Entire tourney could be on Mainland

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Savor tonight's University of Hawai'i-Fresno State volleyball match. It could very well be the last time you see the Wahine at home this year.

The NCAA has sent schools "Suggested Policies for Fall Championships 2001." It could alter the NCAA Championship by making changes "in light of the unstable world climate, in order to minimize air travel and mitigate risk, inconvenience and travel delays."

The changes could keep UH on the road the rest of the year, an option coach Dave Shoji says is unfair.

"They're not advocating that teams not travel during the regular season," Shoji said. "It seems silly for them to mandate this for championships when they're talking about fairness and competitiveness and homecourt advantage that you've earned. It seems like we would be the most obvious ones to have to go away."

Hawai'i (22-4*-if beat SJSU) is ranked 12th in the AVCA Top 25 and has won its last 19*. It is seeded third in the NCAA's West Region, a bi-weekly rating used to fill the 64-team postseason bracket.

Historically, if the Wahine kept their seeding through their final matches (next week's WAC Tournament and Nov. 23-24 Bankers Classic), they would be assured home matches the first and second rounds.

But the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks caused the NCAA to issue its new "suggested policies." The seven-point list includes encouraging its Volleyball Committee to:

• Place teams seeded Nos. 5-16 "in their most proximate geographic region" to minimize flight travel;

• Base site selection on location, with "no guarantee that a top-seeded team will host;"

• Allow second-round matches between teams from the same conference (previously they could not play in the first and second round);

• Allow the movement of teams to other regions for balance with "the first priority to move to a neighboring region not more than one time zone" away.

UH put in a bid to host first and second rounds Nov. 30-Dec. 1, guaranteeing the NCAA crowds of 5,000 each night. The Wahine have played to the largest crowds in the country, by far, since Stan Sheriff Center opened in 1995. Their bid is almost assured of being the most lucrative the NCAA receives.

That and a high seed might not be enough anymore.

"We can't do anything about it," said UH senior woman administrator Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohano-hano. "It's a "suggested" policy, not mandated. The committee will take that into consideration. But ... we have to be ready to pack our bags."

Since the NCAA expanded its tournament in 1984 to include first and second rounds, the Wahine have hosted every year but two. They lost at Oregon in 1984 and to Loyola Marymount, at Long Beach State, four years ago. Hawai'i did not qualify for the 1992 NCAA Tournament. It is not a road Shoji would like to travel.

"It gives them the authority to do anything," was his definition of the policies. "They can always justify it by proximity and time zones. It doesn't sound like they want to send anybody here."

The NCAA plans to meet in February to review similar issues for winter and spring championships.