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Monday, October 9, 2000
After playing all but two of its matches at home this season, the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team will have to get used to the road for the remainder of October. Shoji prepares
players for WAC
road matchesBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinFive of the No. 2 Wahine's next six Western Athletic Conference matches will be on the mainland.
Hawaii (14-0, 4-0 WAC) will travel to Reno to play newest WAC member, the University of Nevada (6-9, 3-2 WAC), Saturday.
The Wahine will be home two days later to host Tulsa (15-3, 1-3).
Then they will play four straight matches in Texas.
Wahine head coach Dave Shoji is confident about the trips but he admits they'll be inconvenient.
"We miss a lot of school for one thing, and then I just hope the time zone doesn't affect our play," he said. "We're definitely going to be a little confused."
On Oct. 20, the Wahine will be at the University of Texas-El Paso (8-7, 1-3) and the next night at Rice (13-5, 3-2).
They'll fly home before repacking for matches at Texas Christian University (10-9, 2-2) on Oct. 27 and at Southern Methodist University (9-7, 0-4) the next night.
This will be the first trip to Reno since 1994 for the Hawaii coaching staff.
The Wahine played two matches there in early October, winning both in a year they went 25-5.
"It's a difficult place to play," Shoji said. "A small gym with a pretty good crowd -- 500 to 600. And they've shown they can go the distance with just about anybody in the conference. They went five games with San Jose State and Fresno State."
Hawaii swept SMU (15-7, 15-6, 15-3) on Thursday and TCU (15-5, 15-8, 15-6) on Saturday with sophomore left-sider Lily Kahumoku leading the attack for the 10th and 11th times this season.
Kahumoku had 26 total kills in the two matches while hitting .417 and .324, respectively.
She had her fourth double-double of the season Saturday when she made 11 digs.
Shoji said he plans to throw a few new looks into the offense.
"We're trying to put in some plays that provide a little misdirection and a little doubt in the other teams' minds as to how we're going to attack.
"We've been pretty predictable up to now, so we're trying to get some new routes toward the net and attack from different places with different people."
Shoji said Kahumoku will continue to operate from the left side.
"We're not going to do much with her because she's having great success," he said. "We're just going to set the ball high to her. I don't think anybody can stop her right now."
But he said he will work on adding some variety to the attacks of freshman right-sider Kim Willoughby and freshman middle blocker Maja Gustin.
Shoji said that because he's grooming Willoughby to take over senior Jessica Sudduth's left side position next season, he will be trying to get her some reps there during the WAC season. She played one game on the left last week.
"And we'll keep working on our blocking and transition game," he said.
Shoji said he sees San Jose State (12-5, 3-1) and Rice ready to step out of the pack as Hawaii's two best challengers.
But the Wahine are looking as balanced and powerful as any Hawaii team has ever been. What is Shoji's biggest concern for the rest of the WAC schedule?
"Right now, I'm most concerned with our conditioning," he said. "We'll continue to lift weights and run so our conditioning doesn't fall down. When the end of the season comes, if we have to play a long match we want to be in shape for it."
The only noticeable problem Hawaii had Saturday night was Gustin's right arm.
Shoji said it was a muscle strain for which she was treated briefly on the sideline and then sent back into the match.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
