SEATTLE >> There’s an elephant in the room.
And it’s wearing purple.
Neither Hawaii nor Duke wants to talk about it … yet. But barring a Chaminade-esque upset by New Hampshire in Friday’s second first-round match, third-seeded Washington will be riding a 33-match home winning streak into Saturday’s second round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship.
Still, the only given is that it will be either the Rainbow Wahine (21-6) or the Blue Devils (22-7) advancing to Saturday’s second round at Alaska Airlines Arena. Friday’s opening contest is the only first-round match out of 32 that pits two teams ranked in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 and the only subregional with three ranked teams.
Will it be Hawaii, its title dreams and season ending here in 2010 and 2012 in the second round against the host Huskies? The Rainbow Wahine, bringing a five-match win streak across the Pacific, don’t have a signature win this season with only four teams they played this year making it into the 64-team field. Hawaii has not beaten any of them, losing to Arizona State 3-0, Oregon 3-2, UCLA 3-0 and Long Beach State 3-2 twice.
Or will it be Duke, which has made it to the quarterfinals just twice in 19 tournament appearances, losing 3-0 to Texas in 1993 and 3-1 to Penn State in 2010? The Blue Devils finished tied for third in the ACC with Miami at 14-4, with their first victory over a Top-5 team on Nov. 13 against then-undefeated and No. 3 Florida State.
This will be the first meeting between the two teams at a site nearly equidistant from their respective campuses: Honolulu is 2,682 miles away, Durham, N.C., 2,344. Both have been scrambling to get video on each other as much as getting to Seattle in time to acclimatize and practice.
"We began to talk about Hawaii and implement some things (Tuesday)," Duke coach Jolene Nagel said. "We’ve tried to do a good bit of serving because we think that is going to be important. We haven’t seen them before so we’ve begun to run through what they run to familiarize ourselves.
"We’ve gone up against good blocks this season but we’ll have to do our best to evaluate Hawaii from the video. We are going to have to get the ball around the block, there is no doubt about that."
Hawaii enters the week ranked No. 6 in the country in blocks (3.04 bps), led by all-conference middles Kalei Adolpho (131 blocks) and Olivia Magill (129). The Wahine’s focus will be on Duke’s pair of all-conference hitters, 6-foot-3 junior Emily Sklar and 5-11 senior Jerrie Obeime, both of whom reached the 1,000-kill mark this season.
But the biggest block Hawaii will need to put up is on the painful memory of two years ago, its last appearance in this arena. The Wahine had match-point at 25-24 in Set 4 only to have the Huskies score the last three points winning 27-25. UW went on to win in five.
Only three Hawaii players remain from 2012 and only Adolpho played all five sets. New team, old focus: win that first-round match and then likely have to worry about Washington.
"We knew we’d be in this situation, playing a really good team in the first round," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji, who celebrates his 68th birthday Thursday. "We’re working on what we need to do against Duke. That’s our only focus."
A look at the teams:
No. 3 Washington (29-2)
The Huskies are making their 19th NCAA appearance — 13th straight — and are 39-17 with one title (2005). Jim McLaughlin is in his 14th season (353-89 at UW), reaching the national semifinals last season.
The Dawgs feature reigning national player of the year, Krista Vansant, who has won every volleyball honor possible except "national champion." Earlier this week, the 6-2 senior was named the Pac-12 player of the year for a second straight season as well as the Pac-12 academic player of the year. She is third in the Pac-12 in kills (4.65 kps) and points (5.30 pps).
Named as libero of the year was junior Cassie Strickland, who led the conference in digs (4.07 dps) with 44 aces. Joining her on the first team were senior hitter Kaleigh Nelson and junior middle Lianna Sybeldon. Hitters Crissy Jones and Tia Scambray were on the all-freshmen team.
UW finished second to Stanford in the Pac-12, which has an unprecedented 10 teams in the tournament. The Huskies handed the Cardinal their only loss last Wednesday at the Alaska Airlines Arena, a 3-1 victory watched by a conference-record 8,646.
Washington’s only losses were in five on the same road trip at Colorado and at Utah. The Huskies had opened the season 25-0.
No. 21 Duke (22-7)
The Blue Devils are making their 19th NCAA appearance, second only to Louisville’s 24 among ACC teams, and 12th under coach Jolene Nagel (354-150 in 16 seasons at Duke). They are 13-18 in tournament play.
Duke had three players named to the all-ACC first team, including setter of the year, senior Kelsey Williams. Also named were junior hitter Emily Sklar and senior hitter Jerrie Obeime.
The Blue Devils lead the country in assists (14.97 aps) and are second in kills (14.97 kps).
No. 23 Hawaii (21-6)
The Rainbow Wahine are making their 22nd consecutive NCAA appearance — 33rd overall — missing out only in 1992. Hawaii is 48-23 in NCAA play with three titles (1982, ’83, ’87), losing in the second round the past two seasons.
The Wahine have won their past five matches and are 9-1 in their past 10, the only loss coming in five to eventual Big West champion Long Beach State. It was the first time Hawaii hadn’t won or shared a conference championship since 1994.
Senior middle Kalei Adolpho, junior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao, junior middle Olivia Magill and sophomore hitter Nikki Taylor were named to the all-Big West first team. Hitter Kalei Greeley was named to the all-freshman team.
Coach Dave Shoji is completing his 40th season at Hawaii (1,149-195-1). After becoming the all-time winningest coach last season, he has been surpassed this year by Penn State’s Russ Rose (1,155-180).
New Hampshire (20-11)
The Wildcats won the America East to advance to the NCAA tournament for a second straight year, fifth overall. UNH has yet to win a postseason match.
Jill Hirschinger is in her 19th year (305-282). She was part of the great Utah State teams of the 1970s that had quite a rivalry with Hawaii.
The Wildcats, winners of 11 straight, won the America East tournament final 3-1 over Albany. Sophomore Demi Muses was named the Most Outstanding Player. Setter Taylor Dunklau was both the conference player and setter of the year, with 3,000 assists for her career and 10 double-doubles this season. Joining her on the first team was junior hitter Tori Forrest, who leads the team in kills (2.97) while right-side hitter Sasha Cucuz was named to the all-rookie team.
