PacWest to decide on BYU-Hawai'i's win over HPU
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
While an official ruling has yet to be made, the Brigham Young-Hawai'i athletic director yesterday confirmed that the Seasiders' women's volleyball victory over Hawai'i Pacific on Saturday should not have counted in the conference standings.
HPU officials said Pacific West Conference officials earlier this week mistakenly counted Saturday's HPU loss in the conference standings, giving BYUH sole possession of first place, when in fact, BYUH should have been tied with HPU for first place.
Each conference match is extremely critical this season because the schedule has been downsized from 15 to 10 matches. The conference champion gets the automatic postseason berth.
The confusion this week centered on a schedule change that was apparently overlooked in the Pacific West Conference and BYUH schedules.
BYUH athletic director Randy Day yesterday sided with HPU after reviewing the official "schedule change request" document. The document was signed by Day, HPU athletic director Russell Dung and conference commissioner Woody Hahn.
"Saturday's game was a non-conference game," Day said. "I think that's probably what we'll go with since we do have that signed document."
Day said he remembered the changes when he was faxed a copy of the signed document this week. Commissioner Hahn will probably make an official ruling today, said conference spokesman Travis Elam.
HPU officials said the revised schedule had Saturday's BYUH-HPU match as a non-conference match, and the Nov. 16 meeting as a conference match.
Fourth-ranked BYUH beat 25th-ranked HPU, 30-22, 28-30, 30-26, 30-19, in a conference match on Friday at the Cannon Activities Center, and came back the next day to sweep HPU, 30-25, 30-27, 30-22, at St. Andrew's Priory.
Until a ruling is made, BYUH will continue to hold first place in the conference standings, followed by HPU and Chaminade, which are tied for second. BYUH is 14-1 overall, and because of the disputed standings, is either 5-1 or 4-1 in the conference, while HPU (9-5 overall) is either 4-2 or 4-1. Chaminade (11-3) is an undisputed 4-2 in the conference.
RANKINGS
• Seasiders best in West: The Brigham Young-Hawai'i women's volleyball team moved up to the top spot in the latest NCAA II West Regional Poll, overtaking Cal State-San Bernardino in the poll after the Coyotes lost to Cal State-Los Angeles last week.
BYUH (14-1 overall) leads the pack of local Division II schools. Chaminade (11-3 overall) is ranked fifth, while Hawai'i Pacific (9-5) is ranked ninth. Hawai'i-Hilo (6-12) was not ranked in the top 10. All four teams compete in the Pacific West Conference.
The NCAA II regional poll is considered more important than the national poll since it is used to determine which teams are invited to the regional tournament at the end of the season and seeding for the tournament.
