Wednesday checkin
Team practiced early this morning before classes. Are leaving later today.
As mentioned yesterday, Mitchem taking swings on the left and middle.
Spoke to Cal Poly coach today. Asked if he thought the conference was better than last year. He said yes.
This will be their first home match. School starts Wednesday.
COMMENTS
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The drive up the coast from UCSB to Cal Poly SLO has to be one of the most beautiful in college sports. And it looks like sunny skies and good surf this weekend – plenty of opportunities for the team bus to pull over and soak it all in.
Unless there’s some type of major collapse of the season (knock on wood) it’s safe to say that UH will be in post season whether as an automatic/ at large bid. I wonder if it would be better draw for the wahine to go to a central sub regional/regional or to be sent to the west coast. Of course traveling to the west coast is easier, but we all know getting sent to the west coast is getting sent to a Pac12 site. It would be more difficult of course getting sent to Nebraska but I think the road to getting past the sub regionals and into the regionals and possibly final four may be easier if they were sent to the central region like last year or even further east.
8) Kansas def. Oklahoma 25-17, 25-13, 29-27
10) Purdue lost to 28) Illinois 25-21, 20-25, 23-25, 27-25, 11-15
18) Penn State def. Rutgers 25-17, 25-17, 25-8
23) Kansas State def. Iowa State 21-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-15
Watched Missouri beat South Carolina on TV. Of course the only reason why I watched the match was to catch Carly Kan. She did well in all phases of the game, kills, serving, digs, and blocks. She played a supporting role to Melanie Crow but Hawaii can be proud of her. She is having a great career at Missouri.
Washington is about to drop their rivalry match to WSU in 4… so much for #4 in the country…
This is in response to Derek from the previous thread. You should have taken your own advice and checked the stats because UH out-blocked both Wisconsin and Washington. This eviscerates whatever argument you were attempting to make.
The primary reason UH lost those matches is due to injuries, which prevented one All-American from playing Wisconsin, prevented a six-rotation player from hitting effectively (or at all) from the front row, prevented a projected starting middle from playing until the Pepperdine matches, forced a projected outside backup to learn to play the middle and start, and forced UH to start a true freshman and sophomore with limited experience on the left. Given that the Washington match could have gone either way but for a ton of hitting errors and that the sets with UCLA were very close, I wouldn’t say UH was intimidated. The team was missing a few pieces and still needs to heal up and gel for the end-of-season run.
5. IMO, Washington is overrated at #4, and that was before tonight’s home loss to WSU. UW’s only quality win was against UH, a close 5-setter in Hawaii. Other than that, a lot of wins over middling to poor competition.
6. thanks. good job.
The Washington State win over Washington really came out of left field for me, truly unexpected. Actually, watching them on TV, the Cougars were impressive with some hard hitters. The Pac 12 will be truly wild and wooly this year, I believe.
2. I think it is too early to say to which regional UH should be sent, other than the one that has Nebraska, which looks to be a solid wire-to-wire #1 team this year. Too many unknowns, like who will host, who else will be in the sub-regional and then regional, etc. Last year was a very favorable regional for UH, however.
UCLA def. USC 3-1; Utah def. Colorado 3-2; Arizona def. ASU 3-1
I alluded to coached Shoji’s team being predictable and other coaches knew of his team’s tendencies. I will stand corrected because the Wahine has probably the most video on themselves due to television coverage of them, going back years and years. This was a disadvantage to his teams over the last 25 years. My apologies to coach Shoji.
Tournament play are a lot longer and a lot more grueling for a team traveling to the continent from the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Not able to eat the foods you may have been accustomed to, sleeping in your own bed, having your body to adjust to the time zones, etc. (not making excuses just a fact)
As I mentioned about a week ago this Wahine team if all is healthy during the playoffs and with a little good fortune can win it all. National Champions !!!
Shoji has created a legacy here and we should be so fortunate to have been on this journey with him. The excitement and the hope of bringing home another title is always exhilarating as each season starts.
When he is no longer coaching the Wahine only then will most of us come to realize the enormity of his accomplishments. The loyalty to his family, friends, players, coaches, the school and the proud volleyball fans who cheer on the Wahine year in and year out. Mahalo Coach Shoji.
4) Washington lost to Washington State 25-16, 22-25, 24-26, 19-25
8) Kansas def. Oklahoma 25-17, 25-13, 29-27
9) UCLA def. 21) USC 25-22, 21-25, 25-20, 29-27
10) Purdue lost to Illinois 25-21, 20-25, 23-25, 27-25, 11-15
16) Colorado def. Utah 25-18, 15-25, 21-25, 25-16, 20-18
18) Penn State def. Rutgers 25-17, 25-17, 25-8
23) Kansas State def. Iowa State 21-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-15
Stats UH/SB/CP
Sets Played 40/44/43
Kills per set 14.0/13.7/13.8
Attack Errors per set 5.0/5.1/5.4
Hitting % .253/.240/.243
Assists per set 13.1/12.7/13.3
Blocks per set 2.4/2.8/1.8
Service Aces per set 1.7/1.6/1.3
Service Errors per set 2.0/2.6/1.3
Reception Errors per set 1.0/0.9/0.8
Digs per set 15.4/14.7/14.2
in response to the losses in the preseason, only the wisconsin loss was the only real good loss, ucla not bad a loss (though played in disappointing fashion). and even kansas state loss i thought was pitiful but u-dub loss was even worse.
Yeah, saw the Bruins vs Trojan match also on PAC 12 TV. Current wahine lineup matches up well against both especially with Mitchem lining up against their OPs. If Annie stays at OH, MH2 will need to improve greatly for post season play. Other than that, we are solid.
The Colorado website shows their match against Utah as a loss…
Cindy, I know someone already asked this, but did you get a chance to talk to Scot Wong and did he give his view regarding the Wahine team in general or any individual in particular? Nice article today, how do you keep up?
17. Confirmed by the Utes’ twitter account.
i watched the colorado-utah match. yup, utah won. it was an incredibly competitive match! down to the wire!
thanks noblesol, for posting the side by side team stats.
serving is interesting. all three teams (hawaii, ucsb and cal poly) averaging well over 1 ace per set. hawaii (along with its solid serving) will also be facing two of the better serving teams in the big west.
ucsb also has better blocking numbers than hawaii.
it should be noted too though that ucsb had the weakest nonconference schedule of these 3 teams. hawaii had the toughest.
That loss to WA will go down as one of the most disappointing losses in UH history. For me, anyway. This was the first time in a few years that I had to escape from wahine vball for a few days before engaging again. This loss just turned my insides all out.
We really needed that win after losing 3 already during the preseason and that match should have gone in our favor in 3 or 4 games. Especially after losing to them in the post season at their place and to finally have them on our floor. We really should have taken it to them.
We have not beaten a ranked team this year, and with the Big West coming up, we won’t have an opportunity to do so. I don’t think we go to the tournament if we don’t win the conference. Because that would also mean some losses to some unranked teams if that happens. We cannot afford a loss during the conference. Just my opinion, but every match from here on out is a MUST WIN. Lose, and end of season. We are in the same boat as every other Big West team. They need to win every game to get into the tournament. So that is exactly what they will be pressing hard to do. We all start 0-0. The team to go 16-0 wins the prize, everyone else gets nothing in return.
I don’t think our RPI will justify us going to the tournament if we lose another match this season. This is the land of the Power 5 and Hawaii is outside looking in. We have to give them a reason to invite us, it won’t be given to us. They will easily take the 9th place team in the pac-12 over the second place team in the big west.
Friday starts our real season. Do or Die!! Let’s go!
NCAA Toughest Schedule rankings as of 9/21 (opposition to date):
HI – 4th
LB – 10th
IR – 11th
SB – 39th
CP – 41st
NO – 59th
DA – 68th
FU – 257th
RI – 283rd
CSUN over UCI, LBSU over UCDavis.
23. I believe theses rankings reflect games involving the listed teams (e.g., Washington’s full record, including its match with UH, is included when calculating UH’s ranking above). As an FYI, in the RPI, the strength of schedule calculation for a team excludes that team’s matches against its opponents (e.g., Washington’s record without the UH match is factored in). In a simulated RPI calculation, UH’s SOS is currently 6th.
22. Don’t be such a Debbie downer, lol. UH would need to lose at least three more matches, IMO and based on some projections of RPI I’ve seen, to fall to around 40 the RPI. In that scenario, I think that puts the team on the bubble. But to convince the committee that the early injuries are the reason for the early losses, and thus UH is a better team than its record suggests, UH needs to sweep its remaining matches. This may help with a favorable subregional.
26. That would be two more losses, not three.
Mav, the entire time I was writing it I knew I was being a Debbie downer. Lol.
I’m still feeling the burn of the loss to WA.
cindy no update check in today? did wahine include another red eye?
as for the lost to u-dub, coach did say yeah theyll meet these teams again + ryan kalei tsuji said yes right to seattle again. ncaa selection committee is probably licking their chops, ‘oh how cute, hawai’i wants to play ball. send them to seattle, let them dispatch them quickly and its the cheapest for us anyway.’ last year they wanted to make it interesting and think the sec champion (which is weak) could easily dispatch na wahine, it figures.
even the avca stooped to a new low last year and named nikki and olivia lesser all americans and was partial to the power 5 including those that lost to or lost compared to na wahine.
Here is a sidebar. Conversations center around the Wahine playing at a very high level, or at the very least, aspirations thereof for 40+ years.
We already have verbal committments from recruits for next year and couple for the following year.
Wahine volleyball has been fairly fluid and relevant for 40+ years, in light of the growth of the sport and competition from the power universities.
It’s refreshing to see this year’s team emerging healthy and the potential for post season play. It really reflects 40+ years of sustainability. Hana Hou – Go Wahine
I hope some of you saw the LB/UCD match last night. Please add to my comments. I only saw the first set and concentrated on Nele Barber. Great talent.
There are many variables when hitting a set…height/speed, location of blockers, etc. that I’ll let the more knowledgeable speak to. What I watched is where she was on the floor when she contacted the ball. 1) It seemed that when the set pushed her outside the sideline, it limited her to mainly the middle and deep right corner because she wanted to take the antenna out of play. 2) When she had to move a step or two inside because the set was dying, Barber cut it back to the line because she had the outside blocker moving with her trying to block the cross-court. 3) When the set was good and she contacted it near the sideline, she had a variety of shots but seemed to favor banging the middle or using the sharp angle.
Comments from any other observers?
I watched the LB/UCD match. Barber is definitely the LB go to player, she’s a smart hitter with all the shots and consistently produces. Also, I watched the Santa Clara/BYU match. Santa Clara lost in three to BYU at BYU, but they were very competitive, even w/o their injured All WCC setter. My takeaway was that the UCD team that lost to LB must not be the same one that managed to beat Santa Clara. LB played well yesterday, but hard to judge how well since UCD played poorly and wasn’t competitive until the 3rd set. UCD has 15 freshman and sophomores, so they’ll likely have some consistency/gelling issues.
UCD has some tall young OH’s (best yesterday was 6’2″ Matias, freshman hit .300, 11 kills, 30 TA) but the hitter they went to most was 5′ 8 ” Emily Allen, sophomore, who hit.194, 12 kills, 31 attempts. Allen did well considering, but LB had no difficulty hitting over or around her block, including of course Barber. LB served them many soft front court floaters which they had a difficult time with. UCD had 9 service errors and 1 ace, vs. LB which had 3 service errors and 2 aces.
29. sorry, took the day off and stayed off the computer.
IF you read the initial post, it says they were leaving Wednesday afternoon.
new thread up with UCSB match links
http://hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=39361