Tuesday, October 27, 1998
Long road ahead
for Wahine
The UH women's
By Cindy Luis
volleyball team hopes it
doesn't trip up
Star-BulletinThree matches in four days. Three states. Two time zones.
It adds up to a lot of travel, and even more potential to trip up.
"Anything is possible on the road," said Hawaii women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji. "And I'm saying that in a negative way. Lots of things can go wrong. We just have to guard against them."
The ninth-ranked Wahine left today on their third road trip in three weeks. First up tomorrow is Pepperdine, a dangerous team that took then-No. 17 Loyola Marymount to five games last Saturday on the Lions' home floor.
Last season, the Waves surprised Hawaii in five at the Stan Sheriff Center and "I'm sure they remember last year," Pepperdine coach Nina Matthies said. "It will take a complete effort on our part to win the match because Hawaii does not have any significant weaknesses."
And, as of yesterday, no significant injury problems. All of the Hawaii players were cleared to practice with no restrictions as had been the case the past few weeks.
The Waves are nearly at full strength after two serious injuries and a player suspension left them with no experienced setter. Back in the lineup as a defensive specialist is Melissa Plass, who was the team's starting setter before tearing ligaments in her left thumb during a match Oct. 3.
Also back is senior setter Amanda Spoor, who had been suspended for two matches after violating team rules. Out for the season is junior blocker Jamie Hill, who was accounting for a third of Pepperdine's blocks and was the team's kill leader before fracturing her right fibula trying a jump serve against Santa Clara on Oct. 2.
Of particular concern to Shoji is Pepperdine's 5-foot-10 freshman hitter Lindsay Phillips, who had a career highs of 28 kills and 23 digs in hitting .303 in the loss to LMU. Six-foot senior hitter Kristin Lee was also a force against the Lions, with 21 kills and 15 digs.
"Pepperdine just has a lot of good volleyball players," Shoji said. "But our volleyball players are pretty good, too. We have played very well in our last three matches and we need to continue to play well on this road trip.
"Every match is a big match for us. We can't afford to drop one we shouldn't drop."
The straight-set wins last week over San Jose State and Fresno State were Hawaii's best back-to-back effort of the season. Shoji gave credit to senior setter Nikki Hubbert, who has improved in every skill area from last year, particularly at isolating the block.
"I think I'm seeing the block better," said Hubbert, who has moved up into the fourth sport on the UH career setting list. "With Heather (Bown) out there, you know the other team is always going to commit on her. It opens things up on either side of the net.
"Having her is a big relief because she's so consistent. I count on her to put it down every time."
Bown, a junior transfer from UC Santa Barbara, leads the WAC in hitting percentage and is second in blocks and kills. Although it doesn't count in her statistics at Hawaii, Bown put down her 1,000th career kill with her fourth kill against Fresno State on Friday.
Pepperdine is the third West Coast Conference team Hawaii faces this season. The Wahine have earlier wins over WCC co-leader San Diego and St. Mary's.
The Wahine leave Thursday for Texas, where they will take on WAC opponent UTEP Friday night. On Saturday morning, they leave for New Mexico for a match that night against the Lobos.
UTEP has lost five of its last seven since opening the year 8-3; New Mexico has lost its last seven. Hawaii defeated both in Honolulu earlier this month in straight sets.
UH volleyball
Tomorrow: No. 9 Hawaii (16-2, 7-1) at Pepperdine (11-7), 3 p.m. HST.
AVCA/USA Top 25
First-place votes in parentheses
W L Pts LW 1. Long Beach (37) 20 0 1,477 1 2. Penn St (22) 20 0 1,456 2 3. Nebraska (1) 19 0 1,387 3 4. BYU 20 1 1,314 4 5. Stanford 17 2 1,256 6 6. Florida 20 2 1,148 8 8. UCSB 20 3 1,116 7 5. Wisconsin 18 3 1,086 5 9. Hawaii 16 2 1,037 9 10. Pacific 17 4 942 10 11. USC 14 4 901 11 12. Texas 15 3 885 12 13. Colorado 15 2 788 13 14. Arkansas 16 3 726 14 15. L. Marym’nt 15 4 601 16 16. Arizona 17 3 559 17 17. Illinios 15 5 528 18 18. Michigan St 14 4 449 21 19. Texas A&M 12 6 437 15 20. San Diego 16 3 433 19 21. Kansas St 13 6 345 22 22. Louisville 17 3 177 20 23. UCLA 9 9 148 25 24. Colorado St 17 4 47 -- 24. Minnesota 14 7 37 24Other WAC teams receiving points: t39. Fresno State 5. t48. Utah, 1.
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