Wahine walk over WAC

Even with no real incentive, Hawaii makes it through the conference tourney unchallenged

RENO, Nev. » The waiting game begins today.

Not so much for their NCAA tournament fate -- the Rainbow Wahine will know that before getting on a plane in San Francisco today, headed for home.

All-Tournament Hawaii: Tara Hittle, Jamie Houston, Kanoe Kamana'o, Victoria Prince (MVP). USU: Carolyn Forbush, Zuzana Cernianska Nevada: Tristin Johnson, Salaia Salave'a New Mexico State: Kim Oguh, Jackie Choi Louisiana Tech: Ambra Hayes Boise State: Cameron Flunder

The wait is for the emotional fire that No. 8 Hawaii will need when opening the "Third Season" against an undetermined opponent at an undetermined site on an undetermined date. The Wahine are waiting to play for something very meaningful ... like the national title.

Hawaii (25-6) was very business-like when sweeping Utah State 30-25, 30-27, 30-25 for the Western Athletic Conference tournament title at the Lawlor Events Center last night. The Wahine played an efficient, steady match, with a few letdowns and a few glaring errors, in winning their sixth consecutive WAC tournament crown.

While the box score reflects a close match -- Hawaii was only one kill and one block better than Utah State -- it was anything but. The top-seeded Wahine were in control throughout the 1 hour and 45 minute contest with the second-seeded Aggies the entire night.

"It felt like a different match than the one in these stats," said UH senior middle Victoria Prince, named the tournament MVP. "When we needed to make the plays, we did. Tara (Hittle) and Jamie (Houston) were just smashing the ball. They were awesome, not only in getting the point, but how hard they were hitting had to damage (Utah State's) confidence.

"The MVP is an honor, but it's all owed to my teammates. The passing was awesome and the setting was all due to the great job Kanoe (Kamana'o) was doing."

Hittle, Houston and Kamana'o joined Prince on the all-tournament team. Prince finished as the tourney kill leader (42), with an 11-kill outing yesterday, hitting .476 with just one error, in addition to five block assists.

Houston put down a match-high 17 kills and Hittle turned in a double-double with 10 kills and 15 digs. Kamana'o, who during the tournament became the UH career leader in assists, finished second to Utah State's Dominique Arsenault in tournament assists (152-149).

Zuzana Cernianska led the Aggies (21-11) with 16 kills and Beth Hodge had 11, hitting .500 with no errors in 22 attempts.

The statistics left Utah State coach Burt Fuller shaking his head. His team had better hitting percentages than Hawaii in both Games 1 and 2, and had 21 kills to UH's 12 in Game 1.

"But I never felt that match was that close," Fuller said. "Every time we'd get on a run, they'd answer. We never got momentum.

"They were beating us at the service line. They were very efficient. They earned this. They demonstrated again that they are the team to beat in the WAC."

The victory ran Hawaii's conference winning streak to 125, including the WAC tournament. It was also the Wahine's 18th straight victory and gave UH coach Dave Shoji his 26th 25-win season -- and 12th in a row.

Although the Wahine were pushed this season like they hadn't been since BYU left the conference after 1998 -- winning three five-game matches and rallying for a tough four-game win over Nevada in Friday's semifinal -- yesterday's success was taken almost as a matter of fact.

"We didn't have a lot to play for, other than (NCAA) seeding, and that's not great motivation," Shoji said. "We knew we were in the (NCAA) tournament, we'd already beaten all these teams during the season. The team never felt threatened, never thought they'd lose this week. There was no edge to us, no real sense of urgency.

"But I don't know if I wanted them real high emotionally this week. We need that emotion next week and I think we can turn it on. We have players who can really fire up. They're just waiting for a reason."

The WAC tournament was a confidence booster, according to Prince.

"It was good to get a sweep for the tournament title," Prince said. "This was a good tournament for us. We swept Boise State (in Thursday's quarterfinal), were down to Nevada and had to come back (in Game 4).

"Hopefully, this gave us a little push for next week."

The Wahine will watch the NCAA selection show at San Francisco International before boarding the plane today. Hawaii has put in a bid to host the first two rounds this Thursday and Friday, but considering UH had a No. 3 RPI last season and didn't host, Shoji isn't holding his breath that he and the Wahine will be home this week.

The selection committee is using geographical clusters in determining host sites, trying to limit to two teams the number having to fly to each site. In Hawaii's case, three teams would have to fly to Honolulu.

"There's a lot of clusters they could send us to, a bunch of places where 2-3 teams should qualify," said Shoji, naming San Diego, Los Angeles, Northern California, Utah, Colorado and Arizona as possibilities. "I'm hoping it's the western part of the nation, rather than the east.

"Or they could send three to Hawaii. We'll be glad to host."

Since the NCAA went to the 64-team format in 1997, Hawaii has hosted the first two rounds every year except 1997, 2001 and 2004.

As a whole, the conference coaches are more concerned with getting as many teams into the NCAAs than with seeing Hawaii -- the national attendance leader since 1995 -- host. Utah State and New Mexico State (20-7) have legitimate chances, with Nevada (18-12) really on the bubble.

"I'd be very disappointed if there were not three teams chosen," New Mexico State coach Mike Jordan said. "I have no doubt that we (New Mexico State and Utah State) are in the top 64. I think we're top 30."

"It's all going to depend on the bubble teams from the other conferences," Nevada coach Devin Scruggs said. "We are a team that, when we are healthy, should be considered. We'll just have to see what happens."

The waiting game begins.

Note: The last remaining undefeated team went down yesterday when No. 11 Texas upset top-ranked Nebraska 22-30, 28-30, 30-27, 30-27, 15-12 in Austin. The victory by the Longhorns snapped the Huskers' Big 12 winning streak at 42.

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