This weekend’s East Meets West Challenge could easily be renamed NCAA Championship Tournament Preview. Eight weeks and 2,000 miles removed from the national title event in Gulf Shores, Ala., the field at Manhattan Beach, Calif., features the top six ranked teams and two others that could be playing the first weekend in May.
Only Florida State (8-1) at No. 4 is preventing the west from claiming the top four spots in the national poll. The west bracket is loaded with defending national champion and top-ranked UCLA (10-0), No. 2 USC (4-1), No. 3 Pepperdine (6-2) and No. 5 Hawaii (2-2).
The Rainbow Wahine, coming off a bye week, left Thursday for their first road trip of the season with hopes that they’ve solved some issues that had them struggling in the Duke Kahanamoku Classic two weeks ago.
The SandBows won’t see the opponents who defeated them at Queen’s Beach — the Bruins and the Waves — but they will see the Seminoles, who were responsible for two of Hawaii’s losses in a 37-5 season in 2018. The other three were to UCLA.
“I think what the team has learned (since last playing) is what we need to do to compete at the level we want to compete at,” said junior Morgan Martin, who celebrated her 21st birthday Thursday.
“People have been coming in early, working on things that have been exposed that weekend. I think there’s a little more sense of urgency, of enlightenment.
“For me and Amy (partner Ozee), it’s more technique, the need to adjust to the team across the net.”
Playing at No. 2, Martin-Ozee swept matches against Saint Mary’s and Pepperdine. Moved to No. 1 the next day, the pair fell to UCLA and Stanford in three sets.
Hawaii coach Jeff Hall said the partnerships will remain intact this weekend for Martin-Ozee, Emily Maglio-Hi’ilawe Huddleston and Ari Homayun-Julia Scoles. However, there could be some juggling as to where the three duos are placed in the first three flights, as well as who will be partnering at Nos. 4 and 5.
“What we learned the most is that we have work to do,” Hall said. “We’re an unfinished product. We’re not looking at changing everything at once. We’re working within each pair at what they need to do to get better, whether it’s sideout percentage, serving or defense.
“Last year, our first road trip really galvanized us. That’s an important piece, especially since we’re not a veteran team, have a lot of young players traveling. What we do know is that this tournament is the best in the country and six, seven or all eight of the teams could be there in Alabama in two months.”
The NCAA tournament awards bids to three teams each from the west and east regions, with two at-large berths.
Hawaii opens Saturday with No. 19 TCU, followed by No. 4 Florida State. The SandBows play No. 6 LSU and No. 9 Florida International on Sunday.
FSU warmed up with two matches at USC. The Seminoles split, falling to the Women of Troy 3-2 and holding off No. 8 Long Beach State 5-0 in a match that saw three duals go to a third set.
Note
On Wednesday, top-ranked UCLA not only won for the first time at Zuma Beach but swept No. 3 Pepperdine, the first time the Waves had ever lost 5-0 in program history. The Bruins did not drop a set.
EAST MEETS WEST CHALLENGE
At Manhattan Beach, Calif.
Saturday
No. 19 TCU (5-3) vs. No. 5 Hawaii (2-2), 7 a.m.
No. 4 Florida State (9-2)vs. No. 5 Hawaii, 12:30 p.m.
Sunday
No. 9 Florida International (4-0) vs. No. 5 Hawaii, 6 a.m.
No. 6 LSU (6-2) vs. No. 5 Hawaii, 10 a.m.
Also in the field: No. 1 UCLA (10-0), No. 2 USC (6-1) and No. 3 Pepperdine (6-2).
