defending national champion UCLA (24-5) against midwest champion Lewis (31-4). The Bruins, 22-0 in the nine NCAA tournaments that have held at Pauley Pavilion, are seeking their 16th championship in 27 years; the Flyers are making their first final four appearance.
Lewis, competing at the Division II level in all sports except volleyball, lost to UCLA March 8 in straight sets. Five days earlier, the Flyers rallied to beat UC Santa Barbara in five, a loss that hurt UCSB's at-large chances, according to Hiegert.
This trip to the final four promises to be kinder on the Rainbows' body clocks. A year ago, Hawaii flew back home from the regional in Los Angeles then flew to Massachusetts two days later.
The tournament format has also changed. For the first time there will be a rest day in between the semifinals and Saturday's championship.
"Last year, that trip was very tough on us," said Hawaii coach Mike Wilton. "This time, it's a short jaunt, one that we made three times in the regular season."
Wilton said, based on the at-large criteria, he wasn't worried about his team getting selected for the second consecutive year.
"But there's always that human factor that you can't count on," said Wilton.
The fourth-year coach said that, except for some hurt egos, the Rainbows were healthy and happy to have a chance at redemption.
"It's one thing when you lose if you gave it your all and felt like you played well," said Wilton. "That's easier to take. But when you lose like we did, trying hard but not playing well, it's harder to take. Our guys will come out and tell you they didn't play well."
"We kind of blew it," said Pichel. "But it's almost a good thing. There was almost getting to be a sense of arrogance with everyone coming up and telling us how good we were and how we were going to win it all.
"Friday was a good reality check. We want it more now I'm hungry to win again. We're ready to get back to our usual selves."