Alumnae match; Hawaii 3, NAU 0
Fun time seeing the former players. No real stats. Teams split 25-15, 22-25
It was 8-8 with time running out. they put the score at 24-24 with all players on the court for one final point.
Ah Mow-Santos tried to get it to Bobbi Perry for an attempt but Perry wasn’t expecting that pass as the Green won 25-24 (time limit)
Kanoe Kamana’o Ka’aihue was expected to play except she had her baby girl early this morning: Mikayla.
COMMENTS
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Hawaii will go with the same lineup as last night: Higgins, Magill and Adolpho; Mendoza; Taylor, Manu-Olevao and Greeley.
Nice turn out for the Alum’s. Congratulations to Kanoe, and family. Is that Hewitt in the front row not facing the camera? Wish the photo was larger.
No, that’s Ali Longo
You can click and drag it to your desktop if you want to have a copy and enlarge it.
The setting inconsistency continues. Good serving though.
UH up 15-11 at the TTO.
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=61743
in case you want the link to live stats
lets count how many times shoji gets annoyed when his wahine fumbles the ball 1..2…3…. they didnt learn that nau dumps? oh wait nau so far not doing too good a job neither.
Ponce the first serving sub. UH up 18-14 TO NAU
fumble=ie fail to receive/dig a ball that should of been done. lets count how many times na wahine needs to be rescued by tai smashing through to restore the situation….
or nikki taylor to force the ball down (point on the rally)
NAU with a quick TO trailing 20-16.
NAU came to play tonight…we look a little laxed compared to last night…If it ain’t for a lot of NAU service errors, this set would be a lot closer…
Manu-Olevao with her seventh kill. she is 7-0-9. UH wins 25-20.
Wow. Tai on fire in the first set.
SEs all part of the game. doesn’t necessarily mean it would be closer. you con’t know what Hawaii would have done if they had a chance to attack.
Glad to see our serves are improving…
14…True…
Tai looking really good…
Some great rallies tonight.
Don’t know if the NAU coach forgot that there would be a TTO at 15 but he calls a TO at 14-10. Higgins nearly got a solo stuff. good rallies both sides.
I guess no TTO
19. oh well. i guess he decides media to is uninteresting.
Nice rallies
UH up 18-12. Taylor had a nice serving run for 5 points. TO NAU
tai definitely on fire or had to bail her team out. had 8 kills early into the 2nd set.
nice serves by the NAU setter. last an ace that both Greeley and Manu-Olevao went for. it’s 18-15. UH TO
That Williams is something else. Can’t hit the ball anywhere near her.
NAU serves long. UH wins 25-23
SEs killing NAU.
Too many balls finding the floor…hope we come out banging in the 3rd…
shoddy anticlimactic finish in set 2
UH with its 8th ace vs. 2 SEs. it’s 7-3. TO NAU
did sarah look like she gave a toyota style hand salute serve? when she made that ace?
NAU has tied it at 8. TO UH
nau playing worse than yesterday but so are the wahine. they better get in gear instead of on and off before they deal with csun or ucsb again.
Higgins still can’t connect consistently with the hitters.
UH has pulled away to a 22-18 lead. TO NAU
Passing and setting better now. The Wahine become very dominating when the connections to the middles are working.
Shaky match tonight…a big plus for the wahine is the serving though…keeping the SE down…
UH closes it out 25-18
Not only UCSB and CSUN but LBSU is looking pretty good as of late…gonna be some interesting matches in the BigWest…
UNA simply was outmatched. Anytime that they closed the gap they would have a SE. You can’t afford to that against teams that are better than you, and that was done time after time. Adolpho had a very good night. But again this isn’t the type of team that you rate her on, hopefully she can carry this into those bigger matches.
Road trip will give us another dimension to the learning curve on the team. Plus, as much as they have been together this season so far, there is always that extra bonding on a road trip. Should be fun, and if they keep up the SE to Aces, they will be successful.
On paper the Wahine won’t have much challenge on the road next week, with two of the weakest teams in the Big West on the schedule. Now that the Bows have a set starting line-up, Dave Shoji is limiting the substitutions except for the defensive and serving specialists. I agree that the starting six should now get lots of playing time together to work on timing and role responsibilities on the floor, which happens through a lots or repetition in game situations. Finally a match in which much more aces than service errors. When the team cuts down on SEs, the service game becomes a real strength for the Bows.
Wait Cindy correct me if I’m wrong, but kanoe had a baby today. So she was going to play pregnant?
40-41-42. Really good observations all the way around.
I did ask Higgins if her brother’s injury had been on her mind. She said no, that she was watching the game, saw him get injured, but talked to him later and knew he was OK.
I think it’s good that the first road trip is at the two bottom teams but we all know what happened when they went to Davis last year. Granted not the same schedule, UH had lost in five at CSUN before heading put to to UCD but still it’s the first road trip for a young team.
Shoji said he is taking 14 on the trip. With Kahakai out, it will be one of the 3 other DSs staying home. He said he wasn’t ready to announce a decision on who stays home. Guinasso, Anderson or Ponce.
They have 3 morning practices M-T-W, the first time they have had three consecutive days of practices since double days ended.
43. yes, Kanoe had planned to at least step on the court and serve underhand from what I had been told.
Great to see a line up finally come together. Tai has greatly improved from last year, hope she continues.
When taylor gets more practice in and is in better shape, she will be more consistent, you can almost see her get tired in a match.
Higgins has to connect better with Magill. Has to, has to, has to. When they connect, it’s lights out.
Looking forward to conference!
I like the starters we have and definitely a lineup to build on. Ponce and Anderson did a nice job coming in serving, but IMO I like to see Guinasso become a libero too. She seems confident in her demeanor and is appears as if she can cover more court ( plus isnt she a great sand volleyball resume). If Savannah is not available Baby G. looks like a great option if we need that person to relieve as a DS/libero. Even though NAU wasn’t in our caliber talent wise they did cover the court defensively overall better than us.. They popped up balls
that I thought would be down. There team definitely covered better than our team tonite. We might not be able to get away with that on the road especially against CSUN, Long Beach St., and UCSB…
We have so many areas that we need to work on if we want to win the BW……IMO, It will come down on how we improve on our coaches analysis of the tape of matches already played. Although we have a young team there is no excuse for hustle, determination, pride, and loyalty for one another. The coaches can coach on what they know best, but the players have to find the above mentioned to find it within themselves…
Congrats to KK on her baby daughter, maybe the future wahine starting setter in 2032 🙂
ok not too shabby of a win for na wahine but they cant continue playing like that particularly receiving/digging/passing like that. mendoza needs to speed up again and be tougher. she needs to increase her hustle like tai. she looked like at times she was overmatched at times and easily pushed over by some balls she could of dug. greeley could use a tune up as well. the passing needs overall better work. with the defense, naus libero looked like she handled all that said above all by herself.
servicing the ball on the hand was outstanding. 9 service aces and only 3 errors due to the jump. that tells of a triple beam kill probability 9/3. i was watching the match live up close and once it was over i was like ‘i cant even recall they had a service error during the match’ like those ‘few’ service errors went by unnoticed.
also speaking of kills. tai was on a stage of beast mode tonight especially during the opening set. she had what? a bakers dozen kills? she had a legion of kills. and thats out of her explosiveness of aggression and she even pulled some tactics with a couple on one foot kills? i say for now she is the terminator until nikki taylor is refined up to tune. greeley does it too but shes apt at steadying the ball.
btw can someone remind me what changes in physicality when someone like nau goes from different elevation between high above and at sea level? nau i guess ultimately played weaker tonight (with few exceptions like libero) than yesterday. though they looked like they played better than yesterday because the wahine were slacking more tonight. i guess the elevation thing took a toll on nau and they werent exactly quite fully adjusted for the matches in ssc.
also note this is the first match that na wahine won in their green and dark uniforms. they could of almost won in it vs oregon and ucla. all other matches were won in their pure white or white and green uniforms exception toyota. i havent seen them use the pure green yet since that lost to asu. of interest they made the green win in the alumnae play tonight. and thankfully as expected na wahine won tonight. but anyways my thoughts is that na wahine seemed to have always played either lackluster or short in their green uniforms so far. compared to when they were in pure white, though they were maybe edgy or a bit rough, they looked like shock troops. (think asu when they beat the wahine they were in white which made them look like they shocked the wahine). and this in contrast to last season when the white and green were more lackluster in play then the inverse resulting in those losses or tight plays.
42. i dunno about weakest teams except riverside but davis would be a weak team but you know what happened last season when na wahine fumbled the ball. they dont want to be fumbling the ball like they did playing against nau yesternight and tonight. the bows tough serving and tai had to of have mostly bailed them out tonight.
Baby G looked methodical roaming in the back row–she moves quickly and has range on the court and is instinctively aggressive too. I saw her go for a spiked-ball another wahine was looking at like a deer in the headlights. without hesitation G dashed into a seam to intercept the rapidly descending ball and popped it up cleanly, in front of a stunned back row player, to the waiting hands of our setter. reminds of our libero last year who covered the court like a rug. this girl is money. she has that Mike Singletary stare and covers like a free safety.
53. oh yeah i totally almost forgot that play by baby g. yeah i call her the wahines gunner (from the service line) and she digs volleyball. and as some mentioned shes a beach player so you could expect her to be more agile and pop the ball up as needed.
add to baby g, shes also taller than kahakai at 5′ 9 vs 5′ 8. she being same as higgins, and she being a beach player, she can definitely be used as a mobile reserve and probably up front if see fit and she came with kendra koelsch both huntington beach troopers so you got a connection to the bigger setter easily as needed.
Good experience in grinding out a win. NT had an off night; when on her game everything opens up. In Hawaii’s perimeter wide defense dinks are a glaring weakness (soft middle), and NAU found the end-line when the back-row moved up. SM p/u 1 dink with a pancake dig, but if she has to eat the floor to do it then Shoji needs someone with more mobility. Communication on the floor vital, eliminates confusion, molds comraderie. Back-row needs to drop their shoulder instead of turning body and arms for side balls. Academics should be checked to assist those in need; less stressed minds focus better in sports.
3. cindy you got a bigger alumnae picture? dragging it to desktop and/or zooming in on that small picture is still hard to see.
Yeah, not too impressed with our DS’s this year, other than Kahakai. They just seem a tad too slow and not aggressive enough. Have not seen enough of baby G to know if she is better, but her resume is impressive. Not sure why she isn’t being given as much playing time as the others. Would love to see what she can do in a full game as a DS or lib, especially with Kahakai out for a few weeks.
the road trip oct 10-11 matches at csun and lbsu … gonna be very tough and a huge test. it’ll be critical matches because it’s back to back against the 2 teams that will seriously challenge for the big west title.
One thing I noticed last night was Guinasso’s quick feet. I really like that in a back row player. She had a nice dig too. I too would like to see more of her. But overall I like our defensive specialists. I think we have a good group back there.
i like the weapons that this lineup (taylor/greeley/olevao on the outside, and magill/adolpho in the middle) presents. potent when they’re on. but that’s the key right there. finding that consistency so that they are all on their game.
with so many weapons to feed, will the passing and setting hold up?
night 1 of this series showed the damage this lineup can do. but night 2 showed that they still need time to gel on the court.
it’s interesting that the unofficial RPI right now has hawaii at #4. i know, i know it’s still way early (and it’s the unnofficial RPI), and there’s still a lot of season. but as i had suspected, it kinda shows that the non-conference schedule for hawaii was much stronger than originally thought.
still with most of the non-conference part of teams’ schedules over, there are projections on VT that are predicting where teams may be in the RPI by season’s end. the projection has Hawaii finishing around 22.
again, none of this is set in stone. just predictions, just for fun. but in some ways, the RPI outcomes can be predicted. it’s sad to think so, but it can.
but makes for interesting discussion.
Hawaii’s RPI profile is an inherent annual discussion spawned by the NCAA’s mafia-like selection committees-of-past. In this case, the mob are the BCS conferences and our wahine take the role of unsanctioned wise guys. So, the RPI paranoia in paradise, is not without cause. Traditionally, Hawaii needed a near perfect record at season’s end to avoid a trip to a Siberian regional.
Last year, the NCAA gave Shoji his “retirement watch” and the wahine stayed at home. Wahine fans watched the Shogun’s team crash and burn. Right before our eyes…but the favor was given.
Look, this year is different. Three losses out of the gate. Injuries, starting controversies and senior moments from the shogun has amounted to a season designated more as “default” than promise.
Unless our wahine roll the table in the Big West, our only invitation to travel in December will come from a trip to Lanai to work in Hotel construction.
Just maybe this is the adverse stuff that create great storylines. Nikki is back, Manu-Olevao is playing to her hype and suddenly, we have a look of a team that has capacity to compete without the wheels falling off in a match. The shogun says he is pau with “experimenting” with his lineup (is that what it is called?) and has settled with his starters. Nice. But, don’t forget your future. Baby G, Kendra, Huff and Maglio.
My point is this folks, this season offers a serendipitous adventure fraught with unexpected surprises. This will be a journey without a safety net. RPI be damned. Every win this team notches will have to be earned.
So, the real questions remain:
Do our wahine have heart?
Does the shogun have wisdom to make changes when needed?
44 — Hope that means Jeremy’s hand might be okay.
45 — Too bad one has to stay back home .
kimo — hawaii’s RPI will have them safely in the ncaa tournament, even if they do not win the big west. (assuming of course that the wheels don’t come completely off the bus during big west play… which it shouldn’t)
hawaii non-conference opponents have a winning percentage of 0.694 (69.4%), which is levels above the big west.
the big west’s conference’s win percentage is 0.545 at the close of non-conference … that’s actually acceptable. it’s an improvement over what it was after the first couple weeks of the season.
hawaii’s non-conference opponents will once again carry the weight of their RPI. big west conference play will bring down the conference RPI just slightly (basically just average in a .500 win/loss percentage into the current .545 win/loss percentage. just a rough estimation there.)
Maybe it’s not relevant to this discussion but Poland just won the Men’s World Championship and the only team to have beaten Poland in the entire tournament was USA. And then Argentine sent USA home a few days later with a 3-2 victory. What a plunge from highest of highs to lowest of lows. Lesson to learn, never let up and never let down.
Just curious…….anyone know what happened to Victoria Lee, Davis mb?
Kimo…can you avoid referring to Dave as the “shogun”? I find that a bit demeaning and disrespectful.
I enjoyed the matches but I am obviously not a technical person. I am glad Tai is playing so well and look forward to the team that we are all expecting. I suspect that it will help if we steadily improve. I hope they don’t fall apart as they seem to have last year.
The alumnae game was fun. It was good to see Dani, Mita, and Ali hitting from the outside. They were so good. Shows that a somewhat relaxed atmosphere brings out the best in everyone so let’s be kind and supportive towards this year’s team.
#49 yup it’s in the genes.
#53 great eyes….
I think Hawaii will sneak back into the top 25 poll this week.
63. shoji the ‘shogun’ of na wahine. thats awesome im not the only one think that.
the shogun needs to fine tune his team now with the receiving/digging/passing and some setting to make them a champ, not crash and burn make him a chump.
#51. tossup. I agree color of the uniforms or colors in general make a diference in how the Wahine play. Did you notice that after every loss the “Aunties” were passing out leis with green ribbons and after every win the ribbons were white or green and white…..weird.
71. i had not noticed that with the aunties. yeah the color thing is too much a coincidence isnt it? last season the green and white were more difficult to beat, the white and green were easier. and then there was that note about their pink uniforms for breast cancer awareness in which they looked more showy in them beating cal poly. one uniform and na wahine look refreshed, the other and they look down and maybe tired.
Hawaii’s RPI should be fine. they should be back in the poll Monday. if Michigan State is still in there something is very wrong with how the coaches are voting.
67. Was just looking into Lee’s absence as well.
hey cindy are there alumnae pictures besides that above posted? is still not in good quality zooming in that one above.
68, I agree with you. It is disrespectful. These mini shock jocks depend on personal attacks in an attempt to get others to read their narratives. Surely, the wahine program would collapse without their pronouncements and insights. It is all in fun but sad to see that their need for attention requires them to be disrespectful. Hopefully, they will grow up – or not.
60 I like Baby G’s aggressive demeanor on the service line. There are several videos of her online playing sand, as well as libero in HS – along with Kendra. As a walk on this year indoor team, will she be on scholarship when sand season comes around since she is a HS Sand Volleyball AA. And eventually, will she play only sand after this indoor season – just like Katie.
74. Agree with them being back in the top 25 today. Hopefully Northern Arizona wins the Big Sky and with CSUN win over San Diego, Hawaii’s RPI will be fine.
75. Go to Diggin Na Wahine website have a pretty good photo of the Alum team.
Hawaii is #25 this week.
74. I don’t think we should concern ourselves with RPI this year, at least as regarding a tournament seed. Even if UH runs the table in the Big West, the team won’t have a single quality win over a top 25 team (this assumes no other Big West team is ranked during the remainder of the season) or a perennial tournament participant. Three losses to PAC-12 looks bad too. I believe UH will make the tournament and not be seeded.
#74 Michigan State dropped and Hawaii #25
AVCA Division I Coaches Week #4 Poll: September 22, 2014
http://www.avca.org/divisions/division-one-women/poll-9-22-14di/
65. One thing you haven’t mentioned is that UH’s non-conference opponents will be losing more matches as they get into league play, particularly the PAC-12 teams. So UH’s RPI will fall. Also, the teams in the power conferences will start to play each other and will result in higher RPI bumps as they play stronger league schedules versus pre-season. Finally, look at last year. UH beat Texas, Arizona, Creighton and Wichita State, all of whom made the tournament. Texas had a top 2 RPI. When the final RPI standings came out, UH was not top 16. This year, UH has a relatively weaker schedule and worse preseason results. Barring a major collapse, UH’s RPI will get them in the tournament, but any suggestion of a seed is, in my view, wishful if not unrealistic thinking.
Higgins’ play is like she feels the setter position is hers until she graduates. I hope not. She needs to significantly improve her ability. I noticed none of her dunks succeeded against NAU. In prior matches she would dunk as much as six times. She needs to work on her setting to Magill untile she is exhausted. I would like to know the stats when Magill receives high sets…the success rate of the high sets.
I watched the men’s world championship match in Poland and noticed when the sets were above the defender’s out stretched hands, the hit was usually successful. Believe me, the the blocker’s arm pits were above the net, those were really high sets. Of course, the hitter’s chest was above the net so that gives you the height at which the player’s were jumping. With Magill’s ability to jump so that her upper chest is above the net and the blocker’s forearms barely above the net, you can see the advantage Magill has on high sets. Higgins seems to have no trouble setting high to the pins but she just doesn’t seem to be able to consistently set Magill high in the middle. To me, that will be the key to UH’s success as long as Magill is on the team.
With the other hitters not being able to jump as high as Magill, they will have to struggle hitting through or avoid the blocks and depending on the blockers’ abilities, succeed or fail as the season progresses.
I really don’t think Shoji has set his line up for the season. His insecurity will see him make numerous changes as the season progresses. I’m curious about Texas’ line up changes last season after their opening match against UH. Did their coach go through numerous gyrations after that loss? Or did his continually refine their play as the season progressed?
80. thanks there is a new thread. but it might be delayed showing up. don’t know what is going on with our site.
83. agree that a seed is unrealistic. The Big West had few signature wins during nonconference.
maverick — yup, hawaii won’t be seeded, not with their credentials this year. but it’ll be interesting to see what the committee does if hawaii’s RPI is firmly within the top 16, but without a single top 25 win. hawaii likely still gets downgraded.
it’s hard to look at a few select teams that hawaii played last year to assess and compare where hawaii might land in the RPI this year. it may look stronger that hawaii faced (and won against) top 25 competition last year, but the win/loss records of hawaii opponents may not have been as strong top to bottom last year, as this year. for instance i think the big west is in slightly better shape this year than it was last year. and this year, hawaii’s non-conference opponents (though they do not “appear” as strong) have better win/loss records at the same point in the season as the opponents from last year. which is why hawaii’s RPIis currently between 4-6, depending on which unofficial RPI you’re looking at.
the 3 pac-12 school will start to sustain losses in conference, i agree. that’s expected. that’s also the side effect of facing 3 teams from the same conference. playing pac-12 teams toughens up your team, but you run the risk that they start to pile up losses in a very tough conference. that said, the 3 pac-12 teams hawaii faced (oregon, asu and ucla) look in pretty good shape. they’re going into conference play with great win loss records, 9-0, 10-2, 9-2, respectively. that should give them a lot of buffer even if they take some losses. in any case, all 3 of those teams look like they may be competitive and finish at least middle of the pack (or at least somewhere after stanford and washington. usc is struggling in a rebuilding year, it seems).
and overall, the pac-12 did amazingly well in the non-conference, which hawaii will get the benefit of. it’s a little different from the last time hawaii faced 3 pac-12 teams in a season (in 2012), where stanford and ucla had solid win/loss records, but cal (who hawaii lost to that year) limped to losing record.
84. Kaneohe Resident. Did you not read Cindy’s blog a while back? She reported that Dave Shoji’s two mantras prior to the Northern Arizona match was “serve in and set higher.” I thought the Higgins and the team did well in carrying out those commands. After all, Olivia Magill still is the top hitter for the Wahine and Adolpho has improved her hitting tremendously over the last few matches. I disagree that Shoji does not have a set starting lineup; we have a set starting six, Manu-Olevao, Greeley, Taylor, Higgins, Magill, Adolpho, Mendoza, and Kahakai or her replacement while she recovers from her injury. There will be few experimenting with the lineup barring further injuries. I also disagree about Higgins hitting on “two” too much. Sometimes it works, sometime it doesn’t. But an offensive-minded setter can be a valuable tool in unsettling defenses and freezing blockers.
maverick — also the other teams on hawaii’s non-conference should fare well in conference play. they’ll take losses, but should be competitive enough to preserve or end up with a good win/loss record by the end of the season.
ohio and northern arizona were picked to finish 1st in their conferences. new mexico, utah st and san diego st were picked to finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively in the MWC (altho, san diego st may end up struggling with their young/injured team). st. john’s and usf were picked to finish middle of the pack in their respective conferences, but with a little luck, they’ll be competitive and rack up some wins anyway.
right now, only utah st and san diego st have losing records. utah st will turn that round in conference play. san diego st may be the only outlier with a losing record among hawaii’s non-conference opponents. but that’s fine, b/c the other teams’ win/loss records should be able to absorb it.
Cubicle, some good points. On the pac-12 doing well, it helps UH’s RPI (in the thousands of a point or less per team) but is significantly less impactful than how ASU, UCLA and Oregon perform. It’s a function of the RPI formula and impossible to calculate without a computer. That’s the reason for my focus on a few top teams who are UH opponents. My only point in comparing this year’s opponents with last year’s is that UH played more better teams than they have this year (and none of this year’s opponents have impressed me) and even went on the road during the preseason and won. I believe these are the reasons why UH got a seed…however, despite the advantages, UH still failed to get a top 16 RPI. So while I agree it is possible for UH to get a top 16 RPI this year, I believe it to be remote. UH’s opponents would need to have above average results and UH would need to run the table to even have a shot. Even then, without a quality win, I think UH doesn’t get seeded. But we will see what happens. I’m not infallible.
we’ll see what happens. Rich Kern PI has UH at 6, Pablo 17.
84. All agree Magill needs to be set higher. that includes the coaches, the setters and Magill. The problem is the setters are still adjusting to how quickly Magill gets up. It’s a matter of reps.