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UH’s cozy home
stay nears end
No one can accuse Dave Shoji of not trying to give his Rainbow Wahine the true student-athlete experience.
Following his Hawaii volleyball team's wins over Colorado and Purdue in the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament last weekend, Shoji elected to bring the Wahine home for three days before the team leaves again tonight on a nonstop flight to Chicago, and, eventually, its NCAA Regional in Green Bay, Wis.
The move allowed the undefeated (30-0) Wahine to attend two days of school before getting back on another grueling trans-Pacific flight.
"I know I'm really happy that Dave decided to come home for a few days because sleeping in my bed and driving my truck and coming to school -- and just feel normal for a while," sophomore hitter Alicia Arnott said.
Freshman hitter Tara Hittle turned in her final paper for kinesiology yesterday and junior Susie Boogaard took two final exams. But for many of the Wahine, two days were nice, but not enough when it comes to finishing their class work.
"Most of us will be taking finals on the road, so Kari (assistant coach Kari Ambrozich) will be proctoring those," Arnott said.
"Last year we did it up on the road and we were sitting in the board room of a hotel, all of us taking different exams, spread out. It's ... different."
"I studied all yesterday and on the airplane," Boogaard said.
Player of the year candidate Kanoe Kamana'o leads the Rainbow Wahine into their match against No. 22 Wisconsin at the NCAA regional in Green Bay, Wis.
"I have slept a little bit on the plane," Shoji said. "I haven't slept well. It's tough to sleep on the road."
Arnott is one of those people who is unable to fall asleep on the plane.
"No," she said. "Not at all. I can't."
And that means several hours of lost sleep each trip. The Wahine are hoping they can keep up their adrenaline level as game time approaches, despite flying every few days.
Fatigue also comes into play when it comes to health. Starting middle Victoria Prince missed practice yesterday and has been fighting strep throat this past week. Shoji expects Prince back for the matches, but airline travel is notoriously tough on the sick and the about-to-be sick.
"It's almost like we're an NBA team," Shoji said of UH's travel schedule.
Luckily, his team seems to have taken to the road.
"When we're not playing, basically we sleep, eat, shop and on this last one we had a bunch of snowball fights," Arnott said.
"It's just -- being with the girls, we are having the time of our life," Boogaard said.
"I was a little tired yesterday," Hittle said. "But I went to bed early, so I'm not really tired any more."
Still No. 2: The Wahine stayed at No. 2 in the latest USA Today/CSTV Top 25 coaches poll released yesterday. Hawaii received 13 first-place votes, but trailed No. 1 Nebraska, which stayed on top for the second straight week.
Colorado State dropped from No. 9 to No. 16 after being eliminated from the NCAA tournament by Hawaii.
On Wisconsin: Shoji has scouted Friday's opponent as a "typical Big Ten team, big and strong. They've got a lot of athletes. They're well-coached."
As one of the Big Ten's top teams, "playing us is not going to be a big deal for them," Shoji said.
'Tis the season: The Wahine always seem to find a mall on their road trips, but this time the shopping expeditions are not personal. Being on the road during the holiday season leaves the UH players no other time to find Christmas gifts.
"I usually would not be shopping," Arnott said. "I'm not much of a shopper, but (you) got to."
Vivas fired: Fresno State coach and Punahou alumnus Lindy Vivas has been fired, according to a release from her attorney.
www.hawaiiathletics.com
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