Wahine still rule the WAC
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
They rubbed their disbelieving eyes and re-checked the scores.
It has been nearly a decade since the University of Hawai'i Wahine volleyball team got swept in consecutive regular season matches, and what happened in the State Farm Classic over the weekend took some getting used to for coaches around the Western Athletic Conference.
In a conference where UH has set the volleyball standard for excellence — and set it high — through five seasons of membership, the Wahine's lost weekend in Stockton, Calif., opened a lot of eyes and prompted a lot of talk.
So, they are buzzing over the vulnerability of the Wahine in the WAC, right?
They're emboldened by the notion of finally turning the tables and taking down a dynasty?
They're seeing signs of hope where none existed before?
"Nope," said Craig Chote, whose San Jose State team was picked to finish second to the Wahine in the conference.
"Hardly," said Lindy Vivas, Fresno State's coach.
While the Wahine opened the season with back-to-back losses for the first time in 20 years, nobody around the WAC, at least, is reading too much into it.
The Wahine have their problems, mustering sufficient offense being foremost among them. No. 1-ranked Nebraska and No. 4 Wisconsin underlined UH's shortcomings, exposing the holes left by a lineup thinned of marquee performers.
However precarious the Wahine's chances of being a top-10 team or going anywhere in the NCAA playoffs might appear at this point, their domination of the WAC remains unchallenged. Their path to the postseason is not in doubt. Nobody in the WAC is claiming much comfort from their opening fall or counting the days until they play Hawai'i.
"I don't think anybody in the conference is that stupid," Chote says. "(Hawai'i) may — or may not — still be a final four team after what happened, but, for sure, they're still going to be fine. They're still the cream of the crop in this conference."
UH is still the yardstick by which the other nine schools measure themselves, and when nobody has managed to beat the Wahine in 42 consecutive matches, expectations are quickly tempered by reality. And, the reality of the WAC has been that teams break into high-fivin' celebration when they win so much as a game off the Wahine.
Of course, those celebrations have been few and far between in a conference where UH lost but one game in the 49 it played on the way to a 16-0 conference record last season.
Chote said, "After they lost Lily (Kahumoku) and the rest and then lost to Nebraska, it wasn't like, 'OK, now we've got a chance.' The chances have gone up. But they went up to one-and-a-half-in-a-thousand from one-in-a-thousand."
