Thursday, December 2, 1999
No place like home
After traveling more than
By Cindy Luis
150,000 miles as Wahine players,
Heidi Ilustre and Jennifer Roberts
get to finish their careers
at home
Star-BulletinHave volleyball, will travel.
And travel.
And travel.
But little did Heidi Ilustre and Jennifer Roberts know just how much traveling they'd be doing in their four years on the Hawaii women's volleyball team. Their freshman season began on the road; ironically, their final season will finish at home.
The numbers are enough to put them on the map, with their own data base link at www.travelocity.com. The pair has made 22 round trips to the mainland, logging in 110,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean, while criss-crossing the mainland U.S. for another estimated 52,094 miles ... and those are just flight miles.
Not taken into account are numerous little road trips, where the team has driven from San Francisco to San Jose to Fresno or from Chicago to Kalamazoo, Mich. There have been jaunts from Denver to Laramie, Wyo.; from Salt Lake City to Provo, Utah; from San Diego to Long Beach (best forgotten).
MOUNTAIN REGION
Today At Stan Sheriff Center
Utah (21-9) vs. Colorado (18-11), 5 p.m. Hawaii (27-1) vs. Prairie View (18-16), 7:30 p.m.
Utah/Colorado winner vs. Hawaii/Prairie View winner, 7 p.m.
North Carolina (27-5) vs. Northern Ariz. (19-9); Texas A&M (25-5) vs. Stephen F. Austin (26-9)
Louisville (19-11) vs. Kansas St. (20-8); Colorado St. (28-2) vs. Loyola (Ill.) (24-9)
Arkansas (29-6) vs. Georgetown (27-4); Long Beach St. (27-3) vs. Florida A&M (23-8)
Hawaii, Dec. 9-10
Since that first trip to Normal, Ill., to open the 1996 season, Ilustre and Roberts have spent 122 days on the road, about a month every season. They've been to 12 states and 23 cities and - like good Hawaii residents - made the most frequent trips to Las Vegas (three out of five times courtesy of the WAC Tournament).
If need be, they could find Baggage Claim H-1 at Honolulu International blindfolded. Or sleepwalking, which sometimes has been the case due to jet lag.
Their passports haven't been stamped, but their memories have, with the good times outweighing the bad. The Wahine's road record in their four years is 47-8, including 10-0 this year.
"I knew when I decided to play for Hawaii that I'd be traveling,'' said Ilustre, "but I never thought it would be like this."
When team members found out Sunday that third-ranked Hawaii would be hosting the playoffs through the NCAA final four, there was a shared sigh of relief. It was also a bittersweet moment for Ilustre and Roberts, who had just turned in their travel bags for the last time to equipment manager Sis Cashman.
Ilustre hopes to be playing professionally overseas, but Roberts said this it in terms of playing volleyball competitively.
"I can't believe that in three weeks my volleyball career will be over,'' said the senior nicknamed 'Bob.' "I've been playing for 16 years and it's hard to imagine that it will soon be over.''
The players don't get to keep their travel mileage but they will save the stories to tell for years. Here's one last trip down memory lane:
FAVORITE ROAD TRIP?
For Roberts, it was Thanksgiving weekend last year in Las Vegas, when the Wahine outlasted BYU for the WAC Tournament title. The match lasted over 3 hours, the longest in NCAA history."It was an awesome experience just because of the intensity of both teams,'' she said. "I consider both teams winners. It was a tough loss for them but a great one for us. I missed going to Vegas this year.''
"It had to be Vegas last year,'' echoed Ilustre. "We made history, we're in the record book. It was awesome.''
WORST ROAD TRIP?
Both Roberts and Ilustre have erased the two trips to Long Beach in 1997 from their data bank. The first was a blowout by the 49ers (15-8, 15-5, 15-0) the day after Halloween; the second was an equally quick loss to Loyola Marymount in the first round of the NCAA Tournament (15-7, 15-7, 15-4)."The other worst trip has to be Las Vegas in 1997 when we lost to BYU for the WAC title,'' said Roberts. "We didn't come out strong and I felt like everyone kind of gave up.''
"I think the worst one was the trip to Texas this year where we were there way too long and there was nothing there,'' Ilustre said of the five-day stay where the team played SMU, TCU and UTEP.
BEST STORY ABOUT COACH DAVE SHOJI:
On the team's trip to Dallas in mid-November this season, junior hitter Jessica Sudduth gave Shoji a badge and toy guns with holsters. Roberts reveals that her coach spent some time pretending to be "Sheriff Shoji.''"And we have pictures to prove it,'' added Ilustre.
FUNNIEST ROAD TRIP MEMORY?
Three weeks ago in El Paso, the team did not rent cars, instead taking a shuttle to and from the match with the Miners."On the way back, our driver took this mountain road and finally got on the freeway,'' said Roberts. "All of a sudden, there was this big pop. The tire blew and our driver didn't know what to do. So he drove back to the hotel, doing about 10 miles an hour, with a flat tire.
"No one said anything because we didn't think he spoke English.''
"My sophomore year, we drove from Los Angeles to Bakersfield to have dinner at (setter) Nikki Hubbert's house,'' said Ilustre. "There was some kind of fire in the grapevines along the highway and we had to take a detour.
"We were all in one big van, singing our stupid songs and playing our little games while Dave was trying to listen to a baseball game on the radio. It was supposed to take three hours to get there but it was more like seven.''
BEST SOUVENIR?
No question. Both agree that it's the 1998 WAC championship trophy.
This spring, Shoji is taking the team to Japan to train. The seniors have been invited along.
One more road trip?
"I'm not sure yet,'' said Ilustre.
"I don't think so,'' said Roberts.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
