Wahine rewind
think Shoji said it best. “We play our game, we’re good.”
anyway this is our online story
Serve and pass. It’s as basic as volleyball can get.
Win that game and, more often than not, a team will win a match.
Eleventh-seeded Hawaii did just that Friday night when overcoming a Set 2 hiccup to put away Idaho State 25-16, 19-25, 25-12, 25-13. Senior libero Ali Longo had five of the Rainbow Wahine’s 12 aces and senior hitter Emily Hartong added three as Hawaii (25-4) advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Wahine, getting a match-high 21 kills from Hartong will take on former Western Athletic Conference rival Brigham Young at 7 tonight. The Cougars (23-6) eliminated Arizona State (19-14) in Friday’s first round, 21-25, 25-22, 25-17, 24-26, 15-10.
A near sellout crowd (8,238 tickets, 7,809 turnstile) saw Hawaii win its ninth straight. It was anything but easy as the Bengals (23-12) created some anxious moments for part of the hour and 46 minutes.
Hawaii started out hot, controlling Set 1 with six aces, three blocks and a diversified attack that hit .348. As happened all season, Hartong led the way with almost as many aces (3) as kills (4)
After dropping a lackluster Set 2, the Rainbow Wahine used a 7-0 run midway in Set 3 to take a 22-11 lead and regain control of the match. Senior setter Mita Uiato stuffed freshman hitter Marissa Todd for set point and Hartong’s 16th kill punctuated the rout.
Freshman opposite Nikki Taylor added 11 kills and Longo 14 digs for Hawaii. Sophomore hitter Tressa Lyman led Idaho State with 13 kills and freshman libero Hayley Farrer had 10 digs.
Wahine need to serve tough and serve exclusively at Alexa Gray when she is in (her ball control is shaky at best) and try to tire her out. Avoid serving and right at their libero who is very good.
As usual wahine need to pass well and Mita needs to mix up the offense to get the big BYU block guessing.
Wahine need to take advantage of their speed and better back row play and I think they can win in 3 or 4.
BYU is similar to Colorado State in 2011. Great blocking team with suspect ball control.
2nd set voodoo was tough to watch but it was mainly due to how easily they won the first set. It was nice to see them get all those aces early but as they have in the past they went into jogging mode. In the 3rd set they came out much more focussed. And I like how they adjusted to blocking and digging Idaho Sts middles. Mita had her track shoes on tonight and made some amazing sets. But I think her solo block was the play of the night for me. Longo was Longo. We need to clone her. Nikki and Tai just needs to keep doing what they are doing and we will be just fine. And like Dave has said before Emily is just special. Shout out to those wahine who sit on the bench then are expected to go in and play well when called. i think that they did a great job tonight. I also wouldn’t mind if Lyman chose to come and play here.
Yeah Lyman played great and kinda remined me of V Prince in appearance.
I’d rather have Gardner or Gray though.
Preseason and season are done. This is the win or go home part now. Win and sleep well at night, lose and spend the night tossing and turning with questions. Sets one, three and four were who you are. Set two was totally a stranger – but one who has been showing up in your play this season. You’ve got to know that you are the team that has handled other teams so handily and beat teams that were equal and better, too. Stay focused and don’t just go through the motions. You should have learned already – its an easy game, pass, set and hit. Block and transition into offense. Points come and go. But when you’ve won you’ve always showed great resolve and purpose, when you’ve lost, you’ve sometimes shook your heads and looked confused. Its more so much more than going through the motions. Its what Em and Ali are trying to show/give you. It’s playing with abandon and taking every play, every serve with a purpose – to win and move on. When a play or point doesn’t go your way, so what. Step back line up and make the next play yours. You can do this if you want it. We the fans want it for you. Go Wahine! I know you’ve got it in you – I’ve seen it in your play this year and years past, I know you can do it. Just do it.
Just watched press conference at Wahine site. Coach Dave, Em and Ali answered questions. They spoke to all my concerns and have a grasp on what happened. Great leaders all. This is why I love this team and program. Long time Wahine fans and supporters have faith in Coach Dave and his answered assured me that he has a real solid grasp on the situation which is why we’re so used to good outcomes. I know that win and losses happen and that right now the chips are down and there seems to be more pressure, but I also know that in the fullness of young people’s lives this is only a small part of the total picture. They are doing their best and that’s all I ask of them. Go Wahine! I believe you can win and will win.
having sat trough the byu/AZ-state match, feel that hawaii needs to up their level of play if they are to
beat BYU. this is a team thats tall and blocks well beat USD in straight sets and lost to them in 5 in a return match. USD also just swept UCSB in straight sets in the first round so just on a comparative note, we’ve got our work cut out if we want to make it to L.A.
1. if i’m not mistaken gray doesn’t stay in for all 6 rotations. believe they (buy) subs her in and out of the front row.
For a team to drop in the RPI ratings from 11 to 17 on the last week is hard to understand. Do they have a special formula for UH during the last week of women’s volleyball?
#10. Everyone predicted that Hawaii would fall in the RPI rankings after playing Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside, which won only two matches all season. Shoji predicted that Hawaii would fall, possibly as high as 16 but it went one higher. Riverside had a RPI of 286 and Fullerton 187. But you are right; from 11 to 17 was a dramatic drop, but understandable given the two teams low RPI rankings.
LOL now Dave Reardon is a volleyball expert ?
i have no doubt that hawaii will have no trouble getting themselves up for BYU. the crowd did its part to bring hawaii’s energy level up from that odd-ball 2nd set last night. they will do the same for the team against BYU. it was fun being in the arena last night.
take that 2nd set out, and hawaii absolutely dominated. the silver lining from last night is that hawaii was able to make and execute critical defensive adjustments — on floor defense, and particularly on the block — to slow down idaho st’s off-balance middle attack.
bumby — the rpi is based on a formula applied to all the teams. the formula is based on win/loss records of (1) the team (this makes up 25% of the formula, (2) your opponents’ win/loss percentage (50% of the formula), and (3) your opponents’ opponents’ win/loss percentage (25%).
so the way to “game” the rpi is to play teams with good win/loss records. in the last week of the season, hawaii played two teams with very poor win/loss records — uc riverside is 2-26, and fullerton is 11-17. that is what may account for the drop in hawaii’s rpi in the final week of the season.
Just voted for Emily for Senior Class award. She is running slightly behind her closest competitor where she was previously slightly ahead. Time to get out and vote for Emily!!
What a waste of words or column by Reardon. Everyone knows what he is talking about and he comes out and says what everybody already knows. Its like the newspaper wanted to take up space to complete their sports section. Here is Reardon, who adamantly believed that there was no other no. 1 bcs football team in the nation than Oregon, when I told him repeatedly in my comments or blogs why Oregon was not the no. 1 team in the nation when Reardon was voting for Oregon in the first 6-8 wks. of the football season. Now he is the proclaimed volleyball expert repeating what Howard Dashevsky et. co., Ann Miller, Cindy Luis et. al have stated in the post-game last nite. Boring!!
Like I said on the other blog, skeptical are the fans. Someone must carry the load to advance to the semi finals. Hartong and some 1 or 2 others in the game must do the same for them to have any chance of winning. More power, more wins. They need to do this to win. Good luck!
So I was looking at the brackets on NCAA.com and was just thinking….Hawaii has a HIGH probability to make it to the final 4 (top four team I predict: TEXAS (who will shut down SDSU/NEBRASKA), HAWAII, MISSOURI, PENN STATE)….. One game at a time, I know. But the dream match up would be TEXAS and HAWAII Duking it out the way the season began. HAHA
GO BOWS!! Tonite will be a thriller match. I’ll be watching from Big Island.
@ # 8. Agree. Wahine must up their level of play, plus Shoji must be at his best. BYU presents a load of problems with their tall front and ubiquitous libero. Our block forms too slow and can be at times marginal at best. The Cougars played tough against a good ASU team.
The wahine have issues especially in setting predictability. IF the Cougars play well, wahine are in deep Kim Chee.
Hawaii should win if they play their game. BYU is a good blocking team, but struggle once you get it past the block.
BYU is a good, but not great team. On the road they can struggle, they tended to go 4 and 5 sets in their road matches even against mediocre teams like Pepperdine, LMU and Santa Clara this year.
wow so eight SEC got into the NCAA tourney and only two remain. I hope that really wakes up the committee to see the SEC is just not that great of a conference in vball.
By the Numbers ~ Comparative Statistical Rankings of 6 Teams: HAWAI’I, BYU, and the Tournament’s 4 Top Seeds
Aces Per Set
#5 washington
#26 missouri
#87 penn st
#210 BYU
#220 texas
#233 HAWAI’I
Edge: Tossup between Hawai’i and BYU
Assists Per Set
#1 missouri
#15 HAWAI’I
#31 washington
#40 penn st
#70 BYU
#90 texas
Edge: To Hawai’i
Blocks Per Set
#1 penn st
#6 BYU
#12 texas
#15 washington
#30 missouri
#81 HAWAI’I
Edge: To BYU
Digs Per Set
#118 BYU
#167 HAWAI’I
#200 missouri
#205 washington
#224 texas
#252 penn st
Edge: Tossup or slight edge to BYU
Hitting Percentage
#1 missouri
#4 penn st
#8 texas
#11 washington
#14 HAWAI’I
#25 BYU
Edge: Edge to Hawai’i
Kills Per Set
#1 missouri
#13 HAWAI’I
#28 penn st
#34 washington
#64 texas
#88 BYU
Edge: To Hawai’i
Re: 21 Not quite accurate (yet) but your point is well-taken.
As of this posting, these are the results:
Round 1: Of the 8 SEC teams, 3 won (Missouri, LSU, Texas A&M), 4 lost, and 1 (Kentucky) is undecided (playing Friday’s cancelled match on Saturday)
Round 2: Of 4 SEC teams remaining, 1 lost (Texas A&M), 2 playing (Missouri, LSU), and 1 playing on Sunday (presuming Kentucky wins Round 1 on Saturday)
Cindy
are the Wahine practicing today? if so what time
LC – My thoughts EXACTLY!!!!
I watched some volleyball games bracket around the country and noticed that crowds are not that great compared to our SSC arena. I would expect the Florida/Florida State game to have at least ten thousand being interstate rivals, but nothing there. My point is maybe the NCAA should look at Honolulu to be the site of Final Four every year if not maybe once every 4 years.
Good luck Wahine
Hawaii as a possible sit for the Final Four is only advisable if Hawaii is in it but if Hawaii is not in the FF, then the crowds will not be like it was last nite. You only had to look at yesterday’s first game between BYU & Ariz. St. where there was very little people in the stands until the last moments where people started coming in to get ready for the Hawaii game. I was there at the start and it seemed I was the only one there watching the BYU and Ariz. St. game except for their supporters. Anyway, hope its a sell-out tonite….GO WAHINES!!!! PLEASE!!!!
Are games payed for prizes aloud during intermission during NCAA play? Or is it only promotional stuff thats not aloud?
played*
15. EM is behind by 2 right now, with two more days to go.
28. Kazu. Florida folks are sitting for hours voting multiple times (cheating). 2% equals to approximately 5,000/6,000 votes.
26. the Florida-FSU match friday, won by FSU at Florida, drew 2204
24. they practiced today. both practices closed
16. Reardon knows volleyball. He covered Florida when working for the Gainesville paper and he’s been at a number of Wahine matches since returning to Hawaii in 2000.
He was assigned to write a column from the match. He and Ann did great jobs given that both of their stories had to be in b 1030 p.m. and the UH match didn’t end until 950.
If he ended up saying what Dashefsky said … Howard said it live, Reardon got the quotes live but his column didn’t run until this morning. it is what happens sometimes when it’s TV vs. newspaper. But it’s not like Reardon heard by Dashefsky said. we don’t watch the post game TV stuff. we’re in the interview room. .
San Diego leading Arizona 2-0.