Wahine look ahead
to WACtournament

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

The Thanksgiving week menu is already set. Stanford for Sunday pupus followed by the WAC Tournament first course against either Utah or Southern Methodist on Tuesday.

The University of Hawaii women's volleyball team expects to see Colorado State for the main course and hopes to be having Brigham Young for dessert. At least that's the holiday plan for the No. 14 Wahine.

Hawaii took care of its agenda Saturday in Houston, completing its third consecutive unbeaten conference season. The 15-7, 15-10, 15-5 victory over Rice gave Hawaii a 14-0 record in the WAC's Pacific Division and ran the Wahine's conference regular-season winning streak to 49.

"I think it's a great accomplishment for a relatively young and inexperience team that lost five senior starters to go undefeated," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji, whose team is 23-5 overall. "It's an accomplishment that I'm proud of.

"We certainly weren't pretty against Rice but we got the job done. I'm happy conference is over. We're looking forward to going to Stanford and peaking for the WAC Tournament."

Freshman Jessica Sudduth led Hawaii Saturday with 13 kills. Senior Cia Goods added 11. The Wahine had 17 team blocks with Jenny Roberts in on eight of them and Goods seven.

Shoji got the matchup he had hoped for when Wyoming upset Colorado State last week. The Rams' loss broke a first-place tie in the Mountain Division, giving Brigham Young the Mountain's top seed in the WAC Tournament.

Barring any upsets. Hawaii would see Colorado State in the semifinals. The Wahine's first tournament match is Tuesday against the winner of Monday's SMU-Utah match.

"Colorado State is the team we wanted to match up with because they're ahead of us in the regional rankings," Shoji said. "We feel we need to beat them so we can host (NCAA Tournament first- and second-round matches). Obviously, we'd like to play BYU in the finals."

The Cougars upset the Wahine in the tournament final last season. Hawaii defeated BYU in the NCAA regional final two weeks later, eventually losing to Stanford in the NCAA title match.

"We're looking forward to playing another Top 4 team," Shoji said of the No. 3 Cardinal. "We'd like to try and redeem ourselves for the last outing against a top team."

The Wahine were humbled two weeks ago at then-No. 2 Long Beach State, 15-8, 15-5, 15-0, the lowest offensive output in the history of Hawaii's program.

VULCANSREACHPOSTSEASON: The University of Hawaii-Hilo women's volleyball team, which in the previous 19 seasons missed the playoffs only three times are headed back after a year off.

UH-Hilo is the fourth seed in the four-team NCAA Division II Northwest Regional, Saturday and Sunday, in Denver.

"We're very excited to still be playing," Vulcans' coach Sharon Peterson said yesterday.

The unranked Vulcans (18-11), winners of their last five matches, will face No. 4 Regis, the top seed, in Saturday's second semifinal. No. 11 Metro State, the second seed, faces third seed and 17th-ranked Southern Colorado in the earlier semifinal.

Peterson was named the Pacific West Conference Coach of the Year last week.

Vulcan junior hitter Ginelle Palau and Chaminade junior hitter Doris Bikar were named co-players of the year. Palau was also tabbed as newcomer of the year.

Joining Palau and Bikar as first team selections were Chaminade senior Danielle Robins, last year's player of the year, and Vulcan freshman Meliah Hai-Kelly.

WAC women

Pacific Division

Conference Overall

W L Pct. GB W L Pct.

Hawaii   14 0 1.000- 23  5 .821

Fresno St   11 3 .7863 22 8  .733

x-San Diego St  11 3 .7863 16 9  .640

San Jose St  7 7 .5007 15 12  .556

So. Methodist   5 9 .3579 15 17  .469

Texas Christian  4 10 .286 10 13 16  .448

Rice    3 11 .214 11 6 25  .194

Tulsa    1 13 .071 13 6 29  .171

Mountain Division

          Conference         Overall

      W L Pct. GB  W  L  Pct.

Brigham Young   13 1 .929- 23 5  .821

Colorado St  12 2 .8571 24 4  .857

Wyoming   10 4 .7143 18 10  .643

Utah    9 5 .6424 20 8 .714

New Mexico   6 8 .4297 14 14  .500

Texas-El Paso   4 10 .2869 15 11  .577

Nev-Las Vegas   1 12 .077 11 8 18  .308

Air Force   0 13 .000 12 5 26  .161

x-San Diego State wins coin flip for Pacific second place

Sunday's match

Hawaii at Stanford, 2 p.m. HST