It's sink or swim for Wahine water polo team

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Inside the cover of its media guide, Wahine water polo features an ode to Olympian Maureen O'Toole, University of Hawai'i graduate and the greatest female player the planet has seen.

Wahine Amy Morrow, a senior driver from Las Vegas, takes aim against UH volleyball player Eyal Zimet during a recent exhibition match. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

But back to reality, and this year. The Wahine are 14-6 going into this week's road trip, and everything and everyone looks different. With 17 new players, including 15 freshmen, Hawai'i has ridden an erratic wave all season.

Coach Shari Smart hopes she can pull out soon: "It's April now, it's time for more consistency. Hopefully by the end of April . . . "

Smart's voice trails off. "We've had some brilliant moments and some absolute failures (breakdowns during games)."

Many have come against the usual top-four suspects. Stanford, UCLA, Southern California and Cal remain the class of the small, but burgeoning sport. They have clobbered Hawai'i, and everyone else, and are the prohibitive favorites to win the first NCAA Championship next month.

"Truly, we are not at that level," Smart admits. "It's hard to accept, but that's the way it is.

"The top four teams in the country are three deep. We have three subs we feel comfortable with against a team that caliber. That's it, that is the difference. When you only have three subs you get fatigued. They just keep bringing people in and they're all big and fast."

The inaugural road to final four goes through Hawai'i — the state, if not the team.

The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships are here, April 27-29. After playing more than half their matches on the road and working to mesh a bunch of strangers — many from strange lands — with six seniors and a three-year starter at goalie (Christa Tackaberry), the Wahine are hoping home will be water polo paradise.

They will need a dominant presence at the two-meter position, a healthy roster — UH ended the Stanford match with one bloody nose and an emergency room visit for a concussion — and a few offensive players to skip from "solid" to "special" in a very short time.

Freshman Chelsea Garner-Prohs — still recovering that concussion — is one possibility. Others are Canadian Junior National Team members Christi Bardecki and Joanne Ansell, Hawai'i's leading scorers.

While offense up to now has come from all over the pool — 14 of 15 field players have scored — defense is dominated by a long-armed senior.

Senior Eko Lapp, who started with the UH water program four years ago, says, "This is the best group of girls I've played with." Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

"It gives me a real advantage," Lapp says, "because I can be behind somebody and still out-reach them for the ball."

Going into today's league match at sixth-ranked UC-Santa Barbara, the fifth-ranked Wahine are but 1-5 in the MPSF. All the losses are to higher-ranked teams but one — a last-minute letdown at No. 9 San Jose State, which was ranked ahead of Hawai'i at the time.

That loss remains Smart's only disappointment in a team with so many new faces it finally has its first redshirts.

"Because of our mix," Lapp says, "we don't know what each other wants and what we're expecting. We just don't know each other yet."

She remains upbeat.

"It's getting a lot better," Lapp insists. "We're meshing better in the pool, and our team this year is the best internally it's ever been. It's usually a real struggle between the first and second teams. It's a little this year, but not as bad. This is the best group of girls I've played with."

SHORT SPLASHES: After the UCSB match, Hawai'i will play in the Long Beach Tournament tomorrow and Saturday. ... The Wahine also play an MPSF match against the eighth-ranked 49ers Saturday morning. ... Hawai'i's next home match is Saturday, April 21 against Pacific. It closes the regular season against San Diego State the following night.