Santa Clara, Hawaii keep everyone guessing

SEATTLE » Eighth-ranked Hawaii has never seen volleyball quite like Santa Clara will bring it in tonight’s NCAA Championship first-round match at Alaska Airlines Arena.

The Broncos are not sure what Rainbow Wahine they will see. It might not matter.

"Do they know what their lineup is going to be?" Santa Clara coach Jon Wallace asked with a grin. "One of the hardest things to prepare for with Hawaii is that Dave (Shoji) changes his lineup quite a bit and puts different girls in different situations. But when 70 percent of the sets still go to two girls … we have their tendencies down pretty well."

Emily Hartong averages more than 4.5 kills a set for UH and Jane Croson 3.5. Jade Vorster is next, barely over 2.

Hartong and Croson hit from every inch of the court. If the passing is bad, they will get set. If it is good, they will probably get set.

What goes on around them, however, changes constantly. Hartong, setter Mita Uiato, middles Vorster and Kalei Adolpho, libero Ali Longo and Croson — aside from her seven-match suspension — have started every match but one. Still, 13 Wahine have played in more than a third of the sets. That doesn’t include Kristiana Tuaniga and Stephanie Hagins, who pop in spontaneously to relieve the middles or provide blocking.

Shoji has used a variation of six starting lineups this season and, with just one exception — Hagins’ lone start, the change has involved the player opposite the setter. Kaela Goodman started the season, transfer Ashley Kastl came on the second week and freshman Tai Manu-Olevao was activated in October when Croson went out.

Shoji calls it a "match-to-match and game-to-game" decision and even he is not sure who it will be tonight. Goodman is the most consistent and best blocker. Kastl can create kills. Manu-Olevao is the most athletic, and clearly the future. Wallace is preparing by comparing each of those three to someone in his conference so he can give his players’ quick direction.

None of the right-side hitters has given Hawaii all it needs, but the depth has created a remarkably competitive practice atmosphere and, in some ways, made it better.

"The thing is, everybody has played a variety of roles," said Shoji, who admits he has never gone an entire season before without a set lineup. "There’s nothing that’s going to be uncomfortable no matter how we start.

"We’re auditioning people over there so to speak. Everybody has played over there and played the alignments so it’s not overwhelming to our team, like what are we doing now? We’ve practiced this way all year."

Santa Clara’s attack has been a constant, and constantly confounding when it is passing well. The Broncos use two setters, which is unusual. They swap them for their middles, which is almost unheard of.

Almost as rare, middles Megan Anders and Haley Cameron anchor the offense, with an assist from left-handed hitter Taylor Milton. Santa Clara has six hitters with more than 200 kills and Anders has nearly 400.

"She moves the ball around a lot, she’ll hit to the open spot," Shoji said. "The tempo is a little slower than most middles so the timing is a little different for us. It’s hard to work on because we don’t run it like that. That will be the biggest obstacle, the timing of their middle attack."

The biggest challenge for both teams will be serving and passing.

When the 20-11 Broncos, who haven’t won in three weeks, pass well, they can run their middle at will and open up their outsides. They split matches with the ranked teams in their conference, but could not take a set off unranked Loyola Marymount and St. Mary’s — the league’s best serving teams.

If 26-2 Hawaii, which has won its past 19, passes well it is not quite as predictable and Hartong and Croson get better swings.

"A lot of our success comes from serving tough and making teams predictable," Wallace said. "We have a good block when we can set it up. The goal is to get Hawaii in predictable situations. Then Megan and Hayley can close the blocks and that will present a big challenge for Hartong and Croson."

Notes

Hawaii had five fans at Thursday’s open practice. Along with Emily Maeda’s parents and fiance, Chad Reis, former Wahine volleyball player Maile (Golden) Toeaina was watching. She brought her husband, former Rainbow football player Andrew Toeaina.

Andrew is the pastor at Soul’d Out Christian Center International in nearby Kent, Wash. He started the church in 1997 and many members are from Hawaii. They have three daughters. … The Wahine were in Seattle exactly 24 hours before they saw the sun, which made a fleeting appearance mid-day Thursday. The temperature finally got into the 50s and, for the first time this visit, the rain stopped for more than 10 minutes.