Sidelines
Wahine get valuable
lesson from lossIT was after Sunday night's main event with Stanford, and after the smiles and mid-court hugs. After the tears for the seniors, hidden somewhere under all those leis.
After the loss.
That's when reality really sunk in.
Kim Willoughby stood. Lily Kahumoku sat. They saw things differently and said things differently. Much like their brilliant on-court play for Hawaii, they had disparate styles but shared similar end results.
The slam sisters were unhappy.
They'd been swept. Hawaii had been humbled. Yes, there'd been the thrill of the big crowd and bigger competition and the mistiness that comes with video goodbyes. But in the end, reality always seeps into your bones. Losing always feels the same.
And the reality was this: As good as they were, and are, Willoughby and Kahumoku are not enough. Not against Stanford. Not to go undefeated. Not to stay volleyball's No. 1.
They saw that now. Everyone did.
Hawaii needed a block, Hawaii needed defense, Hawaii needed a right side.
And in the corridor that rings the area behind the Stan Sheriff Center's lower bowl, Hawaii's two stars endured the indignity of this losing, the reality hitting them, their perspective of it pouring out of them.
Kahumoku was soft-spoken and analytical. She talked about strategy and adapting, fine-tuning, reevaluating, adjustments.
The domino theory of team defense.
Willoughby was fiery. She put it on the line. Some people may have been intimidated by Stanford, she said.
The Wahine locker room may be an interesting place today.
We'll wait and see whether this loss and its aftershocks turn into a good thing or not.
We'll wait and see whether Hawaii really is better than this match or not.
Stanford's level of play should have been no shock, both slam sisters said. Samorodok, of Russia, was talented, experienced, tough. And UH came from behind to close out games then. The Russians were this good. Better.
Maybe. But those were anonymous Europeans in a match that didn't count. This was a final-four preview against an old nemesis. This was Stanford.
"I think sometimes we looked, and it was like, 'Oh, it's Logan Tom,' " Willoughby said.
Hawaii is better than it played, Willoughby said. That's the worst part about it.
"If you look at it, most of my digs came from digging Logan Tom," she said. "It's not like their players are just dominant. It's not like every time they jump, the ball is going to hit the floor. You can dig the ball. We're actually the best digging team in the country. And I think that's something that we let get away from us tonight. Because we kind of failed to realize that we can still dig them."
That happened, Kahumoku said, because the block wasn't there. And that happened, Willoughby said, because of the intimidation.
But it also happened because Stanford's Oganna Nnamani played one of the great matches of her life. She was unstoppable. Everything she hit went down. There are times at this level -- and Hawaii's opponents will attest to this -- that no matter what you do, there are times the hitter is so good there's nothing you can do.
Willoughby would give you this. But she refuses to give in.
"It's about what you do on the next play that really matters," she said.
That's good advice. Hawaii's next play had already started. The Wahine need to get that block back, reinvigorate that defense, find that right side. They will, if this is the team that we thought. They have to, if they are to go where we thought they could.
The American Volleyball Coaches Association still thinks so. UH only fell to No. 3 in the nation in yesterday's poll. Things don't look so bad after all. If this sweep exposed the Wahine, it also showed them how close they are and where they should be. It also taught them a lesson they already knew.
The secret to big-time volleyball is this: "Making plays at the right moments," Kahumoku said.
They saw that now. Everyone did.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com