Obviously that first set was costly should we have capitalized, this could have been a win in 4. Although I wish that Hawai’i pulled out the win, I am kind of happy in a way for Long Beach State. Maybe not in the polls, but they were favored by many to win this year based on their their returnees and their newcomers. Based on how much we lost, many thought that this could be the year in which we do not win or share the Big West title.

Long Beach has disappointed in years past. So it’s great for the conference that they are living up to their billing, however unfortunate for UH. Hopefully we can win Northridge tonight and get into the NCAA tourney as an at-large.

Ditto BYU.

I mention both the Big West and WCC at the same time because what happens in the WCC will affect what happens in the Big West come Selection Sunday. (And of course both will be affected by whether this year’s Pac-12 gets a record-tying 7 or record-breaking 8 invitations to the Big Dance.)

It will change on Monday, but for now the WCC has 5 teams in the RPI top 50: BYU/28, San Diego/34, Santa Clara/37, LMU/43, and Pacific/48. BYU has pulled away, but the other 4 are involved in a photo-finish horse race for 2nd place. Last year the WCC had only 2 teams in Showtime! This year the WCC could be looking at 3.

Last year the Big West had 3 teams in tournament play, and none made it out of their respective sub-regional. Although Gimmillano recently stated in the Star-Advertiser that he thinks the Big West will again return 3, I say 2: LBSU and the winner of tonight’s (Saturday’s) match between UH and CSUN. The Fat Lady is about to sing and the season-ending curtain is about to fall for one of these.

Go Bows!

the libero switch up between mendoza and kahakai…i know shoji says maybe it provides a spark but even since at the irvine game i didnt see there was a problem with mendoza, its more like the hitters got in her way when she was trying to dig but it contributed to a problem later by messing up her plays. same with this match with kahakai at libero, didnt appear to be any problems other than perhaps she is less experienced if servers got lucky tickling the tape over.

speaking of that why is higgins having her back turned sometimes while the opponent is serving? (liable for a just over the tape, drop ace) and if the served ball barely makes it over the tape, couldnt someone in the front row including higgins immediately slam it down? (think during the alumnae game when i think lisa strand ma’a slammed it down when courtney lelepali served, making fun of her serve, which btw she immediately switched to a jump/spin serve)

also some positives: nice plays by the ‘smurfs’ with a mendoza kill, she and ponce with some aces.

anyways for the wahine. it should be watch out csun! and tai should be extra angry to show her and her teams intensity.

wahine blew it in set 1

and in set 5. really now, start slow, lucky to catch up and then let them run away the same again turning you over (change over at set 5, first to 8 point)

in hindsight maybe they need to not only drill practice at 20 all but also at 10 all as if a 5 set (and make them fatigued before they do so)

passing ok, setting mediocre, mainly on poor set choices why wasnt the ball set to the middle particularly magill? other than the opening set, when more sets were to magill, it contributed to the team dominating (ie set 4)

speaking of magill because she can jump 10′ 7″ over anybody and hammer it down over the block, compared to adolpho, magill should be middle hitter and adolpho should be middle blocker (she hardly attacked including running her moloka’i slide much this year and with success) though shes big in armor. whats the difference if any between middle blocker and hitter anyone?

tai should of been pissed again playing tonight, she was angry but not mad enough, you notice her face cooled down starting in the 5th set. then she wouldnt have had to put her hands over her head and practically pull her hair out afterwards.

and so much for vs the beach. supposively someone said reid is average, but na wahine gave away it all to her, mackie and okpala. also their setter was sneaky and pulled many fast ones (not all unchecked) compared to higgins being more predictable. but oh well the beach does have a more veteran team compared to our ladies. congrats to them, i wouldnt be surprised they could contend deep into the post-season.

‘could of, would of, should of’ – dave should not sing that song!

on to tomorrow, wahine better defend their hale from csun and not blow it this time. they need to be angrier, especially tmo.

The Wahine’s passing needs work but more concerning is the setting. Higgins has yet to show she can better ball with any consistency. Poor set choices, horrible set location and most worrisome no improvement from the start of the season. Not sure what the problem is. Are we (coaches and fans) expecting too much, putting too much pressure on her?