Go 4-for-4? More like go 1-for-1.
That is the collective mind-set No. 7 Hawaii took Friday when the Rainbow Wahine left for California and a four-matches-in-seven-days road trip that will conclude the regular season. The Rainbow Wahine (22-1, 12-0 Big West) are more concerned with regaining the conference title — something that eluded them for the first time in 20 years last season — than extending their 17-match win streak.
"The streak? Honestly, we don’t talk about it, that’s pau," Hawaii senior co-captain Tai Manu-Olevao said. "We are just taking it one game at a time, one step at a time.
"Playing every other day … it is physically demanding, emotionally demanding, mentally demanding. We just have to keep doing what we’re doing, make adjustments along the way. Why fix what’s not broken?"
Even when Hawaii has been broken — a rash of injuries sidelined three starters last month — the Wahine have managed to fix it. That included not having junior setter Tayler Higgins (ankle) and sophomore hitter Kalei Greeley (knee) for the Oct. 16 sweep of UC Davis (13-14, 8-5), Hawaii’s opponent today.
BIG WEST VOLLEYBALL Today, 11 a.m. Hawaii time
>> Who: No. 7 Hawaii (22-1, 12-0 Big West) at UC Davis (13-14, 8-5) >> TV: BigWest.TV >> Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
|
Both have played in the three matches since and "we’re about as good as we can be physically," coach Dave Shoji said. "At this point of the season, you’re never going to be 100 percent. Everyone is a little banged up.
"It’s not a bad trip, playing every other day, getting a day in between to rest, watch video, prepare. But this is only our third road trip and we’re still learning to play well on the road. We haven’t played our best, but hopefully this week will be a good one for us."
It starts today with a rare 1 p.m. start at The Pavilion, part of Davis’ "Aggies Sports Madness Weekend." Those buying a ticket for Saturday’s football game between Davis and Cal Poly — the Golden Horseshoe rivalry game — will get in free for today’s volleyball match and the men’s basketball game that follows.
"Hawaii is always our season high, they bring out a lot of people," Aggies coach Dan Conners said. "We are happy that we’re being included with basketball.
"Maybe we’ll get a couple of thousand, which would be big for us. We actually went to Nebraska (attendance 8,113) to prepare our freshmen for the large Hawaii crowd (6,649). Hawaii was great when we played them and we expect them to be just as good this time. We’re going to have to do some pretty special stuff to beat them."
After losing to the Wahine, the Aggies dropped a five-setter at UC Riverside. Davis has since rebounded to win four of its last five, including a big victory on Nov. 7 at Cal Poly in five sets in which the Aggies had no aces, the first time in program history Davis was victorious without an ace.
In the win at San Luis Obispo, Kaylin Squyres continued her monster season with 19 kills, keeping her atop the Big West in kills (438) and kill average (4.34). Hawaii’s game plan again is to slow the 6-foot-1 senior hitter; Squyres had four kills and hit negative .125 in last month’s match in Honolulu.
Sunday’s meeting features the two biggest arms in the conference in Squyres and Wahine junior Nikki Taylor, second in the Big West at 4.22 kps. Taylor had eight kills, hit .421 and was in on six blocks against the Aggies as Hawaii won the block war 12.5-3 in their previous matchup.
"Nikki Taylor is playing incredible for Hawaii and it will be a challenge," Conners said. "And their middles are not just the best in the conference but the best in the country."
The Wahine continue to lead the nation in blocking (3.41 bps) with the Big West’s top three blockers. Senior middle Olivia Magill is eighth nationally (1.59 bps), sophomore middle Emily Maglio is 35th (1.29) and Taylor 52nd (1.23).
Despite its success on the court, Hawaii appears to have little chance at being awarded a top-16 seed in the NCAA tournament and hosting the first and second rounds. The Wahine remained at 32 in Monday’s Ratings Percentage Index despite wins at Long Beach State and CSUN.
"It’s disappointing that the Big West didn’t get key (nonconference) wins," Conners said., acknowledging the low RPI for the conference "We probably left three wins out there.
"Hawaii is right up there with the best teams in the country. Probably has their best team since 2009, when they went to the final four."
Hawaii concludes the regular season with matches at UC Irvine on Tuesday, at Cal Poly on Thursday and at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.