No. 22 Hawaii 3, Utah State 0
Will only be doing scoring updates at the timeouts and ends of sets.
You’re welcome to drop in with comments.
Ah Mow-Santos is back (actually was back Wednesday). Dad released from the hospital Tuesday)
Taylor is warming up for the first time this season. Right elbow still heavily Bandaged. She is jumping in the front row but not fully extending on the blocking drill.
COMMENTS
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A little surprised but … Long will be starting on the right, Greeley and Manu-Olevao on the left, Adolpho and Magill in the middle, Higgins setting, Mendoza at libero.
Ehh not surprised. I thought Dave might have started kahakai at Ds. But this is a good lineup. Kalei and tai should be taking the bulk of the bad sets. Magill needs to have an amazing night
2. Kahakai will be the DS.
Think you’ll likely see Taylor tonight. She’s taking some good swings from the left and right during warmups.
That’s so reassuring! Thanks so much Cindy! It’s amazing to see Nikki back in uniform and taking swings. I know Dave said he wanted to ease her into it so she most likely won’t play front row, but who knows!
Manu-Olevao with 2 consecutive aces. it’s 13-8. TO aggies. Magill 3-0-3, Manu-Olevao 3-0-4, Long 2-0-2
TAIS serve is AMAZING
games starts fast as shock. tai is hot, serves ace of spades then ace of hearts (trick ace)
4 of kind ace for tai!
check that 4 of kine ace tai i should say
Manu-Olevao’s run included 4 aces. Adolpho and Greeley team for a block. it’s 19-12. TO USU
tai needs a new deck. looks like they need better/more communication liable of unwanted injurybin collisions and mendozas libero-ness to be determined
Manu-Olevao 6-0-7, ends it 25-16.
tai is lethal. quickest opening set sp far this season
Tai 6 kills hitting .857!
Olivia 4 kills hitting .800.
UH up 12-7. TO Aggies
Live stats available
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=61736
ucla scouting looked very worried about them aces especially tai would hurt them with those
Huff in for Long , puts it down on her first swing, Greeley with her third kill makes it 19-13. TO Aggies
Long with all of UH errors.
you know something? although nikki may be back i think nevermind terminator dependent on her. tai can be that instead or better yet them both
16. no, that’s how Sealy always looks
Utah State closes to 21-18. UH with its first timeout
Yeah, sealey always has that “worried” look on his face, but I’ve never seen him stress before a match. He’s always calm and collective.
Maglio in for Adolpho . Manu-Olevao with her 10th kill. 23-20
Magill with the kill. UH wins 25-20
Magill is a texas/PSU level talent. What a superstar.
I’m a little worried about the team captain. Hope she plays up to her potential soon. If not play Emily!
Magill WILL be an AA this year
20 & 21. sealey looked even more worried than his ‘always’ worried face. he looks concerned about that
According to Ryan Nikki cleared to compete. Yes.
Cindy does Magill ever run a slide in practice? I’ve wanted to see her run one so far.
we will need Nikki tomorrow IMO. Long/Huff just won’t cut it against UCLA block .
I just love how Olivia, is been there done that after every kill/block, Watched way too many players on teams ( UW/Illinois especially ) who celebrate each point like they won the national title, annoying.
Like to see Koelsch, Maglio in there.
A little sloppy. Utah State up 12-10. TO UH
UH closes to 18-17. TO Aggies. Koelsch in to set
Manu-Olevao and Adolpho on two straight blocks. UH up 21-19. TO Aggies
hmm wonder if team captain kalei adolpho should serve more as armor (blocker) instead of hitter (gun)
and add insult to injury to utah st by adolpho
Greeley, is not getting as high with the the brace but she plays like a veteran.
Magill with the kill, wins it 25-11
Fan phones available at 296-1420 if you want to chat
IMO This team is getting better every game.
greeleys got a variety of shots nevermind her being a freshmen. dave seemed to be wise starting her. magill seems to conserve her gun (full arm swing) but instead uses her close quarters assault gun (tipping) better. tai was a rockstar serving a double pair royal of aces in set 1. remind me someone i think she always had a jump serve since high school? i mean think punahou. but instead its shoji who limited his players jump serves including when they are better or a whole lot better at jump serving. i dont think tai upgraded and upgunned her serve in 2 days.
also better ‘protection’ of the ball tonight. scrambling, digging, saves including from dumps/stuffs to re-set the ball and keep it in play.
Nikki may be a week away from playing, per Dave’s post game comments with Scott Robbs.
Adolpho got subbed out after two hits in a row that were lacklustre, but redeemed herself with a couple of huge blocks in the final set. In all honesty, you need more production from her spot in order to compete with the ranked teams. Otherwise the third set was closer than it needed to be. While some players are producing on serves, others are still struggling. That is another dimention that you can’t afford to give up points on when you are playing the UCLA types.
Not convinced. Setting in set 3 broke down. Utah St. serving was really tough to pass in set 3, low trajectory with a knuckle spin. Nonetheless, when the passes were decent, Taylor’s set selection had the left sides trapped. Still too predictable for me. Once the other team can see Na Wahine stressed, they get motivated. Like tonight. Adolpho is becoming a blocker more than a middle hitter which is not good for Na Wahine as a whole. She has to become a solid offensive option to give Hawaii five prong attack. If she continues to struggle, the effect could be far reaching.
tossup. Tai jumped serve all last week. After the first weekend Shoji said they had to go back to the gym to work on their serving. Lisa and Ryan spoke about the improvement the team has made in serving and mentioned Shoji had asked Tai to start jump serving.
46. yes im aware tai jumped served last week but that was her debut jump serve after a lack luster servicing from na wahine just a couple days before when tai did floaters instead and tai only did floaters last season as well
From an offensive stand point at times Kalei and Kiani seem like square pegs trying to fit into round holes. Don’t know if it’s the timing or location of the sets or the choice of swings or a combination of all of the above but they don’t seem to smoothly fit into the offense. Just my opinion. I by no means have much technical knowledge to offer up any suggestions on how to get more offense out of them.
I’m going to offer up a volleyball cliché about Higgins because I’m spoiled by the memory of all the good setters we’ve has in the past. Higgins hasn’t consistently shown she can better the ball after receiving a so-so pass. Again, just my opinion.
tossup. my point was Shoji asked/told her to start jump serving.
49. Manu-Olevao said it was Ah Mow-Santos who gave her the green light to use her top-spin jump serve.
48. I wouldn’t be too harsh on Passi. She didn’t get a lot of swings. took 4 in Set 3. As for Adolpho, she was 1-1-7, not getting elevation that she has
re: Taylor. Shoji said they may use her this weekend but they don’t want her in the front row. Which then makes the substations tricky.
He knows they need production from the other middle and OH spot. we’ll see if he goes with the taller lineup vs. the Bruins.
Cindy. Regarding Kalei and Kiani. I’m not talking about tonight only. In my mind they’re way better offensively than they’ve shown, Just wondering why they haven’t gotten untracked to show their true skills.
31. I agree with you! Wanted to see Koelsch (s) for Tayler and Maglio(m) for Adolpho. Like to see the backup setter play or start the 3rd set to see how she would evolve and not just coming in the on the 17th point for 1 play…Especially if we kind of look superior over a team like we did tonite (Utah St.). Also Maglio seems like she may help when one of our middles is struggling. Great time to see how other girls may step up or not down the stretch. Would be cool seeing us utilize our talent and depth this year. I can sense that these frosh girls can contribute more this year. They all just seem pretty poise and ready to answer the call. Last but not least, I am so proud of Tai and how much more confident she is playing this year!! Awesome Serving and Hitting Tai!!! Olivia Magill…she is the BOMB…she should be set as often as can…she is so quick and can elevate over most opponents….love her humility after she scores a point…
49 & 50. i knew it! so tai actually had a jump serve from the getgo after all. but after 2 seasons to now it was shoji being shoji who limited tai and his other players power. and everyone is criticizing tai for less than satisfying play last season to a poor serve this season until her jumper debutted. dave didnt stop higgins because he only used her as a double sub last season and she kind of went by unnoticed. we need to see passis jump serve and kahakais (notice she did it once vs unm and it was powerful but went long, so she could distance back more if her range is too much), she went back to her ‘limited shot’ floaters after that one shot overboard.
also speaking of service check the aces. tonight utah st was first to ace as a result of shanking it off of tai, so she counters with launching flurries of all da kine suits of aces.
#53. It’s more like tossup being tossup.
#54. as in tossup being tossup because tossup is correct/has a point.
50. Passi has been unimpressive so far. She’s hitting zero for the season.
hmm..being hard on passi. passi had the right idea. instead of taking a swing knowing shell be blocked without it penetrating (tooling off the block), she decided to be more tactical and instead keep the ball in play. long could try that too when her high velocity swing doesnt work deflecting off the block, then they can hope to score by their own block ie magill and adolpho.
keep the ball in play. forego your advantage to make sacrifice so to hopefully score by converting with block. they all could use that especially long and passi if they are dwarfed by their opponents.
And Adolpho. When was the last time Hawaii had a senior starting middle hitting .150 seven matches into the season? Why doesn’t Shoji try Maglio? Is she worse than Adolpho? In 2004 he used three players in the middle position opposite Victoria Prince – Melody Eckmier, Kari Gregory and Juliana Sanders. I’m wondering he isn’t using Maglio more now, especially since Adolpho and her slow-mo moves aren’t cutting it.
59. i bet its because experience or rather SENIORITY has its privilege as far as shoji is concerned. yeah dave needs to augment his force a bit like he did with greeley, you dont want a team thats simply ‘top heavy’ and depend on that alone to win throughout the season/postseason (think last year when the younger byu destroyed such team miserably)
I am worried about Adolpho’s hitting. Maybe the ankle injury she had is more serious than we think because something is off with her hitting this year, she has always hit above .330 before. But at least she is blocking better than ever. However I do wanna see what Maglio can do. She is burning her redshirt, don’t waste her year on the bench coaches!! She needs the experience for next year.
perhaps maglio and taylor can be in tomorrow or likely vs usf when tai isnt in on a sunday.
speaking of tai..watching her aces and hitting…she played like a boss.
my 2 cents.
I agree, kalei greeley wasn’t elevating like she normally has the last two weeks. it didn’t really help that more than half of her sets were out of system which didn’t really allow her to have a full approach.
I’d give the passing a 6 out of 10. like I said before, I’m spoiled by longo and how amazing she was at passing half the court.
higgins was off… like really off. it’s great her sets to magill are on point however her sets to the left and right weren’t great. I lost track of how many times we had to tip the ball just to keep it in play, not because they wanted to but because our hitters had no choice.
game 3 was sloppy. I have a feeling ucla might hand us loss number 3 if they continue to play inconsistent.
One of the frustrating aspects of this season’s Wahine play has been the high number of service errors. The team has 89 of them compared to 59 for its opponents. I would not mind the high number but the majority of them came from lollipop serves. If you are going to serve out at least have your players attempt their best serve; yes, I’m talking about players like Passi or Kahakai who have reputations for wicked jump serves in high school and junior college respectively (not too sure if true, though, since unobserved by me). Nothing is so frustrating as to see the serving specialists, especially, put the ball into the net or out of play, with soft returnable serves. But this is probably my only concern so far. The play of the Wahine, with its youth and inexperience, has exceeded my expectations.
Good morning I enjoy reading all the comments from all these knowledgeable arm chair coaches. Good thing Dave doesn’t read the blog or maybe he does. Great entertainment.
I wonder how much longer Ginger Long will be in the starting lineup. I guess much depends on when Nikki Taylor is cleared for full duty.
Megan Huff can’t do much worse than Long…..give her a shot.
#55. Tossup being Tossup believing his opinions are facts.
Setting was off. Still left to be desired.
A major reason Adolfo is not hitting for a high percentage is because Higgins is not giving her many good sets, where she wants them; plain & simple. When Higgins starts to be more accurate, Kalei will be fine. IMO Dave should be giving Koelsch more playing time; I think she might be better than Higgins is right now. JMO.
63: High risk, high reward in terms of serving.
Thursday vs. Utah State 9 aces, 11 SEs.
Most coaches will take a 1-to-1 ratio so last night wasn’t that far off
And what doesn’t show up is how many kills players such as Magill get on the service overpasses
On the year: 47 aces, 83 SEs
Ohio 1 ace, 5 SEs
ASU 4 aces, 11 SEs
UNM 13 aces, 13 SEs
SDSU 7 aces, 17 SEs
Oregon 7 aces, 12 SEs
St. John’s 5 aces, 14 SEs (fatigue was a factor)
Agree with #65. Ginger Long should not be starting. Start Huff. Long not only makes too many errors, but does not seem to give the team the best chemistry with she is in lineup. Why Dave continues to play her is a mystery to me.
65 I agree we need Huff – especially when playing teams with a big power game. It is clear Long and Passi presently struggle with the bigger opponents. However, we also need to keep developing Long and Passi so as to match upcoming Big West conference opponents where they are often smaller, quicker, skilled, and very good ball handlers, often resulting in long rally. IMO, developing a balance team will be key to winning the conference title and the automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.
70 – i think there is a tremendous amount of people that wonder the same thing
My take. Days of the 5’10” and under OH are gone. You need to be an awesome specimen to be able to compete with the 6’1 ‘ and taller OH. I’ll say it again don’t expect different results doing the same things over an over. Meaning that Wahine volleyball will be hard pressed to win another national championship if they continue to use a smaller line up. Are the Asian countries with their smaller line up winning international championships or the Olympics. Not as much as way back when.
If the freshmen’s potential are greater than the level of the current starters at OH why not let them gain experience so that if they do have a higher level of potential, by the end of the season they should be a lot better when post season comes. Being optimistic that the Wahine will make the post season. Women volleyball great players already shows their talent and potential talent as freshman and sophomores. If they did not start in their first 2 years not many are great players in their junior and senior years.
If one middle has great hitting numbers the setter is not the problem having the other middle with not so good numbers as stated by another blogger. It could be the back row rotation.
I’m not sure the days are over for 6ft and under. It depends on the type of athlete that person is. I can see some girl who is 6ft with killer hops and explosiveness being able to succeed.
Didn’t LBSU men’s team have a local guy(Taylor Crabbe) who played OH and is only 6ft. The dude has a 40inch vertical and has a cannon for an arm and he was players of the year in the men’s game. I think there is still room for a Kim Willoughby type player. Its not always about height. If someone have the quickness, smarts and explosiveness to find holes in the block, they will be able to compete.
I have no doubt if Kim Willoughby was on our roster, she would still be dominant in today’s game. Ginger just doesn’t have the explosiveness and the power to get the job done. I still think she could be a D1 level player if she is better at finding the holes in the block, learn to tool the block or hit high hands. She is just blasting the ball into the block and its not going to cut it.
Even with last year’s talent (Emily Hartong, Nikki Taylor, Ali Longo, Mita Uiato, and Jade Vorster) UH struggled to tie Cal State Northridge and Santa Barbara for first place. With no RPI to speak of and UH in a rebuilding year I anticipate
greater prospects next year.
It’ll be interesting to see how Dave handles the outsides when Nikki comes back. He’ll have three capable hitters in Nikki, Tai and Kalei. It’s a question of how much time each spends on the left and how much time each spends on the right.
Wasn’t Huff recruited as a middle? If she was then Dave deserves some credit for fitting her in on the right when they needed some help there.
On the Leahy & Leahy show, Shoji said that some athletes he leaves in while they are struggling and they can work themselves out of it. He mentioned that Tai was one of those and she proved it with 2 slow starts last week, to come back strong.
Long and Passi have been given their opportunity. I believe that if they do not produce, they will be seeing the bench. Even more so once Nikki Taylor comes back.
When Taylor does come back, her and Greely on the left and Manu-Olevao on the right would seem to work. Although Taylor played on the right all last year, so she and Manu-Olevao could swap as well.
I think Passi came in a very touch situation. She came in very “Aneli” like…..shorter, powerful OH from Souther Idaho who was the NJCAA Player of the year. That is some very tough shoes and expectations to fill.
There is short and there is short. As mentioned above Kim Willoughby was under six feet and she would still be the most dominant hitter in the country if she played today. Ditto for Kanani Danielson though not as powerful hitter as Kim. Angie Pressey of Cal an All-American at Cal Berkeley even made the USA national team roster although only 5’8″. There are dozens of hitters who are less than 6 feet who can compete at the highest levels of collegiate volleyball. That being said, even Shoji agrees that the trend in the modern game is to have both tall liberos and outside hitters. Shoji also mentioned that the women’s game is coming to resemble the men’s with its emphasis on power.
Well….Dave must still be going after under 6fter since he has offered McKenna Granato of Punahou. Sometimes fans are just too pre-occupied with height. Utah State was just as tall as UH last night and we kind of easily too care of them last night.
If Granato is another Kanani Danielson, then she will be a great addition to the team. I will take a Kanani Danielson type any day over some who is tall but less talent like a Michelle Waber.
81. I would take a Bailey Webster 6″ 3″, Haley Eckerman 6′ 3″, Deja McClendon 6′ 1″, Ariel Scott 6′ 4″ over Kanani Danielson any day.
Long was having success until the Aggies switched their lineup and had their 6-5 player against her. She lost that battle.
I do think he’ll go taller against UCLA so Huff likely to see more playing time.
She is still transitioning from MB to OH and getting up to speed with her footwork.
82. To be fair, they did say “less talent” – then provided an example with Waber. Those you have mentioned clearly are All-Americans.
LOL at wop saying he would pick déjà over kanani. Kanani is a better player in ALL aspects of the game compared to deja. The wahine could be undefeated right now and wop would still attack them saying they suck
5″ 11 ” Kaylie Kamalu was pretty good for Utah St. last night.
5′ 11″
Kamalu 11-6-5, hit 200. their other go-to players were pretty mediocre, hitting 154 and negative 088. Team hit .054 with 27 total kills
Willoughby had a mean hang time. She be up in the air when others would be on their way down. She is still playing volleyball overseas.
63. Greeley still bothered by rolled ankle, tweaked it again in Wednesday’s practice. agree she was a little more tentative and took a lot of swings. most on the team with 31. took a lot of out of system swings.
#66. and what opinions did i give and claim as facts?
82. re: recruiting height and ‘again going after under 6-feet.” Don’t you think Shoji recruits taller players? He does. They’ve signed elsewhere. Amanda Gil prime example. had a really good relationship with Shoji. Paid her own way here to attend camp. chose to play close to home at Minnesota. when Hebert retired, transferred to UCLA.
82 I sat next to Amada Gil’s Dad at a UCLA game and we talked about HI. He said that they really seriously thought about coming to HI but at the end, they thought it was too far away. He too is very tall, and a really nice guy.
Yep, she seriously considered it.
@ 93. Cindy, that was not Amanda Gil. That was Tabi Love.
You’re right. Tabi Love paid her way out here.
Gil went to UW from UCLA
UH was close on both.
I think Cindy meant she chose UCLA and when Banachowski retired, transferred to Washington
We were close on both, would have been great to get both of them, especially since they would have been playing together at UH during their careers