Battle-tested BYUH earns postseason volleyball berth
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Brigham Young-Hawai'i women's volleyball team made it easier on the NCAA postseason selection committee this year.
After being snubbed the last two years despite 14-6 and 17-6 records, the Seasiders left no doubt this year by clinching the Pacific West Conference title last week and earning the automatic postseason berth.
"We got iced out the last two years," BYUH coach Wilfred Navalta said. "When you leave it to a selection committee, there's a lot of subjectivity involved."
The selection committee blamed the Seasiders' weak schedule as the main reason for the back-to-back snubs. With that in mind, Navalta responded with one of his toughest schedules in recent memory.
His plan worked and the sixth-ranked Seasiders, who started the season unranked, are now headed to NCAA II Pacific Region Championship on Nov. 21-23. This season, the Seasiders (21-2 overall, 8-1 Pacific West Conference) have beaten defending Division II champion Barry, and every ranked team that they have played, including Western Washington, Cal State-Los Angeles, Chaminade and Hawai'i Pacific.
"We had some kids returning and our recruits helped us establish ourselves early," said Navalta, who singled out senior defensive specialist Leiau Meatoga for her leadership and credited two Taiwan freshmen, Chun Yi Lin and Yu Chun Weng, for their stellar, veteran-like play.
The Seasiders will play one last conference match against defending conference champion Hawai'i Pacific (14-8, 6-3) on Saturday at St. Andrew's Priory. In a touch of irony, HPU is hoping for an at-large postseason berth, a similar situation BYUH was in last season.
"If HPU beats us, that may give them more ammunition to go (to the regionals)," Navalta said. "They can make a statement by beating the No. 3 team in the region. My feeling is, if they beat us, they deserve to go."
Two conference champions and four at-large teams are selected for the six-team NCAA II Pacific Region Championship. In the latest Pacific Region poll, which is an early indicator for the postseason tournament, HPU is ranked eighth and Chaminade (15-7, 6-4) is ranked sixth.
Navalta said HPU and Chaminade "might have a chance" for at-large berths because the committee wouldn't want to deal with another BYUH situation. Navalta said after getting snubbed last year, school officials wrote letters to the selection committee saying that Hawai'i schools were "not given a fair shake."
ALSO OF NOTE
• Volleyball honor: BYUH women's volleyball player Chun Yi Lin earned her fourth Pacific West Conference Player of the Week award this season after helping the Seasiders clinch the conference title last week.
Lin, a freshman middle blocker from Pingtune, Taiwan, averaged 4.5 kills per game with a .521 hitting percentage in the two sweeps of second-place Chaminade.
In the six games, the 6-foot-1 Lin scored 27 kills in 48 attempts with two errors. Her performance raised her conference-leading hitting percentage to .469, which is among the top five in the nation.
Lin also tallied eight blocks, including six in Thursday's conference win that sealed the title for the sixth-ranked Seasiders.
• Water polo postseason: The BYUH and Chaminade men's water polo teams were selected this week to compete in the eight-team Western Water Polo Association playoffs in San Diego on Nov. 22-23.
The 16th-ranked Seasiders qualified in their first year of membership in the conference and second year in existence as a team. The 20th-ranked Silverswords are led by first-year head coach Ben Nary II. The winner of the WWPA playoffs goes to the NCAA final four.
• Basketball preseason: The BYUH men's basketball team will host the Asia-Pacific Basketball Classic tomorrow and Saturday at the Cannon Activities Center.
Kinki University from Osaka, Japan, Jiao Tong University from Shanghai, China, and the Fiji national team have accepted invitations to play in the tournament along with the Seasiders.
• Internet audio: Hawai'i Pacific fans who live outside O'ahu can now listen to live Sea Warrior volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball sporting events via the Internet.
HPU unveiled the system this month after a successful two-month test period. The live Internet audio capability is a joint effort by KUMU radio and HPU information system specialists.
All games that are broadcast on KUMU II AM 1500 radio will be streamed on the Sea Warriors sports Web page (www.hpu.edu/athletics). Users must have a Microsoft Media Player to listen to the live feed at http://stream.hpu.edu.
HPU's next live audio stream is tonight at 7:15 when the Sea Warriors men's basketball team plays the Northwest All-Stars at Mid-Pacific Institute.
IN SUMMARY
Women's volleyball
Last week's and this week's results
Brigham Young-Hawai'i def. Chaminade, 30-25, 30-14, 30-21*
Brigham Young-Hawai'i def. Chaminade, 30-23, 30-17, 30-13
Montana State University-Billings def. Hawai'i-Hilo, 30-25, 30-28, 30-21*
Hawai'i-Hilo def. Montana State University-Billings, 34-36, 30-23, 25-30, 33-31, 17-15
Western New Mexico def. Hawai'i Pacific, 23-30, 30-26, 28-30, 30-26, 15-13*
Hawai'i Pacific def. Western New Mexico, 21-30, 30-27, 30-22, 30-27
Western New Mexico def. Hawai'i-Hilo, 34-32, 30-27, 25-30, 29-31, 15-12*
Hawai'i Pacific def. Montana State University-Billings, 30-24, 30-28, 30-21*
Western New Mexico def. Hawai'i Hilo, 30-23, 30-20, 30-24
Hawai'i Pacific def. Montana State University-Billings, 30-15, 30-27, 30-25
Saturday's match
Brigham Young-Hawai'i at Hawai'i Pacific*
*--Pacific West Conference match
Men's water polo
Tomorrow's game
Brigham Young-Hawai'i vs. Chaminade
