'Bows know Cardinal's Tom can take over a game

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

NEW ORLEANS — Nothing scares Hawai'i volleyball coach Dave Shoji quite like Stanford's Logan Tom raising her All-America game for tonight's NCAA Championship semifinal at the New Orleans Arena.

UH's Kim Willoughby, a Louisiana native, has returned home to help the Rainbows in their bid for an NCAA volleyball title. Hawai'i hopes to avenge its only loss of the season when it plays Stanford today. Ellis Lucia • Photo courtesy of New Orleans Times-Picayune

"I think she holds back sometimes. She's used to playing Cuba and Russia. Sometimes a college match is not that important to her. Until now. She'll be at her best this week."

Tom at her best is something to fear.

She averaged five kills and three digs a game this year and became Stanford's career kill leader on the way to her fourth first-team All-America honor. Still, coaches wondered what was wrong with the 2001 NCAA Player of the Year.

"I think," UCLA coach Andy Banachowski said, "some matches are more important to her."

Tom was not dominating as she did against Long Beach State in last year's final. She wasn't at her breathtaking best as she has been so many times for the U.S. national team. She wasn't making everyone else look bad by comparison.

But no one doubts she can.

"The thing Hawai'i can't let happen is to let Logan take complete control," says Nevada coach Devin Scruggs. "If they can keep Logan from putting everybody on her shoulders and running with them, that's the key."

The Rainbows never got that close five weeks ago. Stanford swept them with sophomore Ogonna Nnamani providing the hammer. Tom had 16 kills, but hit only .216 and never needed to force her will on the Cardinal, who gave then-top-ranked Hawai'i its only loss in front of a soldout Stan Sheriff Center crowd.

The 'Bows (34-1) have beat back every challenge since, admitting Stanford (31-4) taught them invaluable lessons.

When Fresno State pushed them to five games, Lily Kahumoku came up with a career-high 33 kills. When Nevada took a game from them in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, Hawai'i put it in another gear and left the Wolf Pack barking at their heels. When Utah, Washington and Nebraska got in their face, the Rainbows reacted with remarkable poise, squashing every rally.

"When you're challenged, (when) someone is doing something to take the game away from you, you've got to make some adjustments," Shoji said. "We didn't respond against Stanford. We took a look at ourselves and figured out we've got to do something else when someone else wants to win the match as badly as we do."

The Rainbow Wahine say they simply went back to "Hawai'i volleyball," focusing on what they do best. It has worked, but none of those teams had Tom, the Olympian and 2001 Player of the Year. She is unique in the NCAA game.

"The fact is, she has played more at a higher level successfully than any player in college history outside of the college game," Stanford coach John Dunning said. "That just gives her something different. She's had to go through a process college players don't go through.

"Logan hates to lose. She draws more energy from it. Her brain gets more focused. She goes on streaks where she keeps hitting it to a different place and there is always a hole there. That just means that your awareness of what's going on ... the tunnel just narrows and there's nothing that distracts you."

And apparently, she can turn it on like no one else.

"She's a gamer," Shoji says. "She doesn't dominate every game all the time. She'll dominate a game at 28-all which is really what you want. She is capable of, when you need something, she's going to get it done. She does so much for Stanford. She can take a game over from the back court as well as the front court."

Hawai'i's Kim Willoughby and Kahumoku might possess the same gift but have yet to take their team to a national championship. The Rainbow Wahine won their fourth, and last, title in 1987. Willoughby and Kahumoku are acutely aware of that and what could be their place in history.

"They are like Logan in that they are so intense they just find a way to get a kill," Shoji says. "They want it so bad . You get those kind of players in all sports. They won't be denied."

QUICK SETS: When Nebraska beat Hawai'i two years ago, it was the first time the Rainbow Wahine lost a final-four semifinal. This is Hawai'i's seventh NCAA final four. ... UH senior Jennifer Carey and USC junior April Ross were high school teammates at Newport Harbor High. Ross was the MVP at last week's West Regional. ... The Trojans' 29-1 record is their best in 25 years. ... Florida has been in five previous final fours and has yet to win a game. ... The New Orleans Arena opened three years ago. It holds 17,200 and will be the site of the NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four in 2004. It is also home to the New Orleans Hornets. ... The Louisiana Superdome, adjacent to the arena, will host its fourth NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four in April. In 1987, it was the site of an NCAA attendance record when 64,959 watched the championship. The Superdome is also the site of the Super Bowl in February.