RAINBOW WAHINE VOLLEYBALL
Another go at Gators
Win No. 900 for Shoji would be extra sweet vs. Florida, which has stuck UH with two memorably bitter defeats
Out of the frying pan, into the fire. With the hope of not getting burned.
The No. 7 Hawaii (2-0) women's volleyball team survived two encounters with No. 19 Pepperdine last week, a warm-up that should prepare the Rainbow Wahine for yet another trial by fire this week.
19TH HAWAIIAN AIRLINES CLASSIC
Schedule: Tomorrow, Colorado (1-0) vs. No. 10 UCLA (3-0), 4:30 p.m., No. 5 Florida (2-0) at No. 7 Hawaii (2-0), 7 p.m.; Saturday, Florida vs. UCLA, 4:30 p.m.; Colorado at Hawaii, 7 p.m.; Sunday, Florida vs. Colorado, 2:30 p.m.; UCLA at Hawaii, 5 p.m.
TV: All matches, KFVE (Ch. 5)
Radio: All matches, KKEA (1420-AM)
Tickets: $3-$19.
Series: Hawaii trails Florida 3-2, leads Colorado 4-0, leads UCLA 34-28. Florida leads Colorado 1-0, leads UCLA 3-2; UCLA leads Colorado 2-0.
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First up, No. 5 Florida (2-0), which has defeated Hawaii the past three meetings, including the 2003 NCAA semifinal, a loss that finished the careers of All-Americans Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku. Ending the skid against the Gators would mean an added bonus: Wahine coach Dave Shoji (899-157-1) enters the match one win away from becoming the second Division I women's volleyball coach to earn 900 victories.
If it doesn't happen on tomorrow's opening night of the 19th Hawaiian Airlines Classic, Shoji has two more shots at it before Labor Day -- first against Colorado (1-0) on Saturday, and then Sunday against No. 10 UCLA and the only other D-I women's coach with 900 victories in Andy Banachowski (1,007-266).
"Any win against Florida would be great," Shoji said. "If it happens to be 900, it probably makes it sweeter. The last few times have been devastating losses, hard ones to take. One in the NCAA semifinal. The other in 1998 to get to the final four when we were up 2-0 at Florida ... that was a heart-breaking loss.
"But I'm just worrying about winning any match at this point. It's the 'next match' that we're concerned about."
And there is plenty of concern in regard to the Gators, who return five starters from the 33-3 team that fell at Nebraska in the regional championship. Florida has athleticism -- and lots of it -- as well as a very talented setter in junior Angie McGinnis, who recorded her (and the school's) second ever triple-double (56 assists, 11 digs, 10 kills) in a 3-1 win Saturday against No. 13 Utah.
The 2003 loss to Florida ended a magi
cal freshman season for Hawaii setter Kanoe Kamana'o, named the national freshman of the year.
"I played with Angie McGinnis last summer (2005 on the U.S. national team) and she's very good," Kamana'o said. "Florida always has a great team, with great attackers, and I know they'll come in and play hard against us.
"We're going to have to compete hard. To give Dave No. 900 Friday would be awesome. There's no doubt in my mind we can do it."
A look at the teams:
Hawaii (2-0)
The Rainbow Wahine are a little banged up after their series against Pepperdine. Senior hitter Sarah Mason (ankle), who came into Saturday's match late in Game 5 for blocking, is cleared to play. Sophomore middle Nickie Thomas (ankle), injured in Game 1 on Friday during her first career start, has not been cleared to practice.
Likely starters in the middle are juniors Kari Gregory and Juliana Sanders, while freshman Jayme Lee is expected to make her second start at libero. Backing up Mason on the right is sophomore Jessica Keefe, who started both nights against Pepperdine and was in on the match-ending block Saturday. On the left are sophomore Jamie Houston, the reigning WAC player of the week, and junior Tara Hittle.
Kamana'o, the UH career assist leader (5,025), is poised to break the WAC record (5,873 by Colorado State's Analisa Saylor) and has a shot at the NCAA record (6,650 by UAB's Tammy Robertson).
Hawaii is 42-12 in the HAL Classic, with nine titles, six runner-up showings and three third places.
Florida (2-0)
The Gators, making their second appearance in this event, are coming off two wins in their Aquafina Invitational, a sweep of South Florida and 3-1 over No. 24 Utah State. Besides the triple-double by McGinnis, the other highlights against the Aggies were a career-high 25 kills by junior hitter Marcie Hampton and 26 digs by freshman libero Elyse Cusack.
Friday's win over South Florida marked the Gators' 800th contest (639-151, .811). Only Hawaii (665-134-1, .831) and UCLA (649-142, .823) have better winning percentages over the first 800 matches.
McGinnis runs a balanced attack that has six players averaging at least two kills per game. Hampton leads with 4.57 kpg on a team where every hitter and blocker is at least 6 feet tall.
Florida's two losses to Hawaii came in 1996, at the NACWAA Showcase and in an NCAA semifinal.
UCLA (3-0)
The Bruins are back in the Classic after missing the last two years. However, they made the trip to Honolulu both seasons to compete in other UH-hosted tournaments.
Last week, UCLA won the Bearcats Invitational with sweeps of Tennessee Tech and Western Michigan, and a 3-1 win over host Cincinnati. Leading the Bruins is senior middle Nana Meriwether (3.86 kpg, 1.57 bpg, .451), the MVP of the Invitational despite not playing in the opening match against Tech.
Running the offense is sophomore setter Nellie Spicer, whom new UH associate coach Mike Sealy calls one of the top two setters in the country (Kamana'o being the other). Banachowski has used three different players at libero, a job now seemingly belonging to sophomore Jordan Smith, who started most matches last season.
UCLA picked up two transfers, sophomore hitter Ali Daley (Long Beach State) and sophomore setter Nikki Jagd (Pacific), the daughter of Bruin assistant coach Kim Jagd.
Colorado (1-0)
The Buffaloes opened the season with a sweep of Denver behind sophomore Mallori Gibson's 14 kills and 13 kills by junior hitter Amber Sutherland. All-Big 12 setter Ashley Nu'u had 44 assists in the victory.
The Buffs' coach is Kapaa, Kauai, native Pi'i Aiu (Kamehameha Schools) who is opening his 10th season. This is the third trip to the islands for Colorado, including a 1999 visit that ended in a 15-9, 15-0, 15-5 loss. It was one of the four times during that season the Wahine shut out an opponent in a game.
The last time Colorado faced Hawaii was in the first round of the 2004 NCAA tournament hosted by Colorado State. The Buffs won Game 1 before losing in four, the only time they've taken a game off the Wahine in four meetings.