Wahine-Aztec rewind
A little late in getting this up, sorry.
Wahine finally have a day off and I am taking one as well. Won’t be spending a lot of time on the computer today.
Started off with a great paddle out to Na Mokulua with Lanikai Sunrise Crew. First time been able to get back with them in a month due to practices. Hope everyone else enjoys their day as well.
Some interesting observations on the previous thread, don’t agree with all of them and find some very harsh for it being so early in the season.
Way too many things to respond to on the other thread. but these are a few that sound out.
Agree Greeley will be a star. Said earlier that it would be hard to keep her off the court. She was slowed by the ankle and shoulder during preseason so … it will be interesting to see the lineup this week with Manu-Olevao back. And what will they do when Taylor returns?
All-tournament team. voted on by the coaches and or SIDs and some media. I also was surprised by Adolpho’s selection. I voted for Magill, as well as Manu-Olevao.
think it made my story, or maybe Reardon’s, that they are hoping to get Taylor this week for limited practicing. No hitting but maybe passing. As of Sunday, she had not been cleared to practice.
Kahakai took some reps during practice last week at OH so, as someone mentioned, no surprise that Mendoza stayed at libero. Shoji knew he might throw Kahakai in the front, definitely unexpected and SDSU never saw that one. She is quite the gamer and it was great to see her stuff the 6-footer. She is the prototype of the Wahine player of the 70s and 80s. feisty and skilled. a little bit of Mahina Eleneki in her (outside of the body type)
Think Adolpho’s ankle may be bothering her more than she lets on. she’s not elevating or getting out as quickly as she was in the earlier practices. She did well Friday but couldn’t adjust to the bigger block Saturday. Got some nice swings in Sunday.
Still think Higgins is the setter for now. Ah Mow-Santos hasn’t been satisfied with either but, then, she has very high standards. Koelsch is able to set a quicker ball but has problems with location at times.
For all te bashing of Long, she is still doing what Shoji wants, which is to keep swinging away. hit very well Sunday, passing not that great.
short turn around this week. Shoji anxious to get back in the gym for practice, focus on serving and passing. Skills!
very short turnaround for UH with noon game on Saturday but, apparently, none of the teams could stay to play Sunday.
my observation on the tickets and turnstile … just felt that there were more people in the arena than counted. and people should up late Saturday. don’t think they got counted. Things got louder right around the time the cheerleaders showed up.
poll should be out later today. will check in later after errands.
UH at #20 this week
poll is arizona state took hawaiis # at 17 and hawaii is almost at the bottom of the list tied at #20 with north carolina who was already at #20
see new thread
Would like to see more Guinasso this weekend. I like her serve.
Hear Hear, More Guinnasso and Koelsch this weekend please, both Huntington freshman are impressive!
Is this the lowest they’ve been in long time?…
cindy perhaps you know with the serving couldnt they do the old fashioned elementary underhand serve? its simple, dead accurate when you got the hang of it and virtually guaranteed not going into the net.
I have faith in Dave Shoji putting together a solid starting lineup soon…he has been coaching a successful program for 40 years…So far Greeley is doing good taking on the Terminator role until Nikki returns…Hopefully Nikki returns soon, possibly next week…I see a different team when she comes back…Confidence through the roof…Let’s go Bows!
it looks like libero has to be mendoza dave essentially has no better choice because making kahakai libero will limit her ‘mobile reserve’ (i declared her that since the match vs ohio) in being able to attack which she sure seems better at though she is good at both that and defense/passing. too bad she wasnt thrown in as an outside vs arizona state and that would of been a real total surprise but instead limited her effectiveness as a libero. i can see adolpho got the all tournament for her leadership in completion of the tournament even though they didnt win, she wasnt kept in much on the court vs asu to give a commanding presence like when they were down vs ohio and she seemed to held back vs sdsu. though that i blame coach dave shoji for because i say he wants to limit adolphos slide for ambush purposes (as evident that stance is needed vs asu because they were worried about and specifically guarded against that) and for leading to and ultimately dropping set 3 i say thats something he created to toy with sdsu/give them a game so they dont feel too bad including his former star player now coach/to threaten the bows, cause the wahine players to feel threatened and see how they would solve that including to squeeze a little more out of them and hopefully they dig themselves out coming from behind (he didnt use an available timeout he had in set 2 vs asu)/give the fans more game for their money and more action including with his full ready reserve of freshmen, deploy them for action. finally robyn ah mow-santos needs to get into her setters face especially higgins and chew her out just like mita uiato. and somebody needs to really fix the libero on passing including add more support for her.
9. could you try to use paragraphs? hard to follow.
Adolpho was ineffective against ASU, they had scouted the slide well. the passing was not good enough for them to use here in the middle more.
Kahakai on the right will be used sparingly. she and Mendoza 1-2 as libero but Kahaka as a DS could be used on the 3-meter if needed. She pounds the ball.
Trust me, he didn’t ‘give’ SDSU a game. Hawaii didn’t play well enough to win. but i do feel he felt they were in control of the match so why not use some other combos in a real-gave situation.
Trust me, Ah Mow-Santos is in the faces of her setters.
Cindy, I for one agree with your assessments. I’ve been following the Wahine for 40 years, and patience is a virtue.
It will all come together. The key is when Nikki is cleared and becomes available. Then, it will jell.
Both Higgins and Koelsch have occasional location problems, but will eventually outgrow them as their games mature. Koelsch gives Shoji a blocking option up front, which Higgins does not.