Tuesday, October 16, 2001

Wahine go back
on the road

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By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.com

Home may be where the heart is but for the Hawaii volleyball team heart has been found away from home.

UH's 10-day trip through three states not only gave the Wahine convincing wins and confidence but it also added to team chemistry.

They'll need all of that as they go on their toughest road trip since the season opener against Nebraska.

Hawaii plays San Diego State tomorrow at 4 p.m. Hawaii time. UH faces San Jose State on Thursday at 4 p.m. and concludes with Fresno State on Saturday at 9 a.m.

The Wahine are alone at the top of the Western Athletic Conference with a perfect 5-0 record.

But the Spartans and the Bulldogs are right behind the Wahine with one loss each and either team is capable of knocking off the Wahine. San Jose State has won 11 out of its last 12.

The Spartans' Brianna Blair is second only to Kim Willoughby in hitting with 4.77 kills per game while Fresno State's Shauna McQuaid leads the WAC in hitting efficiency.

"The league is much more even," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "It's hard to play consistently every night ... be at the top of your game every night. Everybody's capable of winning any match now. There's certainly a chance that we'll run into a hot team."

With a nine-match win streak and 44 consecutive conference victories, there's no team hotter than UH in the WAC. But Hawaii could be vulnerable as it faces the elite teams in the WAC.

"Going to the West Coast isn't too bad as far as time difference but this is our side of the conference now," setter Margaret Vakasausau said. "The West has always been really strong. With San Jose State and Fresno State ... the WAC has been really good this year. Everyone's beating each other. We could be susceptible to a loss if we don't play our game."

But Hawaii has faired well on the road so far and Vakasausau has attributed it to feeling less nervous and less pressure with no one in the stands.

While some of the players think that UH is a better road team than home team, Shoji doesn't think that just yet.

"If we play really well again in the next three matches, I might believe that," Shoji said. "Sometimes being at home, you put pressure on yourself to play well. You want to please the people and maybe you try too hard sometimes."

Notes: Kim Willoughby was named the WAC Player of the Week. She averaged 8.28 kills a game in two matches against UTEP and SMU. Willoughby leads the conference in hitting with 6.60 kills, almost two kills more than Blair. ... Despite a horrific looking bruise on her right hip, Vakasausau will be the starter. The junior aggravated a hip contusion during last Saturday's practice and wears an enormous pad. ... The Wahine moved up one spot in the weekly AVCA coaches' poll. Hawaii regained the No. 12 spot after being at No. 13 last week. Pacific dropped from No. 12 to No. 15 after losing to Utah State last week.

WAC Standings

Western	WAC matches	All matches
	W	L	Pct.	W	L	Pct.
Hawaii	5	0	1.000	12	4	.750
San Jose St.	6	1	.857	15	3	.833
Fresno St.	6	1	.857	11	4	.733
Nevada	5	2	.714	11	3	.786
Boise St.	1	6	.143	1	15	.062
Eastern	WAC Matches	All Matches
	W	L	Pct.	W	L	Pct.
SMU	2	3	.400	7	9	.438
Rice	2	4	.333	7	8	.467
Tulsa	1	4	.200	6	8	.429
UTEP	1	4	.200	5	8	.385
La. Tech	0	5	.000	7	11	.389

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USA Today/AVCA Top 25 Poll

Through Oct. 15

First place votes in parentheses

Rank/School	Points	W-L	LW
1. Long Beach St. (59)	1,618	13-0	1
2. Nebraska (6)	1,583	15-1	2
3. USC	1,496	12-1	3
4. Stanford	1,410	14-2	4
5. UCLA	1,332	10-3	5
6. Wisconsin	1,315	14-2	6
7. Arizona	1,195	11-3	7
8. Colorado St.	1,187	14-0	8
9. Florida	1,110	12-1	9
10. Ohio St.	1,034	15-1	10
11. Penn St.	962	13-3	11
12. Hawaii	890	12-4	13
13. BYU	826	12-2	14
14. Pepperdine	769	10-2	15
15. Pacific	715	15-4	12
16. No. Iowa	657	17-0	16
17. Texas A&M	607	12-3	17
18. Utah	509	11-4	18
19. Notre Dame	375	12-3	21
20. Colorado	369	11-4	23
21. Minnesota	305	10-6	20
22. So. Carolina	215	12-3	19
23. UC Santa Barbara	175	8-7	24
24. Santa Clara	147	11-6	25
25. No. Carolina	87	16-3	NR

Others receiving votes: Kansas St. 71, San Diego 52, Louisville 36, Utah St. 24, Missouri 14, Arkansas 11, Texas 9, San Jose St. 7, Duke 7, Nevada 6, Michigan St. 6, Cincinnati 4.

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UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii