Road test

Hawaii might have volleyball’s best crowds, but New Mexico State has something the Rainbow Wahine will never have. Billboards. Ten miles outside Las Cruces, N.M., along I-10, is a massive billboard extolling the virtues of Aggies volleyball. It greeted the Wahine on their ride in Tuesday. Even the guy UH coach Dave Shoji met at lunch wanted to talk volleyball.

"They take their volleyball pretty seriously here," Shoji said. "They love (NMSU coach) Michael Jordan. These small WAC towns really do support their local schools. It will be a good atmosphere."

That would be tonight, when eighth-ranked Hawaii (15-1) puts its 10-match winning streak on the line against NMSU (16-4), which has won its past six. Both teams are 5-0 in the Western Athletic Conference.

The match will be broadcast live on ESPNU and 1420-AM. The Aggies are hoping to "Pack the Pan Am" and break the attendance record of 7,115 they set against Hawaii six years ago. If they draw more than 3,400, Hawaii will have been part of the five biggest crowds in NMSU volleyball history.

The Wahine are leaving the WAC after this year and might never be back, only adding fuel to what is the WAC’s hottest volleyball fire.

"I’m so disappointed they are leaving," says Jordan, already talking to Shoji about a nonconference trip to Hawaii next season. "Everybody thinks if we get Hawaii out of the way our chances of winning the league are much better. That’s true, but I like the competition and our players look forward to it. Not just the trip to Hawaii, but playing a team of that caliber and a team with so much history and tradition. It’s great for our conference, so this is not good."

Jordan believes his team has had "only two bad days all year." A month ago, he tweaked his passing and offense and NMSU was swept by Northwestern and Duquesne. The other bad day was nearly an epic upset. In their opener against fifth-ranked Nebraska, the Aggies won the first two sets, then lost freshman hitter Bradley Nash to a season-ending knee injury — and the match.

"We were not playing unbelievable," Jordan recalls. "Just playing well and doing things we’re capable of doing. As the match was going on I was thinking, ‘I love the way we’re playing. I love the attitude, the chemistry, the system and the pieces on the floor.’ They were doing a really, really good job.

"I felt we were an NCAA tournament team for sure at that point."

With four seniors, and freshman Meredith Hays, leading the WAC in kills, New Mexico State has put itself back in the NCAA picture. After two weeks of simple sweeps, the Wahine finally have someone other than themselves to think about.

The nation’s 10th-ranked blocking team has to slow Hays without letting the other Aggies get away. The freshman has nearly a third of NMSU’s kills and swings.

The Wahine also need to find their way around a bigger block than they have seen recently. Senior middle Michelle Kuester (6 feet 2) has helped make NMSU the WAC’s toughest team to tool, with opponents hitting just .140.

Hawaii leads the nation with a .315 hitting percentage. Emily Hartong (.398), Brittany Hewitt (.384), Chanteal Satele (.324) and Kanani Danielson (.306) are all among the WAC’s top 10.

Shoji is still torn between starting the "comfortable" lineup that went 13-1 to start the season, with Satele on the right and Hartong in the middle, or staying with his latest and largest lineup, with freshman Kalei Adolpho in the middle and Hartong on the right. Lizzie Blake, another freshman, is now starting at libero.

"You want to expect a lot, but you can’t really just because they are babies," says Danielson, the senior All-American. "As much as I want to say they are improving really, really fast and looking great out there, you’ve also got to step back and know they have a lot to improve. I’m proud of them."

No matter who it is, Shoji figures incentive will not be a problem tonight.

"I think the players are excited," he says. "This comes at a good time. We’ve had a few easy WAC matches and now get a challenge at a good time. … New Mexico State has had good teams and good players. They are well coached. If we’re not playing at our best, we’re going to get beat."