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HPU's Ahuna ready to face alma mater

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

In five-plus seasons, Tita Ahuna has coached HPU to a 100-11 record in NAIA and NCAA Division II. Advertiser library Match facts What: Women's college volleyball match between Hawai'i Pacific and Hawai'i When: 7:05 tonight Where: Stan Sheriff Center Radio/TV: Match will be televised live on K5, and broadcast live on 1420 AM Tickets: Prices range from $6 to $12. UH Ticket Office (956-4482) open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 2 hours before matches

Her approach to playing the match and coaching the players is tough to distinguish.

"She coaches like she played," says Dave Shoji, the Wahine coach then and now. "She's very intense. She had a lot of heart and that's really how she coaches. She does a lot of motivational stuff to get her team to where they are."

The Sea Warriors are the envy of NCAA Division II volleyball. In the three years since they left the NAIA, they have won two national championships and gone 100-11. They are a win away from their third consecutive Pacific West Conference title and the automatic NCAA Regional berth that goes with it.

All this despite an October free-fall that has seen them lose three of their last five, and their top-five ranking for the first time in three years. A loss to UH-Hilo Oct. 6 ended HPU's 42-match winning streak — four matches short of the D-II record.

Ahuna won two state championships while playing for Kamehameha Schools. She captained the Wahine's last national championship team in 1987, then took two more state titles as the Kamehameha boys coach. She has won 80 percent of her matches in five-plus seasons at HPU.

For one of her teams, this is a shocking slide. Not surprisingly, she's looking inside for the answer.

"We need to find a little more heart and get tough physically and mentally," Ahuna says. "It's nothing technical because we know the skills, we just need to execute better."

Shoji says bluntly that Hawai'i Pacific will provide more of a challenge than WAC neophyte Boise State did Sunday. The Sea Warriors (16-3) are ranked 10th in Division II, while the Wahine (17-4) dropped a spot, to 12th, yesterday in Division I.

HPU lost two All-Americans from last year's unbeaten champions, but still starts five seniors, including the PacWest's most prolific hitters and D-II's best setter.

McKinley graduate Nia Tuitele, a two-time All-American, was recruited by Ohio State, Washington and Fresno State. She's had her fingers on every facet of the Sea Warriors' success the last four seasons, and still found time to graduate. She's working on her masters this semester.

Tuitele's favorite targets are 6-foot Roberta Robert, from Brazil, and 6-2 Andrea Wean, from Washington. They are 1-2 in conference kills, at just under five a game. Robert has a dozen double-doubles, with career highs of 28 kills and 31 digs. Wean is hitting (.364) and blocking (1.23 per game) at a PacWest-best pace.

But it is Ahuna who has brought it all together, and hinted last year that her career goals include Shoji's job when he retires. The 2000 NCAA Division II Coach of the Year, and Kalakaua Middle School's acting vice principal, backed off somewhat this week.

"People keep telling me I want Dave's job, but I haven't really thought about it," Ahuna said. "I like where I'm at, like the support at Hawai'i Pacific. In 10 years, maybe. I'm not sure at this point what to do with my career. I could coach 10 more years or go and be a principal. If I'm still coaching when Dave retires, so be it."

She said her team emulates Shoji's style "with a little Tita flair" and a very different type of athlete.

"I have some great athletes," Ahuna says. "He has athletic volleyball players. I have to make time to train our players. You can tell the difference when we play each other. And you might see some similarities."

Three years ago, Hawai'i needed five games to beat BYU-Hawai'i. In a scrimmage last month, the Wahine lost a game to HPU.

"We have to have hope, have faith we can execute," Ahuna says. "I don't want to say we can't win because I know we can."

QUICK SETS: Kane'ohe's Kimberly Tano, a freshman outside hitter for Western New Mexico, is the Pacific West Conference Player of the Week. She averaged 4.47 kills and 3.66 digs in six matches, with four double-doubles. ... HPU needs one victory this weekend, or a BYU-Hawai'i loss, to win its third consecutive Pacific West title.