Wahine put puzzle LINCOLN, Neb. >> Three months ago, New Orleans seemed like a distant dream. The Rainbow Wahine dared not look too far ahead, but they always had small sources of inspiration to remind them of their ultimate destination for the season.
together at regionals
The reward that awaits them
at the final 4 is a rematch with
defending champion StanfordBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comBefore Hawaii's first match against Ohio State way back in September, manager Ryan Tsuji gave each of the players a beaded necklace with a letter dangling on it. Together, the message spelled "New Orleans in 2002."
"It seems so close. Every game we had during the season was a small test for us," senior Margaret Vakasausau said. "I knew there was something special about this team. The whole team just wanted to be in New Orleans.
"When the whole team comes back early to go to summer school and when the whole team passes the mile (run in under seven minutes), everybody has that same goal and desire. That just made New Orleans so realistic to us. I don't think we thought anybody was going to stop us. Now that we're here, it's crazy."
A holistic effort catapulted Hawaii into this week's final four, the seventh in program history. The Wahine have won four national titles (1979, 1982, 1983, 1987) and are going for their fifth. Hawaii gets a second chance at Stanford on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Hawaii time. It will be the third meeting of the year between the two schools. Hawaii won an exhibition in April, but was swept in November by the defending national champions.
The loss to the Cardinal a month ago helped. It didn't look good in the eyes of the selection committee, which seeded the Wahine sixth, but the loss gave Hawaii much-needed experience in developing mental toughness.
It was that loss that Hawaii coach Dave Shoji thinks might have been the difference in Saturday's regional semifinal against Nebraska. Each team had just one loss entering the regional final. The difference was when it happened. The Huskers lost to USC in September.
"The Stanford match allowed us to be in a situation where we were getting beat and we really didn't respond. It taught us how to be behind," Shoji said. "It taught us that we weren't good enough at the time to turn that around. The WAC season didn't give us any of that. We were never really behind.
"Being behind and not succeeding helped us overcome that. Nebraska had not been in that situation. We all talked about trying to get ahead of them to see what their reaction would be and they didn't respond. They didn't respond well enough to win the match."
Talent can take you far, and the other three teams in the field -- USC, Stanford and Florida -- are definitely skilled. But when every team features an All-American banger, an edge needs to be found elsewhere. Hawaii may have found that edge against Nebraska: a trust in each other that may deserve some credit for the team's success.
Before the match against Nebraska, Dr. Michael D'Andrea, a UH sports counselor who works with teams on performance enhancement, picked a theme of having faith in self and faith in teammates as a key to the match. Hawaii needed every player's contribution on the court to defeat Nebraska.
"When things are tough, you might have a tendency to go inward," Shoji said. "He reminds them that you can't do that. You got to be there for your teammates and your teammates got to be there for you.
"I don't think anybody was just satisfied with just getting here. We want to win two more. That's been the goal. Starting tomorrow we'll start refocusing on what we have to do Thursday night."
Notes: Hawaii is 50-17 in NCAA tournament matches. ... ESPN2 will televise Hawaii's semifinal against defending national champion Stanford live. The second semifinal between USC and Florida will be shown Friday. ... Willoughby has 1,824 career kills and is 49 shy of tying Teee Williams' career total of 1,873.
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