Tuesday, April 17, 2001
[ UH WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL ]
Warriors knew AFTER the top-ranked University of Hawaii men's volleyball team lost twice to No. 2 Brigham Young last week, it was a given that the Cougars would receive the top seed in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs that begin later this week.
they’d drop, but
not to 4th seed
Despite appeal, UH still slotted
behind BYU, Long Beach State
and UCLA for the
MPSF playoffsBy Grace Wen
Star-BulletinThe Warriors expected to drop in the rankings, but did not anticipate dropping all the way to the fourth seed when pairings were announced Sunday.
The MPSF seeded Long Beach State second and UCLA third. Hawaii was seeded fourth, and will host fifth-seeded Southern Cal this Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
BYU, should it defeat UC Irvine, will host the MPSF Tournament semifinals and final, April 26 and 28.
"We were pretty surprised,'' UH head coach Mike Wilton said. "We couldn't find the procedure that they (MPSF tournament committee) utilized in the rule book.''
Hawaii filed a formal appeal to the decision yesterday, but the MPSF executive committee -- after a 20-minute discussion -- called back, ruling that the seedings would stand as originally announced.
Wilton said it isn't so much who the first-round opponent is that concerns him. The implications of these seedings could be felt in the next round of the tournament, where Hawaii and BYU --should they win their first-round match -- would meet in the semifinals in Provo.
Wilton felt that his team would have a better chance at receiving the at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament if it reached the conference final and lost. The Warriors must win the conference championship to reach the Final Four as the automatic MPSF entry.
As for the UH players, they feel the seeding doesn't matter.
"Who cares?'' said UH senior captain Torry Tukuafu. "It doesn't matter where we're seeded. We've played every team in the league. We can beat every team in the league.
"Every team, one through seven, is just about an inch apart. Anybody can win on any given night."
The controversy came after UH, Long Beach State and UCLA finished in a three-way tie with identical 12-5 records. Before Saturday's loss, it looked as if Hawaii would receive the No. 2 seed, but the second loss to the Cougars complicated the playoff scenario.
UCLA maintained its hold on the No. 3 spot, the 49ers and Warriors traded places. The tie-breaker system was supposed to use the overall match record within the division, but the MPSF opted to only count the number of wins and losses in head to head competition.
Comparing the records, Long Beach State finished 2-1, beating Hawaii once and splitting with UCLA. UCLA finished 2-2 having split both series; Hawaii finished 1-2, splitting with the Bruins and losing once to the 49ers.
UH contested that the seedings were unfair since the teams did not play the same number of games. During conference play, teams within the same division, like Hawaii and Long Beach State, play each other once during the season, while teams in opposing divisions like Hawaii and UCLA play twice.
UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida said yesterday during a meeting with MPSF executive director Al Beaird that he would abide by the decision of the MPSF.
The committee voted 3-0 in favor of the original seedings. Members of the committee are: Steve Albach, UC Santa Barbara faculty representative; Jana Doggett of San Diego State; and Teresa Kuehn, associate commissioner of the West Coast Conference.
"I took it to my executive committee and they supported my interpretation,'' Beaird said. "It's a function of scheduling. The coaches all voted on it (the scheduling). It could have been the other way around. In retrospect, the tie-breaker could be written more clearly but it's been in place for years."
Beaird, however, seemed to be clear in a response to the same question posed by BYU head coach Carl McGown two weeks ago.
At the time, it appeared BYU, UCLA and Hawaii could have ended up in a three-way tie for first place. McGown asked how the tie would be broken given that situation.
In an April 5 e-mail to the coaches in the MPSF, Beaird stated that there would be three tie-breakers used. The first would be head-to-head competition in MPSF match play, the second would be overall match record within the division, and the third would have been overall match record versus all other MPSF tournament qualifiers.
Beaird replied to McGown that there would be no resolution using tie-breaker number one so the second and third tie-breakers would be considered.
Applied to the current scenario, Hawaii and UCLA would have similar 4-1 division records while Long Beach State would be 3-2. Hawaii would have had the better record against other tournament qualifiers and received the No. 2 seed, but the MPSF only used the first tie-breaker which Beaird had said would not have provided a resolution.
Tickets for Saturday's match against Southern Cal went on sale today at the Stan Sheriff Center box office.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
