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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, August 29, 2002

Freshmen infuse Sea Warrior volleyball team with optimism

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

With so many new players, the Hawai'i Pacific University women's volleyball team might consider wearing "hello my name is" stickers for its opening matches tomorrow at the Hawaiian Style Classic in Hilo.

The defending Pacific West Conference champions have just four returnees, including one starter, on the 12-player squad.

"We need to get to know each other and jell," said HPU coach Tita Ahuna.

The Sea Warriors, who are ranked 18th in the preseason AVCA Division II poll, will get their chance tomorrow against 23rd-ranked Northwood University (Midland, Mich.) and East Texas Baptist University in the three-day, eight-team Classic hosted by UH-Hilo.

The Vulcans open with Evergreen State College (Olympia, Wash.) and North Dakota.

Hawai'i's two other small college teams open tomorrow on the Mainland. Brigham Young-Hawai'i will compete in the two-day Barry Invitational in Miami, Fla., and Chaminade at the two-day St. Mary's National Invitational Tournament in San Antonio, Texas.

BYUH will play Barry University, the defending Division II national champion and top-ranked team in the nation, on Saturday. Chaminade will play 13th-ranked Metropolitan State College (Denver, Colo.) on Saturday.

As for HPU, the Hilo tournament will give Ahuna an opportunity to experiment with lineups.

"We have a very young team this year," she said. "We're fielding five freshmen and they're all highly talented. You may see up to two or three of them on the court at once. They surprised all of us and they're doing a fantastic job."

Key returnees are junior outside hitter Teisa Fotu of La'ie and senior middle blocker Susy Garbelotti, a AVCA Division II first-team All-American and Pacific West Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2000. They will be joined by four local players in the starting lineup.

Ahuna said HPU always aspires to win a national championship, but cautioned that might be premature at this point with such a young team. HPU won NCAA Division II championships in 2000 and 1998 and the NAIA title in 1990.

"I don't think our team has looked that far down the road," Ahuna said. "We're just looking at making it through one practice at a time, and focusing on our first game on Friday."

UH-Hilo coach Sharon Peterson said her team has depth, experience and chemistry. The Vulcans return nine players, including junior setter Megan Denman and junior outside hitter Sara Pilgreen, a Pacific West second team honoree and two-time player of the week. They will be joined by four local players.

Peterson called the tournament an early season test.

"If they can play like they do in practice, we will be fun to watch," Peterson said. "They have a lot of energy and spunk."

The Vulcans promise to be a strong serving team and "fairly scrappy team," Peterson said, but players will need to control their emotions and not get down on themselves.

"We need to stay in a more positive state of mind," she said. "The other thing is the focus. We'll expect them to get better as they go along."