Wahine starting to
By Cindy Luis
pull away in WAC Pacific
Division race
Star-BulletinLindy Vivas' premonition proved to be a fortuitous one for both the Fresno State and Hawaii women's volleyball teams. Going into Saturday's match against San Diego State, Vivas, the Punahou School graduate who coaches Fresno State, felt her team had a very real shot at beating the Aztecs. The Bulldogs not only helped their own chances in the WAC Pacific Division race but also those of the Wahine with a 15-9, 13-15, 15-9, 15-11 upset of the Aztecs Saturday. The win kept the gap between second-place San Diego State and third-place Fresno State to one game, while allowing Hawaii to increase its divisional lead to two games over the Aztecs.
"Fresno winning certainly helps us out," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji, whose team beat San Jose State, 15-5, 14-16, 15-4, 15-7, Saturday afternoon. "But we have five (WAC) matches to go and we want to win them all."
Hawaii (17-4, 9-0) can edge a little closer to its second consecutive Pacific crown this week when it travels to San Diego State Thursday and UNLV Sunday. The WAC matches bookend a confidence-testing nonconference contest at No. 2 Long Beach State Saturday, renewing a heated rivalry between the former Big West foes.
"I'm sure Long Beach is waiting to pay us back for the last time when we thumped them," said Shoji, whose then No. 1-ranked team swept the 49ers in straight sets on consecutive nights in 1995. "And we're looking forward to playing for the first time in The Pyramid (Long Beach State's home arena). We might end up playing there for a regional.
"But the focus this week is conference. We'd love to get a win Thursday and then see how competitive we are with a Top 10 team."
The top two teams in both the Pacific and Mountain divisions earn first-round byes in the WAC Tournament, Nov. 24-28, in Las Vegas. Last season, the Wahine lost the WAC tournament championship to BYU but then defeated the Cougars in the regional final to advance to the final four.
After going eight matches without dropping a game, Hawaii has needed four games to win each of its last three matches. But the Wahine are way ahead where it matters -- in the win column, with 11 straight this season, 23 consecutive in regular-season road matches and 44 in a row in conference play (Big West and WAC combined).
Hawaii got all-conference performances Saturday from its two seniors. Outside hitter Therese Crawford put down 24 kills with just two errors in hitting .564; blocker Cia Goods had 15 kills and 12 blocks.
Goods' effort gave her 501 career total blocks, moving her into the No. 3 spot on Hawaii's all-time career list. She surpassed All-American and current UNLV coach Deitre Collins (500), but isn't likely to catch the two All-Americans ahead of her: Suzanne Eagye (743) and Angelica Ljungquist (733).
Hawaii had 20 team blocks against the Spartans, three of those coming in an 8-0 run that finished the 1 hour, 40 minute match.
"San Jose is much improved over the last time we played them," said Shoji.
He isn't as sure about San Diego State. His Wahine swept the Aztecs, 15-11, 15-13, 15-8,on Oct. 4 at the Special Events Arena.
"I expect that they're smarting from the loss to Fresno," Shoji said of the Aztecs. "I'm not totally surprised they lost to Fresno. But when you're on the road things happen. We're expecting a good match from them."
WAC women
Pacific Division
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Hawaii 9 0 1.000 -- 17 4 .810 San Diego St 7 2 .778 2 11 8 .579 Fresno St 6 3 .667 3 16 8 .667 So. Methodist 5 4 .556 4 15 11 .577 San Jose St 4 5 .444 5 11 10 .524 Texas Christ 2 7 .222 7 11 13 .458 Rice 2 7 .222 7 5 18 .217 Tulsa 1 8 .111 8 5 22 .185
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Brigham Young 9 0 1.000 -- 19 4 .826 Colorado St 8 1 .889 1 19 3 .864 Utah 7 2 .778 2 17 5 .773 Wyoming 5 3 .625 2-1/2 13 9 .591 New Mexico 3 6 .333 6 10 12 .455 Texas-El Paso 2 7 .222 7 12 8 .600 Air Force 0 7 .000 8 5 18 .217 Nev-Las Vegas 0 8 .000 8-1/2 7 13 .350
Wyoming at Air Force
Hawaii at San Diego St., 5:30 p.m. HST
UTEP at New Mexico
Utah at Colorado St.
Air Force at UNLV
Tulsa at Rice
BYU at Wyoming
Fresno State at TCU
San Jose State at SMU
Hawaii at Long Beach St., 5:30 p.m.
Rice at UTEP
BYU at Colorado St.
Fresno State at SMU
New Mexico at Tulsa
San Jose St. at TCU
Utah at Wyoming
San Diego St. at Air Force
Hawaii at UNLV, 2 p.m. HST
1997 UH Wahine Volleyball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
