KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULETIN.COM
Xu Dan will miss 2 to 4 weeks for the Seasiders after injuring her left pinkie against Western New Mexico on Tuesday. Dan had played in 61 of the Seasiders' 66 games this season.
So much of every season is about who can stay healthy. Injury bug bites
BYUH hardThe Seasiders are still the team
to beat despite losing Xu DanBy Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.comAnd that may be the one category where first-place Brigham Young-Hawaii trails the rest of the Pacific West Conference.
The Seasiders have put together a 17-2 season and No. 4 ranking in the nation despite losing their top setter to a back injury and academic problems for most of the conference season. And just when it appears they will get her back -- Kaala Lo is second in the nation in assists despite missing 27 games -- they get hit with another injury.
Senior left-side hitter Xu Dan suffered a compound dislocation of her left pinkie Tuesday at Western New Mexico and is expected to miss only 2-4 weeks despite having a pair of bones protrude from her skin.
Dan has played in 61 of her team's 66 games and is second behind Yu Chuan Weng in kills.
"We are going to have to find some offense," BYUH coach Wilfred Navalta said.
He won't have much time to find that offense though, as his team just returned to Oahu late Wednesday night and hosts Hawaii-Hilo -- which handed the Seasiders their first loss of the year -- tonight and tomorrow.
The Seasiders can't afford to drop either of those games while trying to figure it out because Chaminade is only a half-game behind them with four games left.
If there is a positive about an injury, it is that it might take away the sting of knowing that the Seasiders may have blown their only chance to host the regional tournament when they lost to Western New Mexico after Dan went down.
Now the Seasiders will have to win out and hope that Cal State San Bernardino loses to a foe weaker than the 15-11 Mustangs. The Seasiders were in the top spot ahead of the Coyotes in the first regional poll of the year, released last week.
"It is definitely going to hurt, especially in the region," Navalta said. "We shouldn't have lost, but we did and a loss is a loss. It is a reflection of our team, young and very talented and going to go in streaks."
Navalta said Lo could be back as soon as tonight, but her return is not as pressing because Crystal Casebolt has been so impressive in her absence.
"They both have really good abilities, so I'm not sure what to do," Navalta said. "It's a situation where the one who can help us win will play."
Although their hopes of hosting the regional look dire, at least the Seasiders come into the weekend knowing that they control their destiny in the conference and will certainly make the regional if they can win out.
It was not like that last year, when they were left out of the regional altogether while conference champion Hawaii Pacific made the trip alone.
But the Sea Warriors have not been the same team this year, allowing youth to derail it at the most inopportune times and drop it out of the spotlight for the first time in four years.
Hawaii Pacific dropped out of the American Volleyball Coaches' Association's national poll for the first time since November 1998, a span of 48 consecutive polls. Hawaii-Hilo can claim responsibility for the change, beating the Sea Warriors last week.
But for Hawaii Pacific coach Tita Ahuna, it is just a reason to start another streak.
"I wasn't really disappointed because I kind of knew we would drop after losing to Hilo," Ahuna said. "I personally wouldn't want to ever drop out of the rankings, but it is a good challenge and sort of like a motivation for them."
Ahuna will get her chance to get back into the rankings when the Sea Warriors play Chaminade twice next weekend to settle once and for all who will challenge the Seasiders for the top spot.
The Silverswords also lost the final game of their road trip -- they are travel partners with BYUH -- but have still only lost four times this season.
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