Notebook
Monday, October 20, 1997
University of Hawaii team physicians upgraded senior quarterback Tim Carey to questionable for this weekend's game against San Diego State. Carey has been sidelined for a month with a separated shoulder he injured at UNLV. Carey cleared but his
By Paul Arnett
return date uncertain
Star-BulletinEven though he is expected to return to practice for the first time since September, Rainbows head coach Fred vonAppen won't automatically put Carey at the top of the depth chart. He will have to earn the starting position from Josh Skinner, vonAppen said.
"I feel pretty much pain-free," Carey said last week. "The muscles are a little sore, but the shoulder is fine. I'm hoping to be playing, if not this weekend, then by the Air Force game (Nov. 1)."
The UH medical staff believes Air Force is a more realistic target date. While Carey has thrown passes of 30 yards or more without any hitches in his shoulder, full contact this weekend against San Diego State might be rushing things a bit.
"We don't want to get ahead of schedule," Dr. Darryl Kan said. "The worst thing that could happen is for Tim to get hit on that shoulder before it's ready and be lost for the season He could play this weekend against San Diego State, but we're still looking at Nov. 1 as a more realistic date."
Hawaii is 1-2 since he went down in the fourth quarter of the 25-15 loss at UNLV. The Rainbows lost at Colorado State (63-0), they beat Fresno State (28-16) and lost at BYU (17-3) this past weekend.
Josh Skinner has done an admirable job as Carey's replacement. He has completed 39 of 69 passes for 415 yards and one touchdown. He has been intercepted twice.
"Josh has come in and helped keep us competitive while Tim was out," UH offensive coordinator Wally English said. "Unfortunately, he's not tall enough for the drop-back passing offense that we want to run."
THARP BOTTLED UP: After running for 149 yards against Fresno State, Charles Tharp barely saw the light of day against the stingy BYU defense. He finished with 53 yards on 19 carries.
"They did a good job controlling things up front," Tharp said. "I was a little worried about my shoulder (he injured it against Fresno State), but after I took a couple of hits, I was fine. They just have a good front seven."
As a team, Hawaii failed to rush for 100 yards against a Division I opponent for the fifth time in six games. The Rainbows managed only 54 yards on the ground.
"It's tough to win a football game when you get that low of a total on the ground," vonAppen said. "Like anything else, you need to be able to run because it sets up everything else. They had a good defense, but we knew that."
SHROUT GOES DEEP: Chad Shrout continued to punt the ball well and often. He had nine kicks against the Cougars for an average of 48.2 yards. It kept him at the top of the WAC with a season average of 47.3. He is ranked No. 3 in the nation.
On the down side, Shrout might have outkicked his coverage on the 83-yard punt return for a touchdown by Jaron Dabney that set the tone early in the game. But if you ask Shrout, there were some flags that should have been thrown during that return.
"I got it a little too far down the field," Shrout said of the 64-yard bomb. "But there were several illegal blocks on that return. The guy blocking me held me so bad. It was like a hockey fight. He was practically pulling my jersey over my head. The referee was standing right there, but he didn't throw the flag."
BY THE NUMBERS: Hawaii kept its firm hold on last place in the WAC in third-down conversions. The Rainbows came into the BYU game with a .255 average. After converting on only 3 of 16 vs. BYU, UH's average dipped to .246.
INJURY UPDATE: Defensive linemen Bob Piggot (knee) and Matt Elam (neck) didn't make the trip to BYU, and are doubtful for the San Diego State game.
Wide receiver Eleu Kane and safety Ron Wood are questionable after both suffered mild concussions. Kan won't know if either can play for sure until this weekend's kickoff. Any time a player suffers a concussion, they must remain under observation for at least a week.
The alarm clock went off earlier than expected. Golden Hurricane
By Cindy Luis
put Wahine on alert
Star-BulletinThe University of Hawaii women's volleyball team wasn't anticipating much of a match last Saturday against Tulsa. The No. 16 Wahine obviously thought wrong, being pushed to four games for the first time in seven WAC matches by the Golden Hurricane before winning, 13-15, 15-10, 15-3, 15-9.
But the wake-up call could prove to be timely with Hawaii playing its next five matches on the road, beginning with this week's trip to Fresno State Thursday and San Jose State Saturday.
The Wahine are packing along several win streaks, including 42 straight in conference play, 19 in a row in road league matches and 21 on the road during the regular season.
"It's going to be a tough road trip," said setter Nikki Hubbert, after Hawaii improved to 15-4 overall, 7-0 in WAC. "We dropped our level of play (Saturday) and we can't do that on the road. We need to play at our level and be consistent all the time. We need to put this behind us and be ready for the trip."
"It's always harder to play at someone else's home with their crowd behind them," said Leah Karratti, who came off the bench to spark the Wahine with nine kills and seven blocks in the final three games. "Every team wants to beat us when we go there. We need to raise our level of play."
Hawaii can take a big hint from Tulsa, which slid into the Special Events Arena on a 13-match losing skid. The Golden Hurricane pulled out a stunning rally in Game 1, coming back from deficits of 4-10 and 8-13 to take a game off Hawaii for the first time since the Wahine lost to Loyola Marymount in five on Sept. 20.
"Tulsa really surprised me," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji. "Watching film, you kind of get an idea they're a good team but when you look at their stats, who they've lost to, how many they've lost, you can't believe they're going to give you any kind of game. That's what we got caught up in.
"This will definitely fire us up when we go to Tulsa (Nov. 14). We'll have to do much more than just show up. I can't believe that team is 4-21. That was not a bad team out there."
It was, however, a typical night for the Golden Hurricane (4-21, 0-7). According to their coach, Didier Hemelsoet, "You saw both our teams today, the good one and the bad one.
"I don't know if we had a game plan for Hawaii. I told my players this was like a chance of a lifetime, to come play in an arena like this. It's not going to happen every night that you get a kill and 9,000 or however many people are going to clap for you. I told my team, 'Try and stay on the court as long as you can.' "
The 2-hour and 8-minute match lasted probably an hour longer than most of the 5,661 expected. Some of it was due to a lackluster Hawaii performance, some of it was the inspired play by Tulsa's Kristien Van Lierop (17 kills, 17 digs) and Erin Johnsen (15 kills).
Hawaii's block finally slowed Van Lierop after she had picked up 12 kills in the first two games and Johnsen eight. The biggest wall was put up by Karratti and senior Cia Goods, who combined for six of the Wahine's nine blocks in the final 53 minutes.
The Golden Hurricane wasn't downgraded to a tropical depression until late in Game 4 after clawing to within 9-8 and 11-9. About the same time that the scoreboard experienced a power outage, Hawaii pulled the plug with a run of four match-ending points.
Goods was the only Wahine in double-kill figures with 16.
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