Sports Update
Semis automatic
for SeasidersBYUH is two victories away
Star-Bulletin staff
from its fourth straight crown
KANKAKEE, Ill. -- Thirty victories in the books and two to go for the Brigham Young University-Hawaii women's volleyball team in its quest of a fourth consecutive NAIA national championship."I told the team, now that we're going for the championship, to focus on our style, our level and play one situation at a time, one point at a time," BYUH head coach Wilfred Navalta said yesterday. "I want them to play loose and aggressive and try to stay within that context."
In today's semifinal round of the NAIA National Tournament, BYUH will play Fresno (Calif.) Pacific or Rockhurst College (Mo.).
The Seasiders (30-0) finished 4-0 in pool play yesterday morning with a 15-5, 15-1, 15-8 victory over Biola University (Calif.).
Sophomore middle blocker Arlete Silva dominated the match with 23 kills. She had just one hitting error and hit .677 for the match.
In their quarterfinal match, the No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Seasiders sent No. 2-ranked Columbia College (Mo.) home with a 15-8, 15-12, 15-4 victory. It was the third consecutive year BYUH has eliminated Columbia (43-3) in the single-elimination portion of the tournament.
Freshman outside hitter Vanessa Valansi led the Seasiders with 17 kills and hit .406 against the Cougars. Silva had another solid match with 12 kills (.687), four blocks and eight digs.
The only difficulty BYUH encountered yesterday came in the second game against Columbia, when Navalta said the Seasiders became preoccupied with the Cougars' finesse game.
"We looked nervous, became conservative, looked like we didn't want to make mistakes," Navalta said. "In the third game we went back to our style and asserted ourselves."
Sophomore setter Juliana Lima had 41 assists in each match. She has been running the offense a little off center, which has helped open things up for Silva.
"Most of the blockers here aren't chasing one player," Navalta said. "The blockers are reading the set, and by then it's too late (to put up an effective block).
"We made some technical adjustments with Juliana and she is setting much better."
Ana Alves, No. 2 in kills for BYUH during the regular season, had five and three, respectively, yesterday. Navalta praised her court leadership and passing.
BACK IN ACTION: Senior defensive specialist Rachel Nihipali, out with a right elbow separation, and freshman outside hitter Ave Neria, who suffered a back injury in warm-ups Wednesday, both made their first tournament appearances against Biola.
UH swept off its feet
Loyola Marymount ends
By Cindy Luis, Star-Bulletin
Wahine season
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Uninspired. Unmotivated. Disappointing.And that was just the crowd.
Thanks to El Niño-produced rainstorms in the area, only 785 fans made the trip to The Pyramid to see the University of Hawaii live down to the expectations of the NCAA volleyball selection committee.
The 15th-ranked Wahine barely went through the motions in a 15-7, 15-7, 15-4 loss to No. 22 Loyola Marymount last night in the first round of the NCAA tournament. It's the earliest UH has been eliminated in the postseason since 1984.
The victory gives the Lions (22-6) a chance to knock off No. 1 Long Beach State tonight in the second round. The loss gives the Wahine (25-8) a long time to think about next season.
"We never got into it tonight," said freshman Jessica Sudduth, Hawaii's most effective hitter (11 kills, .321). "We knew what they were going to do and we didn't take care of it.
"I can't believe that the season ended like this. There was no excuse for us coming out the way we did. Yeah, we got a bad draw, but you just have to go out and play. For Cia (Goods) and Reese (Therese Crawford) to have to go out like that just breaks my heart."
The match was a brief swan song for the two Wahine seniors, lasting all of 86 minutes. Goods, second in the nation in blocks, had one block assist. Crawford was in double figures in kills for the 23rd time this season (11), but hit only .121. Her season average was .265.
The Wahine were deflated by Sunday's tournament pairings. Making their sixth trip to the mainland in seven weeks added to the fatigue -- mentally and physically.
"As a coach, I had a hard time motivating the team this week," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "The disappointment about the seeding and the placement of our team in the region was overwhelming. It took a lot of wind out of our sails before we got here.
"Tonight, we were never in the game technically. They took us out of our offense. We knew what they were going to do and we couldn't counterattack."
Desperate to shake up his team, Shoji put freshman defensive specialist Tehani Miyashiro into Game 3 as the setter. It was only the second time she played the position this season.
"I was ready for the challenge," Miyashiro said. "I just wanted to go out there and do something, make something happen. I'd rather go in there now than never."
The now-or-never shake-up didn't help, however. The closest the Wahine got in the final game was 9-4 on Heidi Ilustre's ace. The Lions scored the next six points, with senior Sarah Noriega, who shredded Hawaii's block at will, recording two of her match-high 21 kills.
"We came out strong and were very focused," said Noriega, the nation's kill leader. "We focused on what we needed to do, like serving tough. I wasn't paying that much attention to what was happening on their side of the net, but they were subbing a lot, looking for answers."
The Wahine never found them, suffering their fifth straight-set loss this season, the most since 1993.
"We were playing one of the best programs in America and so we feel very fortunate that we were able to execute our game plan against a team like Hawaii," said LMU coach Steve Stratos, who beat Hawaii for the second time in three tries this season. "We were expecting a five-game extravaganza tonight. Goods absolutely killed us the last time we saw her so we wanted not to get the ball to where she couldn't block it. And when we needed a sideout, our setter (Tracy Holman) is an intelligent girl. She knew where to go (to Noriega)."
Noriega was the only Lion in double figures in kills. Holman was successful with her dump shots, finishing with eight kills.
The Wahine were fifth in the nation in team blocking, but were outblocked, 8-4.
"I'm shocked that it's over this way," said Goods, who finished third in career blocks at UH. "It was really disappointing that we were never in the game, especially since we had played them tough before. The intensity wasn't there."
"I'm disappointed in the way we performed," Shoji said. "But I'm not real surprised. You look back on the last couple of weeks and saw signs of this happening. I think the travel and the draw had a lot to do with it. We had no vision that we could go very far in the tournament. That was taken away from us."
Hawaii was greeted by a light rain as it left The Pyramid last night. It was reminiscent of the Manoa Mist back home. But colder. Much colder.
At Long Beach, Calif. Box Score
Loyola-Marymount def. Hawaii, 15-7, 15-7, 15-4
Lions (22-6 overall)
g k e at pct. bs ba dHecker 3 3 1 10 .200 0 0 10Day 3 6 2 9 .444 1 2 0Holman 3 8 1 12 .583 0 0 5C. Weglarz 3 7 2 22 .227 0 2 14Gustorf 3 4 1 11 .273 0 5 10Noriega 3 21 3 42 .429 0 5 7Olivier 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0N. Weglarz 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3Totals 3 49 10 107 .364 1 14 49g k e at pct. bs ba dCrawford 3 11 7 33 .121 0 0 4Karratti 3 4 0 5 .800 0 2 7Goods 3 7 3 17 .235 0 1 2Sudduth 3 11 2 28 .321 0 0 7Hubbert 2 1 2 3 --.333 0 1 7Miyashiro 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 1Cordray 3 1 4 12 --.250 0 0 1Stevens 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0Garber 2 0 1 3 --.333 1 1 0Roberts 3 3 2 11 .091 0 1 0Lee 3 0 0 1 .000 0 0 4Ilustre 3 2 1 5 .200 0 0 1Totals 3 41 22 119 .160 1 6 34Key: g-games. k-kills. e-hitting errors. at-attempts. pct.-hitting percentage. bs-block solos. ba-block assists. d-digs.Aces--LMU (6): Gustorf 3, C. Weglarz 2, Noriega 1. UH (4): Goods 2, Ilustre 2. Assists--LMU (45): Holman 37, Noriega 3, Gustorf 2, Hecker 1, C. Weglarz 1, N. Weglarz 1. UH (39): Hubbert 23, Miyashiro 10, Crawford 3, Karratti 2, Lee 1.
A--785. T--1:26. Officials: P. Malta, B. Oshita.
Wahine try to get back on track
With its modest four-game season-opening winning streak history, the University of Hawaii women's basketball team will try to start another one tomorrow in the Hawaii Invitational. The Wahine play Arkansas State in the second game at 3:37 p.m. after DePaul and the University of San Francisco meet in the 1:30 p.m. opener at the Special Events Arena.Hawaii plays again on Monday at 7:07 p.m. against one of the teams in the tournament. KFVE-TV will broadcast both Hawaii games live. No radio is planned. Tickets are $6 adult, $4 students 14-18.
Cane Fires put zip on Sharks
Shinji Kurano allowed one hit in seven innings and reliever Phil Grundy completed a two-hitter as the West Oahu CaneFires blanked the Honolulu Sharks, 4-0, in Hawaii Winter Baseball play last night at Hans L'Orange Park. Fletcher Bates hit a two-run homer and Chad Whitaker added a solo shot for the CaneFires.Stars 4, Stingrays 3
At Hilo, the Stars struck for three runs in the seventh inning, the last two on Chris Miyake's double, to overtake Maui. JJ. Pearsall held the Stars to one run and two hits over the first five innings, but they rallied against reliever Scott Randall. Maui's Calvin Pickering hit a two-run homer, his league-leading ninth of the season.