Friday, November 9, 2001
Apparently, national championships in small college volleyball won't buy much these days. Seasiders may
get snubbedHPU and BYUH have received
low regional rankings, despite
closing out the season on high notesBy Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.comAfter following up an undefeated national championship season with an 18-4 record, the Hawaii Pacific volleyball team was judged only the eighth best team in the Pacific Region Wednesday.
Hawaii Pacific did not need the respect of the three members who make up the committee though, as it won the right to compete in the national tournament for the fourth time in a row with its recent Pacific West Conference championship.
But the team that the Sea Warriors beat out for the berth, Brigham Young-Hawaii, did need the respect of the committee.
And they haven't gotten it.
With the memory of a perceived snub last year fresh on their minds, the Seasiders watched this week as their standing in the region dropped from the seventh spot to completely out of the top 10.
Only two conferences from the Pacific Region receive automatic bids to the six-team regional. Since HPU took one of the six spots from the eighth position, BYUH needed to be voted at least into the top five to realistically have a chance when the final six are formally announced Sunday. They were close in the previous poll (Oct. 24), but dropped out in the latest one.
All the Seasiders did between polls was win three of their four matches, including a split with HPU. Because none of the wins came against teams on the West Coast, however, they did not seem to matter.
"Since we have gone to Division II (in 1998), we (Hawaii schools) have won three national championships," HPU coach Tita Ahuna said. "But they insist on using the California teams as a measuring stick, expecting us to go there to prove ourselves. They should be coming here to play us. It shows absolutely no respect for Hawaii."
The Hawaii schools are going through their annual outrage, questioning what they -- having won 17 of the past 20 national championships -- have left to prove to the region at all. They say that teams should have to make the effort to come to Hawaii and prove themselves by beating the annual national champions.
Committee chair Julie Sandoval of Cal State Dominguez Hills says she doesn't care where or when Hawaii schools meet the others during the regular season, as long as they play. Because the region encompasses the entire West Coast, Sandoval's group has the task of ranking three sub-regions that rarely play each other and trying somehow to determine which of the three is strongest. She also says that what is past is past, and national championships don't matter when judging teams on the merits of a new season.
The committee is made up of Sandoval and one representative each from the PacWest and Great Northwest conferences. Jim Callender of Western New Mexico is the PacWest's voter, while Kim Lauwers of Alaska-Anchorage is the other. Both serve two-year terms that will expire in 2003, when Hawaii will have its next chance to put a representative on the committee.
For the past two years, Sandoval's committee has determined that the overall quality of volleyball in the Islands is not as high as elsewhere in the region, despite the consistent postseason success of HPU and BYUH.
"I can't justify to the national committee HPU's strength-of-schedule outside the conference," Sandoval said. "I don't think it's so much on them, they need to play opponents that will give us some kind of gauge, and that goes down to scheduling. They need to come together (and play) somewhere, even if it is at a neutral site."
But therein lies the rub.
After last year's snub -- BYUH was ranked seventh in the national AVCA poll but missed the national tournament because it was judged only eighth best in the region -- the Seasiders sent a letter to every Division II school on the West Coast asking for a game, going so far as to offer to pay their own way. It didn't work.
"Last year kind of opened our eyes about scheduling games," BYUH athletic director Randy Day said. "So we contacted every school in the region and had absolutely no luck, except a nibble from Cal State L.A. We tell them 'You name the dates, and we will be there,' but they are not interested. We will play them in the parking lot of the Airport Holiday Inn if they want to."
Day will try the same ploy next season, but doesn't expect it to work overnight because there are so many underlying factors involved in his team being shut out by the rest of the region.
"I think there is a certain resentment toward the Hawaii schools' success," Day said. "Throw in the usual politics and the fact that we use international players, which I know they don't like, and that is part of the reason why."
For now, Day can only work the phones, trying to convince Sandoval and the other two representatives that his team was snubbed and should be moved up five spots despite not playing a game since the last poll was issued.
And try to change things before it happens again next year.
"If there is another way to do this, a recourse would be to contact the NCAA and submit a proposal," Sandoval said. "If you create a proposal, it does get presented. Things can change."
As determined by the NCAA Division II Pacific Region committee of Julie Sandoval (Senior Women's Administrator at Cal State Dominguez Hills), Jim Callender (Western New Mexico volleyball coach) and Kim Lauwers (Alaska Anchorage volleyball coach). Pacific Region's top 10
Rank, team, overall record, record in region, record vs. the top 10, key losses, record against
OVRL RGN T10 Key losses 1. Cal St. San Bernardino 26-2 19-2 6-2 UCSD (1-1), CS Bakersfield (1-1) 2. UC San Diego 20-6 15-4 4-2 CSLA (1-1), CS Bakersfield (1-1) 3. Western Washington 22-4 15-1 6-0 4. Cal St. Bakersfield 18-7 18-5 5-2 UCSD (1-1), CS San Bernardino (1-1) 5. Seattle Pacific 19-6 11-5 3-3 Cen.Washington (0-2), Western Washington (1-1) 6. Cal St. Los Angeles 17-10 16-8 3-6 Seattle Pacific (0-1), Western Washington (0-1), San Bernardino (0-2), UCSD (0-1), CS Bakersfield (0-1) 7. Central Washington 15-9 8-8 2-6 Alaska Anchorage (0-1), W. Washington (0-2), Seattle Pacific (1-1), UC Davis (0-1), CS Bakersfield (0-1) 8. Hawaii Pacific 18-4 16-3 -- 9. UC Davis 14-12 14-11 2-6 CS Bakersfield (0-2), CS San Bernardino (0-2), CS Los Angeles (0-2) 10. Alaska Anchorage 17-9 9-6 1-4 Seattle Pacific (0-2), Western Washington (0-2)
Other
Brigham Young-Hawaii 15-6 10-6 2-1 Hawaii Pacific (2-1)Primary factors used to rank teams are: Head-to-head competition, results against common opponents, results against current top 10, losses to teams in region with records under .500 and eligibility and availability of student athletes for championship competition. If primary factors are equal, head-to-head competition is the tiebreaker prior to considering late season-performance.