Monday, November 2, 1998
Wahine hope to even
By Cindy Luis
score with BYU
Star-BulletinHalloween's over but the Hawaii women's volleyball team hopes it still has some tricks left for this week.
The ninth-ranked Wahine host No. 4 BYU on Thursday, aiming to avenge their only WAC loss of the season. Hawaii warmed up for the meeting with three consecutive road wins, including the 15-8, 16-14, 15-9 victory at New Mexico Saturday night.
"It was hard to stay motivated on the road when you've got BYU in the back of your mind," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said last night. "But I think our players kept their focus and got the job done. We got our three wins on the road.
"This week, we'll work on our block and see if we can't slow their players down. We'll find out how big a home-court advantage is. We weren't very competitive at their place."
Hawaii (19-2, 9-1) also struggled at times against New Mexico (7-14, 1-8). The Wahine hit .246 overall, .137 in Game 2, when they saw a 13-6 lead turn into a 14-14 tie.
Junior blocker Jenny Roberts came up big to help secure the win, finishing with a career-high 14 kills and hitting .684. Jessica Sudduth and Heidi Ilustre each added 11 kills.
"Jenny's been pretty steady," Shoji said. "Her hitting percentage has been phenomenal. Jessica played very well the past few weeks and Heidi, too.
"Heather (Bown) was finally human, hit the ball out too many times. But she's been our leader so many times this season. It's hard to do that every night."
Bown was hitting negative most of the match but finished with nine kills. She had a match-high 11 digs.
"Dave said something like I couldn't hit my way out of a paper bag," Bown said. "But, as I told him, at least I led the team in digs. He had to give me that.
"We played OK on the road. But if we want to beat BYU, we'll have to play much better. We're so glad to be home. And we can't wait to have BYU on our court."
Last month, the Wahine played Utah and BYU on consecutive nights, seeing the Utes first. Shoji said he's glad he faces BYU first this week; they play Utah Friday.
"This is going to be a tough week for us," Shoji said. "And we're not done playing tough matches. We've got two tough ones on the road (San Jose State Nov. 20 and Fresno State Nov. 21) then go to the WAC Tournament (Nov. 24-28).
"We're home for two weeks and will be able to work on some things. I think we're peaking at the right time."
WAC women
Pacific Division
W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Brigham Young 8 0 1.000 -- 21 1 .954 Hawaii 9 1 .900 -- 19 2 .905 San Jose St 5 3 .525 3 17 6 .739 Fresno St 4 4 .500 4 15 5 .750 Utah 4 4 .500 4 14 7 .667 Texas-El Paso 3 6 .333 5-1/2 11 9 .550 New Mexico 1 8 .111 7-1/2 7 14 .333 San Diego St 1 9 .100 8 4 19 .172
W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Colorado St 8 1 .889 -- 18 5 .783 Wyoming 7 2 .778 1 12 10 .545 Nev-Las Vegas 6 2 .750 1-1/2 17 6 .739 Rice 6 3 .667 2 18 7 .720 So. Methodist 4 4 .500 3-1/2 13 11 .542 Air Force 1 7 .125 6-1/2 8 12 .400 Texas Christian 1 7 .125 6-1/2 4 19 .174 Tulsa 1 8 .111 7 9 12 .429
Hawaii def. New Mexico, 15-8, 16-14, 15-9
Rice def. Wyoming, 15-13, 15-10, 15-8
Colorado State def. Tulsa, 15-13, 15-6, 15-13
Thursday: BYU at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
Friday: Utah at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
