Rivals to battle for title

The definition of a rivalry? See Hawaii-UCLA women’s volleyball.

It’s been a tradition of excellence in the sport for decades.

Consider that the very first meeting between the Rainbow Wahine and Bruins was in the 1974 AIAW national final. UCLA handed Hawaii its only loss of the year.

The Wahine’s only two defeats in 1975 — Dave Shoji’s first season — also were to the Bruins. And, for a second year, Hawaii lost in the national final to … UCLA.

Sure, it started a little one-sided. Shoji said there was a point when he wasn’t sure the series would ever be close.

But a flurry of 11 straight victories over the Bruins — capped by the NCAA championship of 1983 — put Hawaii ahead 18-15.

And so it has continued heading into today’s 5 p.m. finale of the Hawaiian Airlines Classic, the 69th meeting between the two storied programs with a combined 10 national titles. Today is for the tournament championship, but it means more than that for both; it is a good measuring stick two weeks in.

"We’ve been going at it for so long," said Shoji, whose team holds a 36-32 series lead. "It’s that powder blue across the net. It’s UCLA. And any time a Hawaii team can beat UCLA in any sport, it is big.

"But we’ll have our work cut out for us. They are probably the best passing team I’ve seen this season. Our servers were off (with 15 errors Friday against Long Beach State) and we need to do a better job of that. We’ll need to keep them out of system."

UCLA on the schedule has been a constant since the Wahine’s inaugural season, the only school that can claim that. One thing changed last year when former Hawaii associate head coach Mike Sealy replaced Andy Banachowski, the winningest coach in Division I women’s volleyball history, who retired after 43 seasons (1,106-301).

Shoji, the second to reach 1,000 wins, said he misses seeing Banachowski across the net. But he will enjoy going against his former assistant for the second time.

The feeling is mutual for Sealy, who has been on both sides of the rivalry, first as a setter for the UCLA men’s team. He also was an assistant for Banachowski before coming to Hawaii for four seasons.

"This rivalry has been going on for years and years, and I knew it was special when I was at UCLA,’ said the Bruins setter from 1990 to 1993. "UH and UCLA are both amazing volleyball traditions, the men’s and the women’s programs.

"I want to keep the rivalry going. It’s great fan support; you get a final-four feeling here that prepares you for the rest of the season."

For the 18th time in the 24-year history of this event, one of the two will walk out with the championship koa bowl. The Wahine are going for their 10th, the Bruins their ninth.

The sport itself has changed dramatically since the teams first met in Portland, Ore. Matches have gone from best of three to best of five. Traditional scoring gave way to rally scoring for Set 5 only, then to complete rally scoring with let serves and liberos.

But one thing hasn’t changed for nearly 40 years. Just Google "rivalry."