They're glad the Hawaii Pacific volleyball team's 42-match winning streak is finally over. Pressure’s off with
end of streakBy Brandon Lee and Jerry Campany
blee@starbulletin.com
jcampany@starbulletin.comNo, not the players who ended it last Saturday -- the Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans, though they were undoubtedly pleased to be the ones to have done so.
According to HPU coach Tita Ahuna, the Sea Warrior players are, in a way, glad the streak that spanned all of last season and half of this one is over.
"A lot of pressure has been taken off of us," Ahuna said. "Now we can just go out not worrying about the streak and just focus on what we have to do. We can become better -- we have to get better.
"I think it's a big relief. I don't think (the players) would have known about the streak if everyone didn't keep talking about it."
Prior to last weekend, HPU had not lost since being bounced from the 1999 NCAA Division II postseason's first round. Since that defeat, the Sea Warriors became the first NCAA-II team to go through a season undefeated (28-0) en route to winning the 2000 national championship.
The Sea Warriors then reeled off 14 more wins without a loss to start this year, before falling to Hilo, the Pacific West Conference's last-place team.
"Sure we played bad, but a lot of credit goes to Hilo," Ahuna said.
HPU's string of 42 consecutive victories ranks second in Division II history, four off the all-time mark of 46 straight set by Ferris State in 1984. The Sea Warriors (14-1, 8-1) are still in first place in the PacWest, but have dropped out of the top spot nationally to No. 4 in the latest poll.
The road ahead doesn't get any easier for HPU, as it hosts longtime rival Brigham Young-Hawaii (7-5, 3-4) tonight at 7:30 at St. Andrew's Priory, before visiting the PacWest's second-place team, Chaminade (6-7, 3-2), at the same time tomorrow.
The Sea Warriors still control their own destiny, however, as five wins in their final six conference games would assure them of the PacWest's automatic berth into the NCAA-II Pacific Regionals.
"This weekend is extremely crucial," Ahuna said. "We need to show up and play well. We need to come out firing."
HAWAII PACIFIC
On Oct. 30, the Sea Warriors will visit the University of Hawaii at the Stan Sheriff Center to fill an open date for both teams. The regular-season match will count toward both teams' overall records and statistics.The Division I Wahine lead the all-time series 4-0 -- all straight-game victories -- though the two haven't played "for keeps" since 1985.
In an HPU-UH scrimmage earlier this year that took place during some downtime shortly after the terrorist attacks, the Sea Warriors took the No. 13 Wahine to four games before losing.
This will be the first opportunity for Ahuna to go up against her former coach, Dave Shoji, whom she played for from 1984-87 and helped to the 1987 NCAA title.
"Why not play the best?" Ahuna said. "We'll see how we do when it counts. I think it's a good gauge for us seeing where we stack up going into the postseason, where the teams only get better."
CHAMINADE
After picking up their third consecutive win this year over Brigham Young-Hawaii last weekend, the Silverswords have solidified their emergence as PacWest contenders.Chaminade will have a third shot to pick up its first win over first-place Hawaii Pacific tomorrow night. Depending on the outcome of the Sea Warriors' match against the Seasiders tonight, a Chaminade win tomorrow could either pull the Silverswords into a tie for first with HPU or give them the conference lead outright.
Two Fridays ago, Chaminade gave the Sea Warriors all they could handle before eventually falling in five games. The Silverswords lost in straight games to HPU the following night.
"We had our chances (in the first match), but we failed at critical moments," Chaminade coach Glennie Adams said. "Then they took it to us the next night. We have to execute and we have to maintain our composure. I don't want to say it's do or die, but (tomorrow night) is a very important game."
BRIGHAM YOUNG-HAWAII
The basketball team will hold its midnight madness tomorrow with a 3-point shooting contest, a dunk contest and scrimmage.Junior shooting guard Adam Evans will redshirt this season after breaking a bone in his foot.
Cross country runner Ashley Miller finished the Ironman Triathlon on the Big Island.
The water polo team is finishing up a road trip in which it plays six matches in 10 days.
HAWAII-HILO
The women's cross country team is hurting, with four athletes -- Kalei Robia, Molly Kimes, Jan Yoshioka and Colleen Cassidy -- either out or questionable for tomorrow's home meet.The basketball team will be holding its midnight madness Sunday night at 10:30 with a 3-point contest, dunk contest and scrimmage.
The volleyball team has learned its game times for the Texas women's tournament on Oct. 19-20. The Vulcans will play at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. the first day and 2 and 4 p.m. the next day.