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Hawaii's Wahine
serve up top rank
SALT LAKE CITY » New city. New time zone. New ranking.
The Hawaii women's volleyball team arrived here yesterday with a conference championship trophy and its first No. 1 rating in two years. The Rainbow Wahine (26-0) moved up a spot in the USA Today/CSTV Coaches Top 25 poll, replacing previously unbeaten Washington.
What Hawaii junior middle Victoria Prince calls a surreal season just keeps getting better.
"I think it's a dream, then I realize I'm not dreaming," said Prince, named the MVP of the Western Athletic Conference tournament Sunday. "It's almost too good to be true."
Hawaii began the season at 13th, a ranking the players took issue with while also saying it gave them motivation to prove the voters wrong.
With victories over ranked teams UCLA, California, Santa Clara, Arizona and San Diego, the Wahine continued to steadily climb. They reached No. 2 on Nov. 1.
The team learned the news during a layover in San Francisco this morning before the flight here.
"Everybody's pretty happy about it, but I don't think we are thinking that this automatically makes us the best team in the country," said UH associate head coach Charlie Wade. "We're happy with the recognition, that it's a reflection of how much hard work everyone has put in."
The team traveled to Logan, Utah, today for the match with Utah State (4 p.m. HST).
The Wahine then take on No. 19 Utah (23-5) tomorrow (4 p.m. HST) before returning to Hawaii Thursday. The Utes were swept by No. 9 Colorado State in Saturday's championship of the Mountain West Conference tournament.
"We didn't want to take the week off. We needed to be playing and staying sharp," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said.
Shoji returned to Honolulu yesterday to attend his father's funeral. He was returning here tonight, rejoining the team after the match with the Aggies.
Prior to the poll being released, Shoji said he did not know if the team would be ranked No. 1.
"I'm not sure if we deserve it," he said. "I'm not sure if our schedule is better than the other teams that have been in front of us."
Shoji, one of the 65 voters, said he felt Nebraska might be the best team in the country. However, there is only one undefeated team left in Division I volleyball ... and that is Hawaii.
The Wahine received 37 first-place votes -- 35 more than last week -- and 1,570 points. Nebraska (25-1) moved up to No. 2 with 23 first-place votes and 1,559 points.
Washington (23-1) had held the top spot since Oct. 4. The Huskies suffered their first loss Thursday when upset by new No. 7 Stanford, 3-2.
This is the first No. 1 ranking for the Wahine since Nov. 5, 2002, and their 48th overall dating back to the first national poll in 1982. Hawaii held the top spot in 2002 for one week, losing to Stanford five days after the rankings came out.
UH is the fourth team to be ranked No. 1 this season, a list that includes two-time defending national champion Southern California and Minnesota. Since 2001 only seven schools have held the top spot; the others are Stanford, Nebraska and Long Beach State.
Hawaii is second all-time in weeks ranked at No. 1 with 48. UCLA has been No. 1 51 times.
www.hawaiiathletics.com
