Hawaii women’s volleyball: Wahine open 14 RPI, drop to 19 in poll, no weekly honors

Hawaii's Jolie Rasmussen and Brooke Van Sickle cheered from the bench as UH came back to reverse sweep Cal State Fullerton on Saturday. / Photo by Andrew Lee, Special to the Star-Advertiser

Complete Big West release click here
Big West honors went to:
POW: Maia Dvoracek, Cal Poly; Norene Iosia nominated
FOW: Tallulah Froley, UCSB; Hanna Hellvig nominated
DPOW: Hailey Harward, Long Beach State; Amber Igiede nominated

The first RPI of the season has Hawaii at 14. The Rainbow Wahine opened last year at 100.

In today’s AVCA poll, the Wahine drop eight spots to 19.

Baylor (13-0) stays at No. 1, Stanford moves to 2 following Nebraska’s loss, the Huskers fell to 5. Pitt up a spot to 3.
UC Santa Barbara enough points to put them at 28.

As mentioned last week, Hawaii had been projected to have an RPI of 3 before being upset by UC Irvine on Friday; the Anteaters opened with an RPI of 202 today out of 335 teams.

Baylor (13-0), the lone unbeaten in Division I, topped the RPI list as well as today’s American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25. The Bears received 60 of the 64 first-place votes to remain at No. 1 for the second consecutive week.


Washington (11-3), which Hawaii defeated in the season-opening tournament, dropped three spots to No. 11 and Missouri (10-3), which Hawaii beat at last month’s Baylor Invitational, stayed at No. 22.

Hawaii resumes conference play on the road with matches at league-leaders Cal Poly (12-5, 5-0) on Friday and UCSB on Saturday. The Mustangs opened with a 50 RPI and the Gauchos 35.

COMMENTS

  1. H-Man October 7, 2019 9:42 am

    UCI’s 202RPI makes the loss even more dramatic. OK. Focus on Cal Poly & UCSB. I believe!!! Bring home two wins.


  2. Brandon Yoshikawa October 7, 2019 10:13 am

    Hawaii will host if they win out. One more loss, its Dicey but possible.

    UCLA, San Diego, Washington, and Missouri are really really good wins.

    Hawaii if they can win both this weekend, will help their RPI tremendously, regardless of the UCI loss.


  3. Crazy4WVB October 7, 2019 10:52 am

    This is a special team. They lose their top offensive and defensive player. Play 5 freshman. A senior setter who also hits from the left and wills this team to a five set victory. What more can you asked from the coaches and players.


  4. Andrew October 7, 2019 11:06 am

    2

    I don’t see Hawaii going unscathed the rest of the season. Hosting I think is not going to happen unfortunately. However I really just want the team to grind the rest of the season out and just earn a spot in the tournament in any way possible and hope to have a fully healthy team going into post season.


  5. Andrew October 7, 2019 11:11 am

    A question though, if they were to unfortunately drop a number of more matches before Jolie is back, is a medical redshirt even a possibility? A few more losses would drop them out of the rankings and depending on who the losses are to, I wonder if the pre season would be strong enough to earn an at large if they’re say behind UCSB and Cal Poly. Especially if they’re on the bubble, we all know the committee is unpredictable especially with Hawaii.


  6. Brandon October 7, 2019 12:23 pm

    Hawaii is projected with a 5 loss season at 16 in the RPI. I will take a monumentous collapse for Hawaii not to make the tournament. Hawaii will not drop more than one more match In conference imo


  7. Andrew October 7, 2019 12:35 pm

    6.

    I mean I hope you’re right that they don’t drop another match but they haven’t even faced the top two teams in the conference yet and they already lost to last place Irvine and needed a comeback 5 set win to take down now last place Fullerton. So that’s four more matches vs the top two teams, they also gotta play at Irvine and at Fullerton. They can win all of those matches, but they can also easily lose those also.


  8. max13 October 7, 2019 1:44 pm

    5. She’s already used a medical redshirt in 2018. Not sure if it’s still possible, but she may be able to apply for a medical hardship and be granted a sixth year, but it’s rare. In recent years, I can only remember this applying to Jessica Gysin at USC (2004-2009). In 2004, she was injured during camp and missed the entire preseason. She played 1 match in conference, re-aggravated the injury and ended up redshirting. In 2005, she suffered another injury prior to fall camp and applied for a medical hardship. I remember there being some controversy around this decision. She then went on to play her 4 years from 2006-2009.


  9. Cindy Luis October 7, 2019 1:45 pm

    1-6. We’ll see what happens. have said several times this week’s road trip is going to be difficult. And it’s going to be difficult for them to win out. Not impossible but difficult.
    BTW, the rankings don’t matter. It’s the RPI. Considering UH opened at 100 last season and still made the tournament …
    as for Rasmussen getting another medical redshirt season, don’t see that happening.
    6. Yes, Hawaii was projected five losses and RPI 16 but that projection did not have UCI as one of the losses.


  10. Maverick October 7, 2019 2:03 pm

    Some RPI thoughts:
    1. UH’s estimated adjusted RPI was around 6-8 before the UCI loss. It was around 2-3 before the matches against LBSU and CSN, who were a combined 8-18. Despite sweeping both teams, UH’s est. RPI was negatively impacted, particularly in its SOS, resulting in the drop. The Irvine loss depressed UH’s est. RPI around 10 spots to 17-18, and the last win helped raise UH’s RPI rank to 14.
    2. The difference between beating UCI and losing to UCI is about 4-5 spots in today’s RPI ranking. I estimate via math that UH’s RPI would have been #9 or 10 had UH won that match.
    3. UH’s adj. RPI rank of 14 includes bonus points for wins against top 50 RPI opponents Missouri (2x), UCLA (2x), Washington (2x) and San Diego.
    4. It is good to see 3 Big West teams with Top 50 RPIs. Keep rooting for Poly and UCSB to win so they maintain, if not improve, their top 50 RPI positions, which will translate into bonus points each time UH beats them.
    5. As Brandon mentions, UH is projected to have the #16 adj. RPI with 3 more losses (remember, projection…things often change). IMO, I don’t think UH hosts with 16 RPI and 5 total losses. If UH had beaten Baylor, I think UH would host with 4-5 losses. Chalk it up to less respect for BW. Hence the importance of my fourth point.
    6. The only RPI ranks I care about are today’s, the one that comes out on 10/21 (after UH has played the other BW teams once), the one that comes before the selection RPI (to gauge UH’s seeding chances) and obviously the selection RPI.
    7. The week-to-week RPI analysis is silly. UH’s RPI will bounce up and down depending on which BW teams they play. Next week should see a bump with two wins against teams with a combined 27-6 record. When UH plays LBSU and CSN again, expect a negative impact if those teams continue to lose. Over the past few years, I’ve seen a lot of posters expend a lot of energy complaining about the weekly RPI shifts without a good understanding of how RPI is calculated. This isn’t the AVCA poll where weekly changes are more predictable. RPI ranking shifts are less predictable (and to many, less intuitive), depend on a lot of variables, and are quite normal. But it gives us all something to talk about.


  11. Maverick October 7, 2019 2:05 pm

    9. The RPI projection of 16 referenced above does include the UCI loss. Brandon referenced the one that came out today and is published on another site.


  12. Cindy Luis October 7, 2019 2:11 pm

    11. thanks. thought i had seen the projection mentioned earlier.


  13. Ashley October 7, 2019 2:14 pm

    no surprise that there were no weekly honors. was thinking UCI freshmen middle would get FOW honors. maybe whoever chooses weren’t impressed with how she played. she pretty much threw all the balls given to her rather than actually hitting it. our officials are idiots for letting all those go.

    Not concerned with how they will play this weekend. I feel this weekend was a nightmarish wake up call…..or at least I hope it woke them up.


  14. H-Man October 7, 2019 3:08 pm

    Big game Saturday at Boise, but not a critical game. Of course a win will be fantastic, but a loss won’t hurt. But the Wahine VB has a really big weekend. Not forgetting Wahine soccer. I’ll be waving my t-leaf (at home) for the Wahine.


  15. alexm October 7, 2019 3:31 pm

    I think the main goal is to get healthy so we can be 100% by the end of the season. Maybe hope that CP and SB get upset along the way to help UH. The BWC title would be nice, but you want to go as deep into the post season as possible.


  16. Bowsfan October 7, 2019 3:54 pm

    Wahine softball player Brittany Hitchcock, got 2 medical redshirts. I think she got surgery twice for the same thing.


  17. Willie October 7, 2019 4:04 pm

    Any update on Brooke’s playing status? Wahine need to find a viable option for the left side if Brooke is still out IMO. What they had against Irvine didn’t work. You think Norene will be an outside hitter to strengthen options?


  18. Brandon October 7, 2019 4:18 pm

    Projections does not say who loses to who. It’s a formula based on total number of games and a percentage. UH is projected with 5 losses, even with the UCI loss included and it’s still a top 16 RPI. Hawaii sweeps they host, even lose one more then host.

    RPI futures already take into account big west records and its affect on RPI. It shows what UH RPI will be with 5 losses, of the other teams Perform the same as projections think. Like I said, UH Could lose to rivers side twice and Fullerton but win the remaining games and their RPI would practically be the same as if those loses we’re to UCSB and poly. In fact, winning UCSB and poly but losing to UCI again is better than beating UCI but losing to UCSB as the committee looks at good wins and those are good wins


  19. kahuna October 7, 2019 4:55 pm

    I don’t think fans have to panic. UH will have a few days to work with that lineup they played with against CSF in sets 3,4,5.

    That lineup was probably put together out of desperation after falling down 0-2. Now that Robyn have seen how this lineup can work, ,UH will have time to get everybody on the same page and maybe go with this against CP and USCB.

    I think this year team is more talented than last year’s team and last year, we were able to split with both of them so with a little practice, I think we will be able to battle them.


  20. rabbit ears October 7, 2019 5:19 pm

    So we are saying Skler and Riley should not start???


  21. Kahuna October 7, 2019 6:44 pm

    #20 whomever play well in practice should start. If Sky practice better than Tiff then Sky should start. If Riley practice better than McKenna, then Riley start.

    Just keep that lineup where Norene plays all 6 rotations and Bailey comes in for the OPP.

    Robyn can fit in whomever she feels deserve to start. The only givens are Hanna, Bailey and Norene.


  22. Bumby October 7, 2019 8:44 pm

    Convert Akana to the outside like they did with Hartong. Face it Akana looks little shorter than 6 feet.
    Face up to the physicality of being a middle. As talented as she is, there are just as much talent out there in the middle who are 6’3″ plus. The odds is that she will win some battles in the middle but the odds are against her.

    Playing on the outside her odds of success improves greatly and she will be a big contributor to the team.


  23. darkfire35 October 7, 2019 9:49 pm

    C’mon folks! Why does it have to be a desperate situation when RAM put NI in as hitter and Akana as OH? I’d call it a coaching staff that doesn’t give up!!!! They tried to find a way to win and they did. Yeah, it may have been a process of…ok, this didn’t work, let’s try this one. Either way, I wouldn’t have called it desperate, I would have called it COACHING!!! Desperate to me is what you would do as a last resort. I doubt that Iosia hitting and Akana OH was a last resort.
    I’m proud of the people we have guiding our Wahine and cannot say enough about our coaching staff hanging in there with their Wahine and pushing them to their limits!! GO BOWS!!!


  24. noblesol October 7, 2019 10:44 pm

    Not a popular observation to post, but Hawai’i was outplayed and out coached for much of the weekend, by two teams with RPI south of 180. Two teams that won’t see post season play, won’t even get a sniff of it. But, they had Hawai’i scouted well, and they both had game plans and adjustments at the ready, and highly motivated players and coaches hungry to win. While for most of the weekend, Hawai’i was playing not to lose, expecting the other team to succumb while they tried to coast on what had worked for them before.

    Hawai’i was slow to adjust, slow to correct, slow to change, slow to stop long bleeding runs, and quick to give up leads. They didn’t fully appear to appreciate the ability of the other team to understand their attacking and defending tendencies, or their ability to execute a game plan against them. I’m still not sure they understand that the book is out there now on how to defend Hawai’i, and how to attack them. And that is a coaching staff prep and adjustment issue as much as it is a player execution issue.


  25. Big Island Volleyball Fan October 7, 2019 10:46 pm

    Since Cal Poly needed five sets to beat Davis, UH has a 50-50 chance to beat Cal Poly without the two injured players. UCSB will be much harder to beat since they were able to demolish Davis in just about an hour. And Davis had beaten Irvine in five sets before. Of course, teams can improve or fall back considerably within a week. Nothing is sure.


  26. Crazy4WVB October 8, 2019 12:51 pm

    OMG you know they going to say something stupid when they preface their comments


  27. tongo October 8, 2019 2:25 pm

    Agree with Noblesol that we were out-coached and the players were not prepared. Big West has traditionally been about great defense. Irvine & Fullerton had done their homework – digging one ball after another and anticipating where the hits were going. We need to adjust to Big West Conference style volleyball. I am confident that RAM and staff will make the adjustments and the players will understand the style of play that they will face. Go Bows!


  28. peanut October 8, 2019 3:18 pm

    The main problem was their passing. Bad passing made them predictable and why their hitting percentage was so low. They need to pass better and get the middles more involved in the offense.


  29. Bleachercoach October 8, 2019 7:29 pm

    Omg! Maybe we can sneak in Elena Oglivie (Iolani) into the lineup this weekend! Just kidding!
    She is the Real Deal!! She is a true college 6 rotation player now!


  30. Brandon October 8, 2019 8:28 pm

    All iolani did is set oglivie and she just kept getting kills. It was borderline insane. She’s a good one.

    Hope Robyn offers kaahawai. She can pack on some heat, and we more muscle, she’ll be even better.


  31. darkfire35 October 8, 2019 9:15 pm

    On a lighter note from all this flinging stuff here…I accidentally deleted the UCI match on my DVR. Were the people waving the large Swedish flag and the # 17 relatives of Hanna?
    GO BOWS!!!


  32. Andrew October 9, 2019 8:27 am

    https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/27752582/resurgent-hawaii-volleyball-reaching-new-old-heights

    Nice article by Vicki Friedman on ESPN.com. It’s pretty comprehensive on the season so far. She did her homework


  33. Warrior Lifer October 9, 2019 1:35 pm

    Thanks Andrew. Good find and great read.


  34. warriorwahine October 9, 2019 4:02 pm

    say Cindy, any new news/thread?

    ie status of Brooke/Jolie?

    has the team left for cali yet?

    has robyn and/or you told robyn to tell big west to replay that match versus irvine set 5 score 1-1 because uci received an illegal replay the point/delay of game x2/cause of rotation violation similar to the stunt they pulled versus the beach 3 years ago?


  35. Kauaiboy October 9, 2019 4:30 pm

    Wish we would actually get an update on our injured players status?!?!?!


  36. Cindy Luis October 9, 2019 4:36 pm

    https://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=51452
    new thread up for Wednesday with links to the ESPN and Big West articles.
    Team left campus at 5 this morning. late morning flight
    Did not get travel roster
    Both Rasmussen and Van Sickle were not cleared to practice Tuesday
    As for Akana, the plan as I’ve mentioned was the convert her to OH, but they were going to do that in spring when they had more time to work with her. The loss of Van Sickle and Rasmussen has moved up the plan to now.
    29. True on Oglivie, heading to Stanford. but shows it’s a team sport with Kamehameha rallying.

    34. nothing on the potential protest.


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