America's bloodiest day
Wahine vs. BYU canceled
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Both University of Hawai'i volleyball matches scheduled this weekend were canceled yesterday.
Loyola Marymount, the Wahine's opponent tomorrow, announced Tuesday it would not make the trip. Brigham Young, scheduled to play the Wahine Saturday, said yesterday it had canceled due to travel problems created by Tuesday's terrorist attacks.
UH coach Dave Shoji said 13th-ranked BYU was interested in making the trip if it could play two matches against the 12th-ranked Wahine, but could not work out logistics. The Cougars were originally going to play Loyola Marymount here today. It would have been the first meeting for UH and BYU since their epic 1998 Western Athletic Conference championship, won by Hawai'i 24-22 in the fifth game.
The matches will not be re-scheduled.
"I had mixed feelings about playing this weekend," Shoji said. "A volleyball game doesn't seem so significant after what has happened. It's even hard to go into practice right now. We know we have to."
The Wahine did not practice Tuesday, but returned yesterday. Setter Jennifer Carey, a junior from Newport Beach, Calif., said she was looking forward to playing Loyola Marymount, which has "lots of familiar faces."
"But in the scope of things, that's minor," Carey said. "For everyone's safety, there is no real question about playing."
Senior Tanja Nikolic, who lived in Croatia until she was 20, was also looking forward to this weekend, for the competition and experience. She had a very different reaction than most to Tuesday's atrocities.
"I totally understand why the other teams aren't here," she said. "It's safer. You don't want to be on a plane now. I don't think anybody should take that chance.
"I don't like to say it, but I'm used to this. I was 13 when the war started at home."
Nikolic's mother called from Croatia at 4 a.m. Tuesday to check on her daughter, then called four more times during the day. After Nikolic saw what was happening on TV, she said she felt "exactly" as she had when the war started in Croatia. She was on the beach that day in 1991, and her friend's mother came to them screaming.
For the next three years, the family constantly went underground. Nikolic remembers the power being shut off at school in the afternoon to save resources.
"I still believe this is not the end of this stuff happening, but I want to believe it is," Nikolic said. "Maybe I learned because I was always thinking it was done (in Croatia) and then the bombing would start again.
"But I do believe nobody would want to get in a war with the U.S."
UH is offering refunds for this weekend's matches. Fans who have purchased tickets have until Sept. 28 to mail or bring them to the Stan Sheriff Center Box Office. UH Athletics will mail pro-rated refunds for season ticket holders and full refunds for individual match tickets. It will take several weeks to process.
Box office hours are Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. The mailing address is: UH Ticket Office, 1337 Lower Campus Rd., Honolulu 96822-2370. Include your name and address with the tickets.
WAHINE SOCCER
• Festival canceled: The Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Soccer Festival, scheduled to begin tonight at Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Stadium, has been canceled.
UC Riverside and Cornell canceled their trips to Hawai'i and withdrew from the tournament.
The Wahine soccer team, which was scheduled to return from Tuesday after playing several games on the Mainland, remained in Spokane, Wash. yesterday.
The Wahine are scheduled to resume play with the Outrigger Hotels & Resorts Invitational on Sept. 20.
