Wahine not keen on NCAA tourney alternative

The more things change, the more they remain the same. At least when it comes to Hawaii and its stance on the Women’s National Invitational Volleyball Championship. On Thursday, the WNIVC announced a significant change in its format, cutting the field in half — from 64 to 32 — and creating eight regional pods with four teams each for the first two rounds rather than the 32 school-host sites for the first round and 16 for the second round as announced originally.

Hawaii, assured of a Big West runner-up finish heading into today’s regular- season finale, remains uninterested in the alternative to the NCAA tournament. If not given an at-large berth in the NCAAs, the Rainbow Wahine (19-7, 13-2), who have missed the postseason just once (1992), had a guaranteed spot in the WNIVC as the highest finisher in the Big West that wasn’t selected to compete in the NCAA tournament (champion Cal Poly has the NCAA’s automatic berth).

One of the major factors in “respectfully declining the invitation,” a UH administrator said, is cost. Due to scheduling conflicts in the Stan Sheriff Center, Hawaii would be unable to host, and sending the Wahine on the road would cost more than the maximum $15,000 the WNIVC would pay for travel.

“It doesn’t make sense if we’d lose money,” Lois Manin, associate athletic director/senior woman administrator, said on Friday. “It would be hard to host because of our basketball tournaments.

“We’ll look at it further down the line but not this year.”

The decision is not without precedent. When Hawaii finished the injury-hobbled 1992 campaign at 15-12 and fourth in the Big West, UH also declined to compete in the original WNIVC, the event that was held from 1989 to 1995.

Rainbow Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos agreed with her administration’s decision. It is one, however, that does have repercussions for the Big West.

If Hawaii was not selected for the NCAA tournament on Nov. 26 and then declined the WNIVC invitation, the Big West would lose its automatic berth. The berth would then go into an at-large pool, where teams will be invited based on record and the computer-generated Ratings Percentage Index, which rates strength of schedule).

That doesn’t mean the conference wouldn’t be represented. UC Irvine (21-6, 9-5; RPI of 74), which hosts Hawaii today, would be an attractive choice and — as the third-place BWC finisher — would get the automatic berth should the Wahine be in the NCAA tournament.

Hawaii remains hopeful it will be playing in its 25th consecutive NCAA tournament.

“We need to take care of business,” Ah Mow-Santos said of finishing out with a victory today.