Shots fired the day before a men’s volleyball match between Hawaii and UCLA in the old days might have meant an incendiary quote provided by one of the rival combatants. You know, locker room bulletin board material.
On Sunday it was merely the Rainbow Warriors participating in some recreational skeet shooting at a picnic in El Segundo, Calif.
Yes, a unique way to spend the lone day off on the road between Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches, two at UC San Diego and now two at UCLA, on Monday and Tuesday.
But the No. 1 team in the nation seems simultaneously focused and loose enough to handle whatever may come its way.
Coach Charlie Wade said the current Warriors view these next two matches as just the next on the path to the postseason, no more or no less than the others. There is some added motivation of clinching home court for the first round of the MPSF playoffs.
"The league is so competitive and we don’t have a natural rivalry," Wade said. "For me, there’s not one team that’s really our biggest rival. We haven’t gotten to that point with any particular team. It’s a big cliché, but they all count the same."
That’s true in the standings. And although these aren’t Al Scates’ Bruins who dominated the sport, a couple of convincing wins by the Warriors on the road should get the attention of the sizable part of the fan base that remains snoozing on this team.
Going up against the Bruins is big in the context of the history of the UH program — and perhaps, its future starting next week.
Taking down UCLA in Monday Night Volleyball and again Tuesday should translate into some very nice gate action when UH hosts Stanford on April 10 and 11 for the final home regular-season matches.
Even with a 7-9 conference record, UCLA is still UCLA. Beating the glory-years nemesis could even be a key step on the path toward turning Warrior volleyball back into a money-maker, like its consistently popular big sister, Wahine volleyball.
Not that it will be easy. No. 1 status means you are always a target. The Warriors were reminded of that Saturday when the Tritons — now 0-17 in the MPSF — took them down in the first set.
And that’s where UH’s trademark depth came into play.
"Throughout the year we’ve gone to different guys. Sometimes out of necessity, injury or illness. And sometimes it’s performance," Wade said. "(Saturday) night we started the match with Scotty (Hartley) struggling and they were targeting him with every serve. Not that he was terrible. But we went to Kupono (Fey), and he steadied out the passing. And Brook (Sedore) got out to a slow start. It’s a long trip and we wanted to get the starters some rest. So it was a little easier going to the move and we went to Ryan (Leung) as the opposite."
So a re-energized Hawaii took the second set and rode momentum to a 12th consecutive victorious match. If the Warriors can come home Wednesday with that streak at 14 and you’re already a diehard fan, you might want to leave home a little earlier than usual for those Stanford matches next week.
Reach Star-Advertiser sports columnist Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com, his "Quick Reads" blog at staradvertiser.com and twitter.com/davereardon.
