Wahine tumble to No. 12 in poll

Nickie Thomas says Hawaii has a lot to prove

The grass between the Stan Sheriff Center and Gym 1 has been a little brown the past few weeks. Brown enough that it bothers Dave Shoji and has the Hawaii women's volleyball coach turning on sprinklers before practice.

If only the solution to fixing his team was that easy.

Saturday's loss to Stanford not only embarrassed the Rainbow Wahine players but also dropped Hawaii out of the Top 10 for the first time since last year's poll on Oct. 17. Hawaii (5-3) dropped from No. 9 to 12th in the CSTV/AVCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll released yesterday.

All three of the Wahine's losses have come to teams ranked ahead of them: UCLA (9-0) remaining at No. 3; Florida (6-1) staying at No. 6; and Stanford (6-1) which moved up a spot to No. 7.

Also making a move up is Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Hawaii's opponent Thursday and Friday. The 23rd-ranked Mustangs (6-3) have wins over current No. 5 Texas and Louisville, the latter last Saturday, which knocked the Cardinals out of the poll from their No. 20 spot.

"We haven't looked at the tapes of them," Shoji said of the Mustangs. "We don't know their personnel but we've looked at the scores. Anyone who can beat Texas is going to be formidable and has to be doing something really good."

The Wahine expect to be watching more film on themselves than the Mustangs this week. Being swept by the Cardinal in 94 minutes Saturday had some of the Hawaii players coming early to practice yesterday to work on skills.

"This came from us, not the coaches," sophomore middle Nickie Thomas said. "We didn't like our performance and we're here to work on ball-handling skills.

"We really didn't like what happened Saturday, the way it made us look. We know we're better than that. We were embarrassed and it's made us more determined to prove ourselves against Cal Poly.

"And I think we have a lot to prove."

The biggest concerns are passing and communication. The Wahine lost their two main passers from last season with the graduation of libero Ashley Watanabe and hitter Susie Boogaard.

Hawaii's top passer this season -- junior Tara Hittle -- wasn't in the gym yesterday due to a late class. But the outside hitter is still wearing a boot on her right foot and has not been cleared to practice.

Shoji said no decision has been made about Hittle's future but he does have an option to redshirt her.

Back at practice, however, was senior setter Kanoe Kamana'o, who missed two matches last week with a hip problem. The three-time All-American, who played in Game 1 against Stanford, has been cleared to practice.

Notes: Making a brief appearance at practice yesterday was former All-American Lily Kahumoku, in town to renew her work visa. She is currently playing in Italy. ... The Western Athletic Conference and CSTV reached an agreement to broadcast three women's volleyball matches live, including Hawaii's match at Nevada on Nov. 2.

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VOLLEYBALL

CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll

Through September 11

First place votes in parentheses

Team	Pts	W-L	LW
1. Nebraska (47)	1,486	7-0	1
2. Penn State (12)	1,423	8-0	2
3. UCLA (1)	1,358	9-0	3
4. Washington	1,235	8-1	5
5. Texas	1,196	5-2	7
6. Florida	1,184	6-1	6
7. Stanford	1,101	6-1	8
8. Santa Clara	1,100	6-1	4
9. Southern California	1,032	9-0	10
10. California	870	9-0	13
11. Wisconsin	867	6-1	11
12. Hawaii	836	5-3	9
13. Tennessee	778	8-1	12
14. Purdue	761	9-0	14
15. Ohio St.	524	8-0	19
16. Ohio	523	6-2	17
17. Missouri	484	6-3	15
18. Louisiana St.	424	8-1	22
19. Brigham Young	413	7-1	16
20. Pepperdine	339	4-4	18
21. Utah	265	5-1	18
22. Michigan	239	10-0	--
23. Cal Poly	162	6-3	25
24. Arizona	98	7-2	21
24. Kansas St.	98	8-2	--

Also receiving votes: Long Beach St. 89, Louisville 84, New Mexico St. 81, Texas A&M 73, Dayton 28, San Francisco 24, San Diego 19, Minnesota 16, Duke 13, Notre Dame 10, Arkansas 8, Kansas 5, Northern Iowa 5, Maryland 4, Rice 4.