Prince returning home a winner
UH vs. Idaho
Tomorrow: No. 11 Hawaii (11-6, 5-0) at Idaho (10-8, 2-3), 3 p.m. HST
TV: None.
Radio: Live, KKEA (1420-AM).
Next up: Hawaii at Boise State (4-8, 0-5) Saturday, 10 a.m. HST
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Victoria Prince is going to be so close to home this week, she can almost taste it. All the senior middle for the Hawaii volleyball team wants to do is drive the two hours from Moscow, Idaho, to her home in Kennewick, Wash., "make a turkey sandwich, sit on the couch, then drive back for our game," Prince said yesterday. "Oh, and win two. As long as we play hard, play with intensity, we'll come home with two wins."
The 11th-ranked Rainbow Wahine left last night for a road trip that rivals that of getting to Louisiana Tech. Hawaii (11-6, 5-0) was to fly to Denver, fly to Spokane, Wash., then drive the 90 miles to Moscow for tomorrow's match at league newcomer Idaho (10-8, 2-3) .
Getting to the mainland ahead of the Wahine was the loud message they sent via the convincing victory over Nevada, the top contender to challenge Hawaii's Western Athletic Conference supremacy. The Wolf Pack scored just 40 points (30-16, 30-7, 30-17) against the Wahine; had the format been traditional scoring rather than rally scoring, Hawaii would have won, 16-3, 23-0, 17-5.
"Saturday, I was asking myself what was going on," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "But then I thought about it ... we played well. The win on Saturday gave notice to the league that we are good.
"People might have seen our scores against New Mexico State, looked at our record, think we're having a down year. People probably thought maybe someone else could win the league. Maybe not."
Nevada coach Devin Scruggs was a believer after the 81-minute shellacking that gave Hawaii its 96th consecutive WAC victory.
"Hawaii is better than last year," Scruggs said. "Their young kids have a year's experience and they've added talent."
The most impressive of the Wahine's newcomers has been the 6-foot-3 Sarah Mason, the transfer from Oregon, who had 18 kills with no errors in 33 swings Saturday, hitting .545.
Continuing to improve is sophomore middle Juliana Sanders, who added five kills and had four blocks against the Wolf Pack.
"I'm getting very comfortable," Sanders said. "We came out fired up (against Nevada) and we've got to come out, fired up against Idaho because we know they will be fired up.
"We have to go up and be prepared to battle. Even though we kind of blew (Nevada) out of the water, not every night is going to be like that. We've never played at Idaho, you never can tell what it will be like."
Was there a message after Saturday?
"It's that we had a great game and Nevada didn't," Sanders said.
"I think what it showed is what we can do when we keep up our intensity," Prince added. "So many times this year we've been ahead and let the other team come back. Saturday, we kept the intensity, kept doing the things that got us there in the first place.
"We have played down to the other team's level so many times. Saturday, no matter what the score was, we kept playing with intensity."
Prince leads Hawaii in kills (3.16 kpg), aces (17) and blocks (1.45 bpg). She has even more incentive to play well this week; her father will see her play for the first time in her career tomorrow.
Mike Prince, who lives in Yakima, Wash., will be one of some 20 family members and friends making the trek to Moscow. A number of Victoria Prince's friends from her former school -- Washington State -- should also make the eight-mile drive across the border from Pullman.
"After I left (WSU), I never thought I'd be up here again," Prince said. "I'm not looking forward to making the drive between Spokane and Pullman. Have done that too many times. I know the area pretty well."
The Wahine don't know much about the Vandals. Idaho beat Gonzaga and won at Boise State last week, both matches going four.
"On film, they look like a decent team," Shoji said.
The Vandals are led by freshman hitter Haley Larsen (3.33 kpg) and senior hitter Kati Tikker (3.03 kpg). Junior setter Saxony Brown is second in the WAC in assists and her sister, senior Meghan Brown, is already the school's career dig league.
Keefe on the trip: There was one change on the 12-player travel roster from Hawaii's last trip. Freshman hitter Jessica Keefe made the trip instead of freshman middle Nickie Thomas.
BACK TO TOP
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WAC standings
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
|
Hawaii |
5 |
0 |
1.000 |
--
|
Utah State |
5 |
1 |
.833 |
1/2
|
Nevada |
5 |
1 |
.833 |
1/2
|
San Jose St. |
2 |
2 |
.500 |
2 1/2
|
New Mexico St. |
2 |
3 |
.400 |
3
|
Idaho |
2 |
3 |
.400 |
3
|
La. Tech |
1 |
4 |
.200 |
4
|
Fresno St. |
1 |
4 |
.200 |
4
|
Boise St. |
0 |
4 |
.000 |
4 1/2 |
Tomorrow's matches
Hawaii at Idaho, 3 p.m. HST
Boise State at Nevada
Louisiana Tech at San Jose State
New Mexico State at Fresno State
Saturday's matches
Hawaii at Boise State, 10 a.m. HST
New Mexico State at San Jose State
Louisiana Tech at Fresno State
Utah State at Nevada