[ DIVISION II REPORT ]

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KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii Pacific setter Vera Oliveira, who is second in the PacWest in assists, has been slowed by a strained calf. Oliveira is expected to play, although not at 100 percent.

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Once again,
PacWest boils down
to BYUH-HPU

The Sea Warriors are banged up,
but the Seasiders expect the usual fight

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By Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.com

Now that the formalities of the rest of the season are over, the Pacific West Conference can get down to the business of deciding its volleyball champion.

Ever since Hawaii's schools moved from the NAIA to the NCAA in 1998, this is how the race has always seemed to go. Chaminade and Hawaii-Hilo pull off their usual upset before Hawaii Pacific and Brigham Young-Hawaii get together to find out who the top dog is.

HPU vs. BYUH What: Pacific West Conference matches When: Today and Nov. 15, 7:30 p.m. Where: Cannon Activities Center, Laie Radio: 1500-AM At stake: HPU needs to win both matches to gain a spot in the regionals

This edition will begin tonight at Laie, where the 8-0 Seasiders host the 6-2 Sea Warriors. If Hawaii Pacific coach Tita Ahuna can pull off the sweep for the first time since her undefeated season in 1998, HPU will get the automatic berth into the regional tournament. BYUH only has to win one of the two to earn its second straight conference crown, and doesn't want any part of traveling to Honolulu to play the Sea Warriors for the title Nov. 15.

"I went through all the scenarios with the team and we want to get them now," BYUH coach Wilfred Navalta said. "They are the only team left that can hurt us."

Navalta wants to end the race tonight for another reason. He will trot out a healthy team against the battered Sea Warriors, who have lost to BYUH the last four times they played.

HPU setter Vera Oliveira strained a calf before the Sea Warriors were upset by Hawaii-Hilo last week and outside hitter Flavia Brakling left early with a sprained ankle when Chaminade handed HPU its second conference loss after that. Nadica Karleusa and Paula Nascimento have also missed time.

"We have had a rash of bad luck at the worst time," Ahuna said. "But we are not going to give up; you still have to play the games don't you?"

Navalta knows that Ahuna is not going to give up. Oliveira and Brakling are expected to play even if they are not 100 percent because if they don't there may not be any more meaningful games for the Sea Warriors, who were sixth in the regional poll before losing to Chaminade. The top six teams get invitations to the regional.

"There have been rumors, but I told the team everybody will play," Navalta said. "HPU is still alive and (HPU coach Tita Ahuna) has to win this, so everyone will play whether they are completely healthy or not."

Oliveira's backup, sophomore setter Mahealani Rawlins of Molokai, has played well in the Brazilian's absence, but those behind her have struggled. When Oliveira went down Ahuna had to move her best passer to setter and her second best passer to Rawlins' spot. The same situation trickled down her front line when Brakling got hurt. But the negative flow ends tonight.

"We just need the girls to toughen up," Ahuna said. "I can't teach them how to be tough, it has to come from inside."

Ahuna will also miss the edge that scouting brings. Navalta has seen the Sea Warriors briefly -- their games are televised -- but Ahuna has not had a chance to see the Seasiders play. Ahuna is not going to use that as an excuse and Navalta probably wouldn't accept it if she tried.

"The thing about our system is that we don't think about individual players, we think about the system," Navalta said. "I watched HPU and didn't see anything different, they have strengths and weaknesses just like our team.

"It is going to be a tough one, as usual."

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PACWEST STANDINGS

	Conf	GB	Overall
Hawaii Pacific	8-0	--	17-2	.895
BYU-Hawaii	6-2	2	15-4	.789
Chaminade	4-3	3 1/2	9-9	.500
Hawaii-Hilo	3-4	4 1/2	6-12	.333
x-Western N.M	1-6	6 1/2	12-13	.480
x-Montana St.-Billings	0-7	7 1/2	4-16	.200

x-eliminated from conference race

REGIONAL POLL
Top six teams advance to regional tournament

	Overall	Region
1. UC-San Diego	17-3	15-3
2. Western Washington	17-1	16-1
3. Cal State-San Bernardino	17-3	12-2
4. BYU-Hawaii	14-2	12-2
5. Cal State-Bakersfield	10-6	9-5
6. Hawaii Pacific	15-2	12-1
7. Chaminade	8-8	7-6
8. Cal Poly Pomona	14-7	11-6
9. Alaska-Fairbanks	9-6	8-6
10. Cal State-Los Angeles	15-5	9-4

HITTING PERCENTAGE
Minimum .200/3.0 attacks per game

	G	K	E	Tot	Pct
Chun Yi Lin, BYUH	64	280	35	540	.454
Barbara Martin, HPU	70	190	39	366	.413
Ashley Moeai, BYUH	64	257	67	516	.368
Nadica Karleusa, HPU	65	274	82	614	.313
Patti Hardimon, CU	62	176	63	399	.283
Paula Nascimento, HPU	57	103	33	262	.267
Yu Chuan Weng, BYUH	64	253	90	618	.264
Flavia Brakling, HPU	70	300	111	737	.256
Kahala Kabalis, CU	61	286	120	756	.220
Laree Green, WNMU	83	169	62	488	.219

KILLS

	G	K	Avg.
Kahala Kabalis, Chaminade	61	286	4.69
Sara Pilgreen, Hilo	68	307	4.51
Chun Yi Lin, BYUH	64	280	4.38
Flavia Brakling, HPU	70	300	4.29
Nadica Karleusa, HPU	65	274	4.22
Ashley Moeai, BYUH	64	257	4.02
Yu Chuan Weng, BYUH	64	253	3.95
Valsai Sepulona, Chaminade	62	243	3.92
Olivia Munro, MSUB	66	247	3.74
Silvia Oliveira, BYUH	37	131	3.54

ASSISTS

	G	A	Avg.
Kaala Lo, BYUH	64	879	13.73
Vera Oliveira, HPU	63	751	11.92
Michelle Norman, Chaminade	62	702	11.32
Megan Denman, Hilo	51	479	9.39
Kari Jones, MSUB	49	441	9.00
Malia Kauhi, WNMU	73	589	8.07
Amy Goodnight, WNMU	56	430	7.68
Brittany Baum, Hilo	45	339	7.53

SERVICE ACES

	G	No.	Avg.
Kaala Lo, BYUH	64	39	0.61
Kahala Kabalis, Chaminade	61	35	0.57
Paula Nascimento, HPU	57	29	0.51
Patti Hardimon, Chaminade	62	30	0.48
Shannon Hillier, Hilo	54	24	0.44
Yu Chuan Weng, BYUH	64	28	0.44
Nadica Karleusa, HPU	65	28	0.43
Liz Narkon, WNMU	90	38	0.42
Vera Oliveira, HPU	63	26	0.41
Flavia Brakling, HPU	70	26	0.37

BLOCKS

	G	S	A	Tot.	Avg.
Barbara Martin, HPU	70	14	69	83.0	1.19
Chun Yi Lin, BYUH	64	26	46	72.0	1.12
Laree Green, WNMU	83	18	67	85.0	1.02
Katrina Dahlgren, MSUB	60	11	50	61.0	1.02
Suzanne Bruchhauser, WNMU	89	10	80	90.0	1.01
Cortney Metzler, MSUB	64	8	55	63.0	0.98
Nadica Karleusa, HPU	65	12	48	60.0	0.92
Ashley Moeai, BYUH	64	14	44	58.0	0.91
Cori Sutter, Hilo	64	3	53	56.0	0.88
Brittany Uffelman, MSUB	63	11	37	48.0	0.76

DIGS

	G	No.	Avg.
Kahealani Silva, Hilo	66	273	4.14
Sara Pilgreen, Hilo	68	255	3.75
Frederica Tonon, BYUH	37	130	3.51
Kalae Araujo, Chaminade	61	214	3.51
Silvia Oliveira, BYUH	37	128	3.46
Alberta Letoa, MSUB	66	216	3.27
Yu Chuan Weng, BYUH	64	209	3.27
Olivia Munro, MSUB	66	206	3.12
Kim Tano, WNMU	94	275	2.93
Kaala Lo, BYUH	64	183	2.86