Keeping Score
By Cindy Luis
Wednesday, April 24, 1996
Friday, Hawaii faces UC Santa Barbara in the second semifinal of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's volleyball tournament. That match will start 30 minutes after UCLA and Cal State Northridge finish their 5:30 p.m. semifinal.
The question is: When will that be?
Why not allow the home team to keep close to its game-day routine by giving it a definite starting time? The matches are sold out and how many of the 10,225 fans bought tickets to see the Bruins and the Matadors?
"The coaching staff had hoped to play the first game," said Rainbow assistant coach Tino Reyes. "It's not so much having to wait around (for the second match to start). It's the potential of maybe not getting out of the arena until after midnight if both matches go long. It's a question of our not having 24 hours of recovery time before having to play again.
"We thought it would be to our advantage to play first."
This same scenario happened when the Wahine volleyball team hosted the Northwest Regional last December. Michigan State and San Diego State started at 6 p.m. and finished close to 8:30, the time the Wahine-Arizona State match was originally scheduled.
The Wahine warmed up in the arena hallway, and then had to reheat themselves after the first semifinal finally ended. The victorious Spartans watched a little bit of the second match, then headed to their hotel room at a decent bedtime hour.
Host Hawaii and Arizona State battled for two hours. The winning Wahine got to bed well after midnight.
The next night, Hawaii saw its unbeaten season and 31-game win streak end three points short of the final four.
Interestingly, Stanford took advantage as host of the West Regional and played the first semifinal. The Cardinal went on to Amherst, Mass.
Even more interesting, the NCAA Volleyball Committee has decided from now on that the host team will always play the second match. Hmmmm.
Friday's start times were dictated by the MPSF, according to Marilyn Moniz-Kahoohanohano, UH's assistant athletic director. Tradition dictated Hawaii playing second.
"Usually, the home team plays the second match," she said. "For the audience's sake, the premier game is at the premier time. When you're at a neutral site, the advantage is given to the higher seed, and they may choose to have the first time because the audience doesn't matter.
"I think most people want to see both games," Moniz-Kahoohanohano added.
There isn't much choice. With a 7 p.m. baseball game between Hawaii and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at adjacent Rainbow Stadium, quarry parking will be at a premium.
Volleyball fans will need to come early to get a parking space in the inadequate (3,000 spaces) structure or otherwise be redirect ed to the upper campus lots.
The UH administration argues that by having the Rainbows play the second match, Hawaii fans will be able to arrive at their leisure and not have to fight the Aloha Friday traffic. For the counter-arguement, please see the preceding paragraph.
"I think there's pluses either way when talking about playing the first or the second game," said Wahine associate head coach Howard Wallace. "With the second game, you get used to seeing your crowd, all 10,000, early and can start focusing on the match instead of the fans."
At least for this tournament, the point is moot. City ordinance prohibits UH from playing before 6 p.m.
Speaking of breaking a routine, Hawaii coach Mike Wilton decided to sequester his team this week from the media.
There are no interviews until tomorrow's press conference and no open practices.
Who would have thought that this would ever happen in men's volleyball?
Wilton felt his players were becoming too distracted by the fanfare to focus on the playoffs.
He wasn't the only one with the cloak-and-dagger routine. UCSB coach Kenny Preston didn't even want to release his travel itinerary to the Hawaii media.