DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii seniors-to-be Victoria Prince, Ashley Watanabe and Susie Boogaard have one more season to play at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Wahine and Huskers
had unfinished ’04s

Tonight’s spring exhibition features
two teams with hopes for national
title runs

There's some unfinished business to attend to, a sense of destiny not yet fulfilled.

There are questions. The what-ifs, the could-haves.

IF Hawaii had been able to get past Wisconsin last December in the regional semifinal, what would have been the outcome when the Rainbow Wahine met Stanford the next night? Stanford ... the team that went on to win the NCAA women's volleyball championship the following week.

"Obviously, I wish we could have won against Wisconsin," said Susie Boogaard, one of three Wahine who will cap a magical junior year in tonight's spring match against Nebraska. "But I'm not going to sit back and regret anything. Last year was last year, and it was a wonderful year.

"I hope that we can go even further this year. I believe that we can. That's what I want to focus on, not the past."

Boogaard was the only healthy junior to play in the season-ending loss against the Badgers.

Libero Ashley Watanabe was out with a broken right hand, injured the day before the first-round match against Colorado. All-America middle Victoria Prince was not at full strength, suffering from flu-like symptoms.

All three believe in fate and that Hawaii's 30-1 record was meant to be.

"Sometimes you're dealt a certain hand and have to deal with it," Prince said. "You can't complain about the cards, can't control it. Everything happens for a reason and there was a reason I was sick.

"Yes, I felt our season was cut short, felt we were so good last year. We proved so much to people and now we have to continue to build on that."

That first challenge will be against a very good Nebraska team that, like Hawaii, returns all its starters. The Huskers, who likely will be the preseason No. 1 pick, were upset by Southern California in their regional final.

Interestingly, had both Hawaii and Nebraska continued to advance in the NCAA tournament, the Wahine and Huskers would have met for the national title.

"It's going to be really good for us," Prince said, "to see where we're at, what we've accomplished, what we've learned, the way we've changed as a team. It will be the battle of the best."

While many may feel that the 2005 season begins tonight, the three juniors think mentally it started last Dec. 10, the night they lost in Green Bay. Physically, it began the first day they got back to campus in January, when they began working in the weight room, even on Sundays.

Hawaii's conditioning and physical strength was superior to that of its opponents last year, which led to the success when the matches went long and went to five games. The Wahine were 6-1 in five-game matches, losing their seventh to Wisconsin, after being on the road for 17 of the previous 24 days.

"It started way before spring practice," Watanabe said of the sessions that last about 90 minutes. "We've been working even harder in the weight room.

"You're always wanting to up something (weight or repetition), to get stronger. Tommy (strength coach Heffernan) is always pushing us, so there's no way you're going to back down."

"It doesn't get old," Prince said. "You know you're bettering yourself, doing it for the team. Everyone is in there together, getting better and stronger. Everything you do in the weight room carries over to the court. You're faster to the ball, you're higher on the jump."

The Wahine know their element of surprise is gone. Most thought that Hawaii would be in a rebuilding year with the only returning starter being setter Kanoe Kamana'o.

The team exceeded everyone's expectations except their own. Winning it all this coming season "is reachable," Boogaard said. "It's not far-fetched, not a far-fetched goal like everyone else thought it was."

"No, no surprises," Prince said. "Everyone now knows what we're capable of, of what we can do. We need to keep building the chemistry."

The threesome credits the fans as being part of the equation. Officials anticipate around 7,000 tonight; Hawaii averaged a national-leading 7,135 last year.

"They were a huge part of our team," Boogaard said of the fans. "There's one game in the Stan Sheriff Center this semester and I hope that everyone wants to come out, cheer us on, and see what's going to happen this year.

"We're going to be a little bit different and we hope they'll want to be a part of it."

Note: The American Volleyball Coaches Association announced yesterday that Nebraska would be the host school for the AVCA/NACWAA College Volleyball Showcase, Aug. 26-27, at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb.

Hawaii and Southern California are expected to be part of the four-team field, although officials have not confirmed their participation. The field is expected to be announced within the next few weeks.