recapping UH hosting
this is my breaking news story with quotes
The Hawaii volleyball team will host the NCAA tournament’s first and second rounds this week at the Stan Sheriff Center, it was announced today.
The Rainbow Wahine (24-4), seeded No. 11, will play Idaho State (23-11) in Friday’s second match.
BYU (22-6) and Arizona State (19-13) will play in the first match at 5 p.m.
Saturday’s second-round match is a 7 p.m. start.
Tickets sales to the general public begin Tuesday.
Defending champion Texas is the overall No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Washington and No. 4 Missouri.
The NCAA tournament opens play at most campus sites Thursday. Hawaii was able to bid for a Friday-Saturday subregional due to not having a conflict with a home football game on Saturday.
The Rainbow Wahine watched today’s NCAA tournament selection show in the Wong Hospitality Room at the Sheriff Center. When the players saw the seed and that they were hosting, the room field with cheers and hugs.
“We’re happy to be home,” Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. “We felt we earned this and are happy that the committee saw the value of our season. Now we have to take care of business and prepare for Idaho State.”
Defending champion Texas was the overall No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Washington and No. 4 Missouri.
Other seeded teams were Florida (5), USC (6), Stanford (7) and Nebraska (8). Also, San Diego (9), Minnesota (10), Wisconsin (12), Illinois (13), Kansas (14), Kentucky (15) and Duke (16).
The NCAA tournament opens play at most campus sites Thursday. Hawaii was able to bid for a Friday-Saturday subregional due to not having a conflict with a home football game on Saturday.
The Wahine watched the selection show in the Wong Hospitality Room at the Sheriff Center. When the players saw the seed and that they were hosting, the room field with cheers and hugs.
“We’re very happy,” senior libero Ali Long said. “When you get into the tournament, every match is tough. We have to take it one game at a time.”
Senior hitter Ashley Kastl has the potential of facing her former team Saturday should both Hawaii and Arizona State win Friday.
“I’ve very excited,” said Kastl, who transferred to Hawaii in 2012. “God works in mysterious ways. I still have some very good friends on that team and I’m excited to see them.
“We’re so excited. First, we are hosting. Second, we have the entire state of Hawaii behind us and that’s amazing. The (selection) show is over and now it’s back to work.”
All three of the Big West tri-champions were selected. UC Santa Barbara, which won the Big West’s automatic berth via a tiebreaker, is at No. 9 San Diego. Cal State Northridge opens with Colorado State in the subregional hosted by USC.
Should Hawaii advance to next week, the Wahine would be at USC for the postseason for the third time in six years. Hawaii played at the Galen Center in the 2008 and 2009 subregionals.
The first round at USC has the Colorado State-CSU Northridge match followed by New Hampshire at USC.
Also seeded in the USC regional are No. 3 Washington and No. 14 Kansas.
In Minnesota’s subregional, the Golden Gophers host Radford with Iowa State and Colorado in the first match.
The Dec. 13-14 regional sites are USC, Kentucky, Illinois and Nebraska.
This week’s subregional at San Diego has four teams that Hawaii faced during this season: San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, New Mexico State and Arizona.
Washington hosts the final four Dec. 19 and 21 in Seattle.
It’s great seeing them happy, I am so used to seeing them pissed off after the selection show. However that anger really got them to focus and play their best.
Hope they stay focused and make it to LA.
Stanford and Minnesota arent in the USC regional. They are in the kentucky regional. Washington and kansas are in the USC regional
How many of you were surprised at the # 11 seed ?
After reading Rich Kerns final RKPI which had UH at #16 I was ready to throw in the towel on hosting.
lc — yeah, the 11 seed is surprising. but i guess with some teams around them losing in the final weekend…. hawaii’s “nitty gritty” being fairly respectable … and given the geography restraints (i.e., hawaii was gonna be in the L.A. regional, probably no matter what) … i can see how the 11 seed can happen.
All the talk about UH being on the bubble for a seed wasn’t true. At #11 they were in with room to spare. It sure looks like they were safely in no matter what happened.
vbfan – a lot happened with other teams on the bubble for a seed in just the final weekend of the season … a confluence of factors probably made hawaii a “bubble” team for a seed … to a more definite candidate for a seeded team.
marquette had a top 10 rpi heading into this week, and they won the big east tournament this week too. they were the team that many on this blog and on vtalk were concerned about getting a seed, based purely on rpi.
marquette had a 2-4 record against the rpi top 25.
kentucky also had a top 10 rpi heading into this week, but were merely 1-5 against the rpi top 25. they still got a seed, but were dropped to #15.
Any news if it’s gonna be on tv? For those who can’t make it down to the SSC
8. setaone
I’m pretty sure OCSports will broadcast the matches Hawai’i will be in. Just have to wait for the official announcement 🙂
An interesting side note about the ASU-BYU match is that ASU coach Jason Watson used to be the head coach at BYU.
bottom line — we get hawaii at home for at least one more match. they are seeded, are hosting, and can get to the regional, if they go about their business. all matches this week are winnable. i hope the fans turn out in droves to pump up the team. if hawaii can get to the 2nd round, either arizona st or byu will be a challenge!
go wahine!
their destiny is NOW in their hands.
Big west even has UH’s game on Thursday.
Congratulations to Na Wahine for the strong finish to the regular season and getting the 11th seed plus first & second round hosting.
If ever there was a time for the local fans to come out and support the team, this is it.
Come on folks, no excuses, first round game on Friday night; come on out and make a difference.
Go Wahine!
12. Yup, the wahine need to do everything in their power to get to LA. They match up really well with USC and their slow offense and they will have a lot of wahine fans cheering them on at the Galen.
By the way UW is not a sure bet to get to LA, Michigan usually plays it’s best in the NCAA tournament, they are a dangerous team.
5. never thought UH was a bubble team. 11 is not on the bubble.
As for TV, I’m pretty sure OC 16 is televising but not sure who will team with Leahey on Saturday. McLachlin will be at Daniel Rasay’s wedding on the Big Island
2. thanks Brandon. I had scrolled down on the wrong bracket.
13. Big West has correct the dates.
Prayers answered this time. Wahine have their fate in their own hands on their own court in front of their own fans just as they are playing some of their best ball of the year. Lot of things coming together to make this special. Home crowd won’t allow loss of focus for want of crowd support. Hope Seniors get one last hurrah for us to witness. Know team is ready to step up and play their best games/matches since Texas on night one. Go Wahine!
~~ From the Who Cares! Department: BY THE NUMBERS ~~
PAC-12 [12 teams]: League-record 9 teams dancing, with 3 hosting subregionals (Washington, USC, Stanford; called all 3)
BIG TEN [12 teams]: League-tying 8 teams dancing (8 teams in 1999, 2002, 2010, 2011), including 5 hosting Rounds 1-2 (PSU, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois; called all 5)
SEC [13 teams]: League-record [?] 8 teams dancing (Missouri and Texas A&M joined the conf. in 2012, a year in which the SEC had 5 postseason teams, and while both failed to make the 64-team field last year, both made it this year), including 3 hosting subs (Missouri, Florida, Kentucky; called all 3)
BIG 12 [9 teams]: 4 teams dancing, including 2 seeds (Texas, Kansas; called both)
ACC [15 teams]: 4 teams in, including 1 seed (Duke; didn’t call this)
BIG WEST [9 teams]: 3 teams in, including 1 seed (Hawai’i; called this)
WEST COAST [10 teams]: 2 teams in, with 1 hosting a sub (San Diego; called this)
BIG EAST [9 teams]: 2 teams in but neither seeded (called the Big East AQ Marquette a “near certain seed” over the ACC AQ Duke; teaches me never to choose a mid-major team over a BCS school)
That’s a wrap! On with the show, this is it! Go Bows!
17. They were certainly in a bubble as far as seeding/hosting goes. I don’t think anybody expected an 11 seed, considering history and their projected RPI.
When will the Big West honors be announced? Hartong POY for sure, Taylor possibly POY, Uiato joining them on the first team.
Not sure if mita makes honors, aly should but not sure if she will either.
Welch probably the COY, ugh!
21. IMHO, they were not a bubble team.
I thought maybe 12 or 13.
22. Big West team announced Monday.
24. I would think Welch gets it. and why not? she has turned the program around.
If the number of all-conference members are the same, then there is 16 on first team (including POY and FOY if they make it on first team) and 10 honorable mentions. Then there is 7 on the All-Freshman team.
I think there should be Co-Freshman of the Year as Spindt and Taylor both had great matches and it is pretty hard to choose one. But Spindt had a great last match as she collected 12 kills, 26 digs, and 4 blocks…
I think Uiato will make it for sure and if Ali doesn’t make First Team then she will definitely be on Honorable Mention as there was no real libero that stuck out like Formico last season
26. I think FOY goes to Spindt. if you just go by stats, she ranks higher among BWC players than Taylor in a number of categories. She led UCSB in kills, was second in digs and points.
What may have hurt Taylor is not playing all six rotations until recently.
Co-FOY would be more justified for Spindt and Taylor. Spindt has advantages in digs (obviously), kills per set are only 0.2 decimal points apart. Nikki has a fairly good average advantage in kill pct. (conference .315 to .275)(overall .301 to .245) and blocks per set (conf. .89 to .55)(overall .77 to .52). All numbers are from the top of my head so they maybe 1/3 off. What’s outstanding is Taylors kill pct at over .300, being in 4th and 6th place amongst all of the middle blockers listed. Check it out at the Big West stats, UH is too slow is posting the final total stats when I last checked today.
I will be very annoyed if Spindt gets FOY over Nikki.
Nikki has the ability to take over matches and dominate with her hitting and blocking. And more so now when Shoji left her in for all 6 rotations. She has added a new dimension for the Wahine with her tough floater serves and a threat from the back row. I don’t see Spindt being a dominant factor in a match like Nikki.
Hasn’t conference play shown you that this isn’t just Hawaii and the eight dwarves any more? Em yes, but I’d think conference coaches will spread wealth around this time when it comes to rewards/awards. That’s okay with me as long as Wahine (as a team) get their share – which they did this past week unexpectedly. Team won’t be judged by individual awards, team will be remembered for milestones – Texas, co-championship and hosting/seed. I do hope they go deep and show their best in tournament. It’s a long way to FF, but at least Wahine got their feet on one of the ‘Yellow Brick Roads’ now. Go Wahine! It takes heart, courage, brains and desire which can be professed but must be found within and expressed to win it all.
Cindy, just curious about the voting for the All Big West team(s). So we know that the AVCA changed its rules regarding the 10 regions. All member head coaches can now vote for the players they feel are most deserving of the award, but cannot vote for their own players and must vote for a total of 14 players specialized by values listed below:
5 Outside/Opposite Hitters
3 Middle Blockers
2 Setters
1 Libero/Defensive Specialist
3 At-Large Selections
Is the Big West (or any other league) changing rules to conform to the current AVCA changes? Not that I really care but I thought asking this question might produce an answer that will provoke a new line of discussion.
Wahine 17th in latest RPI. Nitty Gritty must have played a big role in our seeding and hosting.
27 & all. all valid points and agree co-FOY would be justified. However, most here only saw Taylor’s matches and only 2 of Spindt’s against UH . Against the Wahine (5-set win) she had 12 kills, 17 digs, hit only .175 In the 5-set loss to UH, 10 kills, hit 143 19 digs.
All matches, Taylor ranks No. 7 in hitting percentage at .301 on 579 attempts helped a lot by her last few matches. Spindt ranks No. 9 at .243 on 848 attempts.
one argument could be that without Spindt, UCSB doesn’t win the matches that they did.
Without Taylor, Hawaii can still win.
27. btw, Taylor is not an MB.
32.
I believe the BWC has changed to conform. The email I got said they had changed their voting deadline and announcement dates to conform with the AVCA.
33. thanks LC. see new thread
I was so sure that Hawaii would be going to the Galen Center for the first round I booked a trip to SoCal. I am very happy they are home and I take full credit for this occurrence because of my lack of faith in the NCAA and my decision to travel LA. I told my wife that I needed to go the following weekend but go the stink-eye. I hope it’s on TV. This will be the first home match I will miss in person in 10 years. Go Bows.
37. of course it’s going to be on TV
why can’t you change your ticket?
34. Cindy. I stated the mb part incorrectly. The point that I was getting to was that Nikki is an outside hitter with kill pct amongst all those mb on the pct list. Middles are suppose to have the highest kill pct as we all know and Taylor is an OH with an higher pct than the starting mbs on 6/7 teams. That really IMO sticks out.
37. Ron. Yeah Ron as Cindy said change your ticket, to next week, then you can watch the UH-USC match at Galen (no bachi please).
CL and R, I made promises to grandkids I need to keep. Granddaughter in “Nutcracker” on Sun.