Friday, October 22, 1999
Wahine tune up
for Stanford
They easily beat Texas-El Paso,
By Cindy Luis
but the No. 7 Cardinal
are up next
Star-BulletinWorst freeway on-ramp in Hawaii? University Avenue ewa bound to H-1, right in the shadow of the Stan Sheriff Center.
There's no room to merge. No way to judge the speed of the traffic approaching in your side mirror or how fast you need to be going to successfully scoot into the lane.
There's little room for error.
Worst on-ramp to second-ranked Hawaii's chances to host all the way through the NCAA volleyball postseason? UTEP to Stanford, at the Sheriff Center, some 70 hours apart.
There's no easy way to merge into the high-speed flow. No way to judge the speed that will be needed to match up with the No. 7 Cardinal Sunday.
There will be little room from error.
The question is not "How good are the Wahine?'' The question is "How good has the WAC competition been to help Hawaii prepare for its toughest mid-season test?"
The answer wasn't found in the 71 minutes it took Hawaii to dispose of the Miners, 15-6, 15-2, 15-3, last night. Despite another slow start, the Wahine easily ran their records to 17-0 overall, 6-0 in the WAC and 32 straight at the Sheriff Center.
"Our passing was a little shaky at the start,'' said senior hitter Heidi Ilustre, who started in place of freshman Lily Kahumoku (back spasms). "I was a little nervous, hadn't been in there (front row) for a while.
"I don't think it will be a problem for us getting pumped for Stanford. When you play a good team, your emotions are up and you automatically play better. Plus, it will be revenge time for me and 'Bob' (senior Jennifer Roberts).''
Ilustre and Roberts are the only two remaining members of Hawaii's 1996 team that saw its 23-0 record blemished by Stanford on Nov. 2 four years ago. Seven weeks later, the Wahine - with flu-stricken Angelica Ljungquist - were thumped by the Cardinal, 15-7, 15-3, 15-5, at Cleveland in the quickest NCAA final in history.
"The situation is very similar to '96,'' said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji, after notching career win No. 698. "This time around, we hope to turn the tables.''
The Wahine have not defeated the Cardinal in their last four meetings. The last Hawaii win came over Thanksgiving weekend in 1991, when the Wahine split a pair of matches with the then No. 1-ranked Cardinal.
Sunday, it will be a battle of the decades as one of the top programs in the 1980s (Hawaii) takes on one of the top teams of the '90s (Stanford). Last night, the Wahine took on what first-year UTEP coach Revis Ward-Daggett hopes will be a top program in the future.
"The first step is recruiting,'' said Ward-Daggett, whose team fell to 5-13 and 3-3. "We're three bodies down due to the academic standards I imposed this year.
"We'll have five freshman next season. We'll be young but we'll have more physical talent. Ninety percent of winning is recruiting. Tonight, it was a matter of maturity and mechanics and ball control.''
Or rather a lack of it. UTEP took a 5-2 lead in Game 1, and then it was over. Hawaii scored 13 of the next 14 points, eventually outscoring the Miners, 43-6.
A number of fans ran out to buy some of the 450 remaining tickets for Sunday's match. (Ticket windows open only between Games 1 and 2). By the time they returned to their seats, the Wahine were up, 11-1 in Game 2.
Hawaii's block finally began to stack up against UTEP, going from zero in Game 1 to 12 by the end of the match. The Wahine closed it out quickly behind Jessica Sudduth (10 kills), Heather Bown (9 kills, 8 blocks) and Ilustre (8 kills, .583).
As a team, Hawaii hit .390 for the match, including an outrageous .609 in Game 3. The Miners were led by Nicki Mosher's eight kills but hit negative .024 as a team.
"It took us a little time to figure out the tempo tonight,'' said Shoji. "I hope we don't use one game to find the tempo on Sunday. I think I already know what it will be: high, hard and fast.
"UTEP was hard to line up against. They were hitting some radical angles. I was wondering if we'd ever get a block. Then all of a sudden, we had 12.''
Shoji said he thought Sunday's match might be more important to Stanford, which dropped to No. 2 in its District 8 regional ranking released Wednesday. The Cardinal, who survived a scare from Pacific Tuesday, 3-2, are behind UCLA.
Hawaii remained No. 1 in the District 7 ranking, above Pacific and Long Beach State.
"Our goal is to stay in the top four and Stanford is outside of the top four right now,'' said Shoji. "It's a big game for them but it's equally as big for us because we want to stay in the top four.
"Size-wise, they'll be the biggest team we'll see this season. They have a lot of physical talent. It will be a great challenge for us.''
Hawaii def. UTEP, 15-6, 15-2, 15-6
Miners (5-14, 3-3 WAC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Porter 3 4 6 23 -.087 0 0 4 Davis 3 0 0 1 .000 0 0 6 Zimmerman 3 3 7 21 -.190 0 0 2 Mosher 3 8 3 17 .294 0 1 1 Nosan 3 1 3 7 -.286 1 1 3 Gronert 3 0 2 6 -.333 0 1 3 McMillan 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Polhamus 3 3 0 9 .333 1 1 1 Marquell 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Totals 3 19 21 84 -.024 2 4 23Rainbow Wahine (17-0, 6-0 WAC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Carey 3 3 1 5 .400 0 4 2 Sudduth 3 10 3 22 .318 1 2 8 Bown 3 9 2 25 .280 1 7 5 Lima 2 2 1 5 .200 0 1 4 Roberts 3 7 1 11 .545 0 3 2 Ilustre 3 8 1 12 .583 1 0 7 Vakasausau 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Nikolic 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 1 3 Makainai 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Lee 2 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 2 Totals 3 41 9 82 .390 3 18 38Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.Aces--UTEP (3): Porter 1, Davis 1, Zimmerman 1. UH (5): Carey 2, Roberts 1, Illustre 1, Lee 1. Assists--UTEP (18): Gronert 17, Marquell 1. UH (37): Carey 26, Vakasausau 5, Roberts 2, Bown 1, Roberts 1, Illustre 1, Nikolic 1, Lee 1.
A--6,180. T--1:11. Officials--Joe Stepan, Wayne Lee.
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Ka Leo O Hawaii
