League losses
still foreign to UH
Wahine defeat SMU for their
By Cindy Luis
47th straight conference win
Star-BulletinOnly seniors Cia Goods and Therese Crawford can remember a conference loss. As for the rest of the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team, league play has always meant perfection. The Wahine ran their conference winning streak to 47 Saturday night with a 15-0, 15-5, 15-11 victory over Western Athletic Conference opponent Southern Methodist University. This week, Hawaii tries to cap its third straight unbeaten league season on the road against the Pacific Division's two bottom teams: Tulsa on Friday and Rice on Saturday.
The 15th-ranked Wahine (21-5 overall, 12-0 WAC) have not lost a regular-season conference match since Nov. 10, 1994 against UC Santa Barbara. They finished 15-3 in the Big West that year, 18-0 in the Big West in 1995 and 16-0 in the WAC last season.
"I think it's important for us to finish league play by winning these games," said Goods, who hit .700 and had five blocks against the Mustangs. "It will give us good momentum going into the (WAC) tournament. I'm excited about getting back out on the road and playing like we did tonight.
"It was really fun and it was exciting to see such a nice crowd come out to support the seniors," she said of Saturday's match. "Everyone had a really good time."
Everyone except the Mustangs, who lost their fifth straight. If the WAC standings don't change between now and the end of the regular season, SMU could play Hawaii again in the tournament quarterfinals.
UH has clinched the Pacific Division's top seed and a first-round bye in the tournament Nov. 24-28 in Las Vegas. On Nov. 25, Hawaii will play the winner of the SMU-Wyoming match.
"I'd like to see Hawaii again," SMU coach Lisa Seifert said after her team dropped to 15-16 and 5-8. "It would mean that we won our first-round match. We're already in the tournament, which was one of our goals. Our next goal is to win that first-round match and see how far we can go."
Seifert said she was apprehensive about playing at the Special Events Arena. SMU, a second-year program with five sophomores and three freshmen among 10 scholarship players, averages 291 spectators at home matches.
Saturday, there were 7,567 spectators. The Mustangs had played in front of a combined total of 7,630 for home and away matches coming into the match.
"You do get concerned about how the kids are going to respond to this environment," Seifert said.
"One thing I am proud of is that they didn't become cowards. They weren't frightened or intimidated. But they were playing against, as far as I'm concerned, two All-Americans in Goods and Crawford."
Said UH coach Dave Shoji:"Therese didn't have many opportunities for spectacular kills. But this was more of an emotional night for the seniors. We weren't looking for big numbers from them. But we need to try to get them bigger numbers the next few matches so they both can make All-American. I think they both deserve some consideration."
WAC women
Pacific Division
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. x-Hawaii 12 0 1.000 -- 21 5 .808 Fresno St 10 3 .769 2-1/2 20 8 .714 San Diego St 9 3 .750 3 14 9 .609 San Jose St 7 6 .538 5-1/2 15 11 .577 So. Methodist 5 8 .385 7-1/2 15 16 .484 Rice 3 9 .250 9 6 23 .207 Texas Christian 3 10 .231 9-1/2 12 16 .429 Tulsa 1 11 .083 11 6 27 .182
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Colorado St 12 1 .923 -- 23 3 .885 BYU 12 1 .923 -- 22 5 .815 Utah 9 4 .692 3 20 7 .741 Wyoming 9 4 .692 3 17 10 .630 New Mexico 4 8 .333 7-1/2 12 14 .462 Texas-El Paso 2 10 .167 9-1/2 13 11 .542 Nev-Las Vegas 1 10 .091 10 8 16 .333 Air Force 0 11 .000 11 5 24 .172x-clinched Pacific Division title
San Diego State at Rice
Fresno State at San Jose State
Colorado State at Wyoming
UTEP at UNLV
Hawaii at Tulsa, 4 p.m. HST
SMU at TCU
New Mexico at Air Force
Brigham Young at Utah
Hawaii at Rice, 4 p.m. HST
San Diego State at Tulsa
Fresno State at CSU Sacramento
UTEP at Air Force
Denver at Colorado State
New Mexico at UNLV
1997 UH Wahine Volleyball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
