PROVO,Utah -- Six points away from Los Angeles. Rainbows have major
rebuilding job aheadSo close, they could see the big blue curtain in UCLA's Pauley Pavilion.
So far that they now can only see 1998.
The closest the University of Hawaii men's volleyball team came to the site of this week's Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament semifinals was when the Rainbows' flight from Utah stopped at L.A. International en route to Honolulu last evening. There will be no return trip across the Pacific tomorrow nor a semifinal match with Stanford on Thursday.
Brigham Young spoiled Hawaii's hopes for a third consecutive final four appearance Saturday with an emotional comeback victory at Smith Fieldhouse. The 13-15, 6-15, 15-11, 15-12, 15-13 win by the Cougars took 3 hours and 14 minutes, including a 22-minute delay while emergency medical personnel tended to BYU's Ryan Millar, the MPSF Player of the Year, who slipped during a spike attempt and hit his head on the court.
Millar flashed victories signs to the deafening partisan crowd of 5,347 as he was wheeled out on a gurney, his team leading 4-3 in Game 4. His 'V' ironically would end up indicating the two-point margin of victory in the deciding fifth game.
Hawaii could -- and should -- have won the match, taking a commanding 9-3 lead in Game 3. Six more points and the Rainbows would have swept the Cougars, winning in Provo for only the second time in six trips.
But the team that had walked the tightrope between greatness and disaster most of the season fell when there was no safety net. For the fifth time in five matches -- six if you count the 1996 national title match against UCLA -- Hawaii could not win a rally scoring Game 5.
"Maybe this was our destiny," said junior captain Naveh Milo, who finished with 31 kills as Hawaii finished the year at 18-11. "I have a theory that if a team isn't playing well the whole year, it all comes back in the end. This was the closest Game 5 we had all season but it said so much about our season.
"It was 13-13 (in Game 5) and we needed something to big to happen. It didn't. But we lost the match in Game 3. We had the points in our hands and we let them get away. We gave them the game."
Milo is one of eight lettermen expected to return next season. He, Sivan Leoni, Kahinu Lee, Jason Salmeri, Mason Kuo and Clay Stanley form a solid base that the Rainbows can build on for next season. But Hawaii will have huge holes to fill in terms of experience with the loss of starters Aaron Wilton, Curt Vaughan, Jason Ring and Rick Tune, as well as senior reserves Kai Kahele and Gavin Cook.
"We're going to have to recruit like crazy," said Rainbow coach Mike Wilton. "That's it in a nutshell."
Wilton is again looking at junior colleges, where he found Ring two years ago, as well as on the international front. So far, the Rainbows have signed one local product in Elijah Neverdon from University Lab School.
"They're going to need experience next season," said Aaron Wilton, who finishes his four-year career as the eighth UH player to record 1,000 kills (1,089) and 2,000 attempts (2,184). "It's going to take more than raw talent to keep us at this level."
The biggest need is at setter. where Vaughan finished his four-year career as Hawaii's all-time assist leader (4,557). He had a career-high 115 assists Saturday night.
"The guys we have coming back can take this team further than we went this year," said Ring, who put down a match-high 33 kills Saturday while playing on a sore right ankle. "Clay is going to be a great middle blocker and Salmeri has proven he can play. I'm confident they can keep the 'Rainbow Fever' alive."
NOTES: Stanford defeated Pepperdine, 15-13, 15-9, 15-13, to advance to Thursday's semifinal against BYU. The other semifinal pits UCLA against UC Santa Barbara. The Bruins swept Pacific, 15-8, 15-7, 15-10, Saturday while the Gauchos eliminated Long Beach State, 15-8, 15-5, 15-11. Ball State and Penn State have already qualified for the NCAA Championship Tournament May 1 and 3 at Columbus, Ohio.
Cindy Luis is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter.
Her column appears weekly.