Wahine to open NCAAs at Washington State

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By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

SHOJI: Plans on 'tweaking' offense

Ninth-seeded University of Hawai'i will play Washington State in Pullman Friday (6 p.m. HST) in the first round of the 21st annual NCAA Championship.

The NCAA's attempt to "minimize travel, risk and inconvenience" will force the Wahine to fly to Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Spokane, then take a snowy, 80-mile midnight bus ride to WSU tomorrow.

If the Wahine (27-5) defeat the Cougars (17-11), they play Oregon State (17-11) or Eastern Washington (20-5) Saturday (2 p.m. HST). That winner advances to Regional 1 — the NCAA did not give regionals a geographical title this year — Dec. 6-9.

That regional will probably be at unbeaten and top-seeded Long Beach State. If Hawai'i survives its sub-regional, it could face eighth-seeded UCLA in a regional semifinal. The Bruins (18-8), who got All-American Kristee Porter back recently after an NCAA violation, have to travel to Penn State this weekend.

UH coach Dave Shoji describes that as one of many "awfully tough first- and second-round matches" in a bracket dramatically affected by Sept. 11. The NCAA's new "suggested policies" placed a premium on travel, so five of the 16 seeded teams will fly long distances to sub-regional sites selected specifically for their proximity to clusters of unseeded tournament teams.

What surprised Shoji most was having to face a home team in the first round. The Cougars have all six starters back from last year's NCAA team and play in intimate Bohler Gym (3,000 capacity), where they have been remarkably successful. Their home losses this year came against the Pac-10's premier teams (Stanford, USC, UCLA and Arizona) and Pacific, in five. WSU swept Oregon State in Bohler, after falling in four at Corvallis.

WSU is in its eighth NCAA Tournament, all in the past 10 years. It finished in the middle of the Pac-10, which sent six teams to the postseason. Big Sky champion Eastern Washington received its conference's automatic bid.

"Washington State is a good Pac-10 team who plays well at home," Shoji said. "The other factor is travel. Getting to Pullman is not easy."

Playing away from home is something the Wahine have learned to live with quite comfortably. Saturday's loss at Pacific — seeded 12th yesterday — was Hawai'i's first road loss in three months.

"No question we've played very well on the road," Shoji said. "We have people who are always on an even keel. Not a lot of our players go really high or really low. That's the key. We have really even-tempered people so they seem to be able to put everything out of their minds and just go out and play.

"We were all prepared for this."

Saturday's loss dropped UH two spots, to No. 11, in yesterday's AVCA/USA Today Coaches Poll. Shoji will never know its impact on the Wahine's seeding, but the five-game loss struck him hard.

He is now adamant about getting his team rested this week, and "tweaking" his offense. It featured Kim Willoughby and little else last weekend. She leads the country in kills. Even that won't be enough now.

"We've got to work on our passing formations and our attack patterns," Shoji said, "because people are now stacking their block against Kim. We need to find a way to get a little less pressure on our outsides."

But first, the Wahine have to find their way to Pullman.

QUICK SETS: UH announced that those who sent in checks or credit card information for tournament tickets in Hawai'i will not be charged. Checks will be shredded and credit cards will not be charged. ... The top four seeds, and likely regional sites, are Long Beach (1), Nebraska (2), Stanford (3), and USC (4). ... The Big-12 has eight teams in the tournament, and the Big Ten and Pac-10 six each. The WAC has three teams: San Jose State and Nevada are at Stanford. It is the first time since the conference split (after the 1998-99 school year) that it has had more than two. ... There have been nine champions in the 20-year history of NCAA Division I volleyball, including Hawai'i in 1982, '83 and '87. ... Oregon State's last tournament appearance was in 1983. ... The final four will be Dec. 13 and 15 at San Diego State's Cox Arena at the Aztec Bowl.