By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Heidi Ilustre tries to split two Pacific blockers
in UH's loss last night.
Pacific hands Wahine
third straight defeat
Hawaii needs a spark to halt
By Cindy Luis
its longest losing skid at its
on-campus court in 12 years
Star-BulletinThe Domino Effect. That's how Nikki Hubbert explained why the Wahine's traditionally solid fortress has turned into a fragile house of cards. "One person, one part of the game starts to go and the rest follows," the University of Hawaii setter said after last night's 14-16, 15-13, 15-8, 15-9 loss to No. 8 Pacific at the Special Events Arena.
It took 2 hours, 16 minutes for the Tigers (6-2) to hand the Wahine (5-3) their third consecutive defeat at home, the first time that has happened since 1992. Since two of those losses were at Blaisdell Arena, the last time Hawaii lost three straight at its campus court was 1985.
"Everyone just needs to go out and do their part," said Wahine senior blocker Cia Goods. "I don't think it's a lineup change that's needed.
"A lot of times, we go off into our own little worlds. You can feel it. It just takes one person to be out of it."
Last night, the Wahine were in it but never in control. Even in Game 1, when Hawaii held off three game points to rally from 14-12 to win 16-14, there appeared to be no confidence or a killer instinct.
There also were major breakdowns in passing and communication. Hawaii coach Dave Shoji used 12 players, looking for some chemistry. A spark. Anything short of a tourniquet.
"We need to stop the bleeding right now," said Shoji, looking ahead to this week's matches with No. 15 Loyola Marymount. "We want to make sure our players aren't accepting losing, not getting complacent by saying they'll just work on it in practice.
"I thought we fought in spurts but we have to fight all the time. We need to find some way to get our hitters some kills."
And Hawaii will have to find ways to get players other than Therese Crawford the ball. The senior co-captain again had the majority of the team's kills (18 of 56) and swings (49 of 175) but became less effective (4 kills, 4 errors, 10 attempts in Game 4) as Pacific continued to double up its block.
"You know the ball is going to Therese and she's a very capable player," said UOP coach John Dunning. "So you have got to play the odds (with the double block). She had 18 kills but we did a very good job on her at the end.
"I went through what Dave's going through in 1988, when we had five starters graduate. It's brutal. Especially when one starter is your setter who is an All-American (Robyn Ah Mow) and the other is the MVP of the country (Angelica Ljungquist).
"I hope the people here have patience because the Rainbows are going to be very good. They haven't lost to bad teams. I think they're going to be good by the end of the season."
Right now, the Wahine need to be consistent, particularly with passing that allows a varied offense. The middle attack was one of the few bright spots last night -- Goods put down 12 kills and Jenny Roberts a career-high eight -- but it was more like Russian roulette on the outside, where four players combined for 15 kills.
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Wahine players desperately tried to regroup while
losing their third straight match of the season, the
first time that has happened to the team at
its on-campus facility in 12 years.
At 0-7 in Game 4, Shoji went to redshirt freshman setter Keala Nihipali. She provided a lift that sparked the team to close to 7-8 and 9-11.As they had done all night, the Tigers came back with a streak of points. Danielle Shinn served for three straight and on the third match-point attempt, Crawford and Heidi Ilustre collided in a miscommunication over a dig.
It was that kind of night. Goods said she doesn't want it to be that kind of season.
"If we worry about the past, we're going to keep losing," said Goods. "We have to move on, have to accept this loss. Mentally, people are taking themselves out of the game. We need everyone to keep their heads in the game and do their part.
"It's easy to be up and excited when you're winning. It takes something else when people get down and keep digging a deeper hole."
"We need to find the attitude to win," said Nihipali. "Everyone is telling us to step up, step up. We know we'll get better but we have to get better fast."
"I knew they weren't going to play well together," Dunning said of Hawaii. "Just like I knew about us. We had three sophomores and a freshman out there for most of the night.
"For some reason, our team decided to be determined and not let one screwed-up play affect the next."
Pacific also had five players in double-kill figures, led by All-American Addie Hauschild (17 kills, 19 digs and 4 blocks). Shinn finished with 14 kills and 11 digs and Jennica Smith 13 kills and 11 digs.
At Special Events Arena Wahine box score
Pacific def. Hawaii, 14-16, 15-13, 15-8, 15-9
Tigers (6-2 overall)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Sjosten 1 1 0 3 .333 0 1 0 Hauschild 4 17 4 30 .433 0 4 19 Dimitrijevic 4 4 1 10 .300 0 1 5 Tran 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Rosenquist 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Bronson 1 0 4 8 -.500 0 0 0 Veidemann 4 10 3 34 .206 0 4 5 Jensen 4 0 1 1 -1.00 0 0 7 Chambers 4 10 4 18 .333 1 6 5 Shinn 4 14 9 32 .156 1 3 11 Smith 4 13 7 33 .182 0 3 11 Cotelli 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Totals 4 69 33 169 .213 2 22 67
g k e at pct. bs ba d Crawford 4 18 13 49 .102 0 2 8 Karratti 1 0 2 2 -1.00 0 0 0 Goods 4 12 3 27 .333 1 7 2 Cordray 3 2 1 17 .059 0 1 4 Sudduth 3 8 7 33 .030 0 2 9 Nihipali 1 0 0 1 .000 0 1 3 Elkington 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Hubbert 4 3 0 5 .600 0 4 15 Miyashiro 4 0 0 1 .000 0 0 6 Roberts 4 8 3 20 .250 0 6 0 Lee 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Ilustre 4 5 3 20 .100 0 3 4 Totals 4 56 32 175 .137 1 26 59Key: g-games. k-kills. e-hitting errors. at-attempts. pct.-hitting percentage. bs-block solos. ba-block assists. d-digs.Aces--UH (6): Cordray 2, Sudduth 2, Crawford 1, Hubbert 1. UOP (6): Smith 2, Shinn 1, Hauschild 1, Chambers 1. Assists--UH (52): Hubbert 35, Nihipali 6, Ilustre 5, Crawford 4, Cordray 2. UOP (63): Dimitrijevic 58, Hauschild 3, Veidemann 1, Jensen 1.
A--6,897. T--2:16. Officials: Ernest Ho, Wayne Lee.
1997 UH Wahine Volleyball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
