Wahine, Seasiders have lots in common

Hawaii and Brigham Young-Hawaii have more in common than location. Their volleyball teams are mirror images in everything from ranking to record to not-so-secret weapons.

Thursday, they play at Stan Sheriff Center for Oahu bragging rights and a peek into their postseason futures.

The Rainbow Wahine are now ranked seventh. They have won their past 14 and clinched the Big West Championship — their 15th league title in 18 years — Saturday. UH and Ivy League champ Yale are the first NCAA Division I teams to claim a postseason berth.

The Seasiders are already in the NCAA D-II Championship and ranked eighth. They have won their past 19, and Saturday’s victory over Chaminade gave them their fourth consecutive PacWest championship and fifth in the past seven years. BYUH had a 47-set winning streak broken a week before.

Hawaii has been getting much of its offense from junior Emily Hartong, who is 12th nationally in kills (4.57 per set). BYU-Hawaii leans on sophomore Shih Ting Chen from Taiwan, who is sixth nationally in D-II kills (4.51 kps). The Seasiders also lead Division II in hitting at .349.

Coincidentally, UH is emphasizing improvement in blocking in practices heading into postseason.

"That’s got to get better," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "We’ve got young middles and they don’t read real well, so we’ve got to be very instinctive and reactive. We’ve got to be quicker and have better hand position. It’s a lot of things that need to get better. We work on technique every day, but we’re trying to put them in more game situations during our blocking sessions. Hopefully it carries over into scrimmage at the end of practice."

And into Thursday’s match. Shoji worries about the Seasiders’ attack and their international roster. And, as he closes on win No. 1,100, he recalls the 1992 cake celebrating 500 victories that was deposited in the garbage can when BYUH beat UH for the only time in their 12-match series.

Shoji said the seasonlong lineup in transition will have Hartong and Jane Croson on the left this week. Freshman Tai Manu-Olevao, now healthy after spraining her ankle last week, will start on the right. "We’ve just got to get Hartong the ball," he said, "and we’ve seen Tai can give us offense on the right. And, we like Kaela (Goodman) off the bench, a lot."

Shoji’s team moved up two spots in the coaches’ poll this week, but dropped three, to No. 21, in the NCAA’s RPI. It will drop again next week after playing a D-II opponent — even if it wins.

Hawaii probably has to be seeded — in the top 16 — to host an NCAA subregional in three weeks. BYUH is in good position to host.

"The (NCAA volleyball) committee is supposed to look at several things besides RPI," Shoji said. "They are supposed to look at the coaches’ poll, for instance. We’re 7 now. That’s a big disparity. There are teams in the top 16 that simply don’t belong among the top 16 teams in the country. I’m hoping the committee will take into consideration more than RPI."

Notes

Shoji, who celebrates his 66th birthday in a month, became a grandfather Sunday. Daughter Cobey Shoji Hutzler gave birth to Micah Knight Hutzler. Cobey’s husband, Coleman, is outside linebackers/special teams coach at New Mexico.