Ferd Lewis: Wahine set the standard and Cal Poly is ready to pass it

There are hundreds of black T-shirts ready to be handed out for the “black-out” night Saturday, a rare projected sellout occasion at Cal Poly’s Mott Athletic Center that the Big West Conference is giddily billing as a “Clash of the Undefeated” in women’s volleyball.

That’s what can await the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine this week on the toughest section of its road to the postseason, the 100-mile stretch of US 101 that links UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Win those two stops — UCSB (11-6, 3-2 Big West) on Friday and Cal Poly (15-1, 5-0) on Saturday — on the Big West Conference trail and the Rainbow Wahine stay on top of the conference standings and in the running for a 26th consecutive NCAA Tournament berth.

Lose to Cal Poly or — you shudder at the thought — both matches and UH needs a lot of help if not a full-on miracle to avoid missing its first NCAA Tournament since 1992.

The Big West runner-up to Cal Poly last year in being swept by the Mustangs for the first time since 1985, the Rainbow Wahine have been forced to become the hunters after decades of being the hunted in their conferences and this week brings that into clear perspective.

With a Ratings Percentage Index score of 100 announced this week — their lowest ever — the 8-5 (4-0 Big West) Rainbow Wahine are under pressure as never before to win the conference and its automatic NCAA Tournament berth after just barely receiving an at-large berth last year.

Five and six years ago when Sam Crosson first began bringing a rebuilding Cal Poly team to the Stan Sheriff Center, UH set an imposing figure and an enviable standard in Big West women’s volleyball.

Taking over a program that had gone through a tumultuous period with the firing of a head coach just four games into the 2011 season amid an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, his subsequent death and the resulting turnover, Crosson had his work cut out for him but set his aim high.

“I said, ‘This is the bar — Hawaii year in and year out historically has been the at the top of the Big West,’” Crosson recalls. “For us to put a team on the court that could compete (with) — and beat — Hawaii is where we wanted to get to as a program.”

Now 15-1 and 13th-ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, the Mustangs have last year’s championship and are looking to expand their trophy case.

“The challenge for us right now is, can we sustain that (winning)?” Crosson said. “Can we win the conference and stay in the Top 25 as players graduate and new ones come in?”

The Mustangs, who have an open date Friday, have won 14 matches in a row (their only loss coming at No. 8 Pittsburgh), have been victorious in 16 consecutive matches at the 3,032-seat Mott Center and have won 22 consecutive matches in the Big West dating back to 2016.

“I knew from being in California that Cal Poly was a school that could compete in the Big West,” said Crosson, who took the Mustangs’ job in 2012 after being an assistant at Cal, Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara.

“Looking back, I remember the road trips to Hawaii and thinking how high they set the bar,” Crosson said.

This weekend we get a glimpse of whether UH can still set the standard or is forced to try to chase somebody else’s.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.