The Brigham Young-Hawaii volleyball team will be going to the NCAA Division II regional a day later than expected, but it won't be going alone. Silverswords to join
Seasiders at regional
By Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.comBoth Hawaii teams in the top six moved up a spot, giving the Seasiders a bye and Chaminade the No. 5 seed. The Silverswords will be making their first-ever appearance in the tournament, and will be the only unranked team in the field.
Chaminade plays UC San Diego Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Hawaii time.
"I am really excited for the kids and for Chaminade as a school," Silverswords coach Glennie Adams said. "This is what you work for, to get to the postseason. To reach this point is extremely satisfying."
The Seasiders passed Western Washington in the final regional poll yesterday, and were awarded the second seed. That gives them a bye through the first round, meaning they won't have to play until Friday, when they meet the winner of the Western Washington-Cal State Los Angeles match.
Western Washington was ranked No. 1 in the region for the last three weeks, and is not happy about slipping behind the Seasiders despite an 18-game winning streak. Their last loss was to BYUH at home Sept. 7.
"I'm disappointed," Western Washington coach Diane Flick said on the team's web site. "I feel like the players were cheated out of something they deserved.
"But, on the other hand, you have to play everybody anyway, we might as well start it on Thursday."
Since the Seasiders don't play until Friday, their travel plans were altered. They were planning on playing Thursday, and BYUH coach Wilfred Navalta believes that NCAA rules prohibit them from showing up to the site until 48 hours before their first match. Navalta would like to get his team to the site as soon as possible.
"We were planning to go tomorrow (Monday) night," Navalta said. "This year's team, we can't take them too early, they will want to go shopping too much."
Chaminade has not made travel plans yet, but Adams has just as young a squad as Navalta. Adams says her problem might be settling the girls down and playing the way that she knows they can play.
"I think they've wanted this for so long that keeping them focused won't be a problem," Adams said. "The main concern is getting them from stepping over that line of wanting it so bad that they make mistakes."
Even though Hawaii Pacific was not invited to the dance for the first time since 1997, Navalta and the host Cal State San Bernardino web site believe it had an impact on the race.
The Coyotes web site suggested that Hawaii Pacific's status as a perennial power helped lift BYUH when the Seasiders beat HPU in five games Saturday.
"That's nice how teams look up to us, how they respect us," HPU coach Tita Ahuna said. "I'm glad we had the opportunities to go to postseason all those times.
"I'm not disappointed at all. We had a rocky season but the girls never quit. That's just how we want to end it, leaving it all on the floor in a match against BYU."
Seasiders Athletics
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