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Sidelines
Kalani Simpson
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Shoji’s big win was a piece of cake
NO. 900 did not seem to be especially raucous, or joyous, no, not for much of the match, as the Rainbow Wahine swept Colorado in three. But it picked up at the end. That's when the emotion washed over you, as everyone rose. That's when the realization hit.
Pride. Accomplishment.
Relief.
"I think we wanted to do it last night," Kanoe Kamana'o said.
Hawaii coach Dave Shoji shook hands, businesslike. Then, the announcement, his 900th win. At last, a smile. Both arms raised to the sky. A polite wave in each hand.
Shoji got the game ball. Gave Kamana'o a high five.
He walked off the court, low key.
"We weren't thinking about 900 before the game," the coach insisted. "We just wanted to win."
Only two coaches in the game's history have reached this milestone, and the other was in the house. Or was he? Andy Banachowski and his UCLA team -- having swept Florida earlier in the evening in this Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic -- left their courtside seats.
No, this would be Shoji's moment alone. If he would have it. Good luck with that.
"We're all going to share all the wins with everybody else," Shoji said.
The story goes that when Hawaii was getting ready to celebrate Shoji's 500th win in 1992, in Klum Gym, against Brigham Young-Hawaii, someone marked the occasion by making a cake.
Yes, we know. You can see it coming. Bachi. BYUH stunned big sister, 13-15, 15-10, 16-14, 15-12. It was not a happy occasion. They threw the cake in the rubbish and Shoji had to pick up the milestone on the road in the next match, at Utah State. UH would finish 15-12, left out of the NCAA postseason tournament for the first and only time.
(If only they'd known then, as UH officials later learned while double-checking every old record, that Shoji's actual 500th win already had come more than a month earlier, in the 1992 season opener.)
This time, he had to try twice again. The first attempt at No. 900, Friday against Florida, did not go as planned. That's true. But it could have been worse. This time, there was no baking.
You learn things, when you've been around the block. No, UH would win this one for sure.
"Suddenly we give up nine straight points in one rotation," Colorado coach Pi'i Aiu would say.
After all those years, all those moments, all those memories, those wins. It adds up to this. (We're certain on the math, this time.)
Nine hundred, what a number.
Let them eat cake.