Saturday, November 6, 1999
What more could Dave Shoji ask for?
A team that was healthy for the first time in over three weeks, a Big Bertha golf club and chocolate cake. Life is good.
The Hawaii women's volleyball team gave Shoji career win No. 701 last night in short-but-sweet fashion. The third-ranked Wahine played one of their best overall matches in nearly a month, disposing of overmatched Tulsa in 65 minutes, 15-3, 15-1, 15-2, in front of 5,790 (7,401 tickets) at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Then, in a ceremony that lasted almost as long as the match, the university, fans and players recognized Shoji's milestone attained last Saturday at Fresno State. The Wahine coach, in his 25th season, is the seventh to reach the 700-win plateau in NCAA Division I women's volleyball.
"We are very happy to be part of this,'' said sophomore Veronica Lima, who was out of the starting lineup the past three matches due to the flu. "I respect him as a coach and the manager of this team. The whole state respects him and I admire how he handles the whole thing. He's very humble.''
"If I had it my way, there would be no ceremony, no cake or presentation,'' said Shoji. "But I'm very appreciative that the (athletic) department thinks enough of me to do something like this. There are a bunch of people to thank.
"The players were truly moved by being part of 700, too. This team has made it so much fun to go into the gym every day.''
Having Lima and freshman hitter Lily Kahumoku back on the court together made for a happy outing for the Wahine (20-1, 9-0 WAC). Kahumoku had been slowed by back spasms the past three weeks and also missed the start against Stanford on Oct. 24, Hawaii's only loss.
"It was fun to be back out there and a privilege,'' said Kahumoku. "The competition in the WAC is not as strong as in other conferences and it's difficult to psychologically be pumped up. But you know you have to go hard and play hard, no matter who's on the other side of the net.''
The Golden Hurricane (8-14, 2-8) lost their seventh straight, battered by Hurricane Wahine all night. What Hawaii didn't block, the UH hitters slammed back on numerous overpasses.
Wahine senior blocker Heather Bown was all but untouchable, putting down 16 kills on 18 swings with no errors in hitting .889. At 4-1 in Game 3, she had as many kills (11) as Tulsa would finish with as a team.
The only hesitation Bown had when serving Shoji his piece of the post-match cake. It was the co-captain's messiest attempt of the night.
Hawaii, the top blocking team in the country, had seven stuffs to Tulsa's zero, along with seven aces. No Hurricane had more than three kills, with Kara Hidinger having the most success (3 kills on 7 attempts, .429).,
Tulsa hit negative .095 in losing its seventh straight. Coach Matt Sonnichsen didn't stick around long enough to explain why his team's leading hitter, Kristien Van Lierop, never left the bench.
Van Lierop likely wouldn't have made much of a difference in the outcome. Since the loss to Stanford two weeks ago, the Wahine have refocused.
"We are the No. 3 team in the country,'' said Lima. "We cannot play like an unranked team. If you're No. 3, you should play like No. 3, no matter who you are playing. We owe that to our fans and to the other teams to show we respect them.
"We want to be here on Dec. 18. We want to be the national champions.''
On a night where Shoji got to have his cake and eat it, too, he echoed Lima's feelings when speaking to the crowd who remained for the ceremony.
"We're working very hard to be back here, playing on the 18th,'' he said.''
NOTES
The Wahine have now reached the 20-win plateau in six consecutive seasons and 21 of the past 23 seasons ... In matches of interest last night, No. 2 Stanford held off No. 7 UCLA, 15-2, 9-15, 15-2, 15-13, and San Jose State rallied past host Fresno State in WAC play, 13-15, 7-15, 15-6, 15-5, 15-13.
HAWAII DEF. TULSA, 15-3, 15-1, 15-2
Golden Hurricane (8-14, 2-8 WAC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Martin 2 2 1 10 .100 0 0 4 Vorraa 2 1 6 13 -.385 0 0 1 Hidinger 3 3 0 7 .429 0 0 4 Klemm 3 1 4 11 -.273 0 0 1 Smith 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 4 Frogge 3 1 3 8 -.250 0 0 2 Leuer 3 1 2 6 -.167 0 0 2 McLaughlin 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 0 Carlisle 2 0 1 6 --.167 0 0 1 Little 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Totals 3 11 17 63 -.095 0 0 21Rainbow Wahine (20-1, 9-0 WAC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Carey 3 2 1 3 .333 0 0 4 Sudduth 3 6 3 17 .176 1 1 4 Bown 3 16 0 18 .889 1 1 4 Kahumoku 3 6 0 12 .500 1 1 3 Lima 2 4 1 7 .429 0 1 2 Ilustre 3 2 0 4 .500 0 2 5 Vakasausau 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Nikolic 1 0 0 3 .000 0 2 3 Makainai 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Roberts 3 3 1 5 .400 0 0 0 Lee 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 39 6 69 .478 3 8 30Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.Aces--Tulsa (1): Vorraa 1. UH (7): Lima 2, Carey 1, Sudduth 1, Bown 1, Ilustre 1, Lee 1. Assists--Tulsa (11): Smith 6, Carlisle 3, McLaughlin 2. UH (35): Carey 27, Ilustre 4, Vakasausau 2, Sudduth 1, Roberts 1.
A--7,401. T--1:05. Officials--Ed Halik, Ernest Ho.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
