Third-ranked BYUH is unbeaten, but says there's room to improve
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
It has upset the defending national champions and devoured early season opponents, and the scary part is, the third-ranked Brigham Young-Hawai'i women's volleyball team might be just warming up.
"I think we can get better," said BYUH freshman Yu Chuan Weng, who has earned several awards in her first nine collegiate matches, including national player of the week honors. "We can go win all the tournaments."
The strong, enthusiastic play of Weng, who punctuates key plays with fist pumps, is one of the reasons why the Seasiders (9-0) have emerged as one of the nation's top teams after being unranked in an August preseason poll.
The Seasiders skyrocketed from their No. 26 preseason ranking to their current No. 3 by beating several ranked teams, including an upset of Barry, the defending Division II champion and former top-ranked team, in Miami, Fla., Aug. 31.
"Teams are going to be gunning for us now," said BYUH assistant coach Mike Apo. "That's going to be new for most of these girls because they haven't been in that situation with our teams in the past. It's going to be fun to see how our girls respond."
On Tuesday, Weng's match-high 21 kills helped the Seasiders beat No. 16 Cal State-Los Angeles, 28-30, 30-16, 27-30, 30-19, 15-6, in the Seasiders' home opener at the Cannon Activities Center. The narrow victory against the Golden Eagles served as a wake-up call and also a confidence builder for the Seasiders, who until then had swept every team in a two-week road trip.
"We were fortunate to win (against Cal State-Los Angeles)," Apo said. "Our girls were just tired. But they showed some good heart, some good spirit. Hopefully, this will give us more confidence to know they can hang in with any team."
Cal State-Los Angeles coach Bill Lawler said he was impressed with the experience of BYUH's freshmen players, Weng and Chun Yi Lin, who grew up playing volleyball in Taiwan.
"They trained a lot harder and longer than most American girls combined, probably," Lawler said. "They have way more hours in the gym. They're good players and good athletes."
However, Lawler said the Seasiders are not invincible and are vulnerable to jitters.
"We beat them two games," Lawler said. "They break down with a little bit of pressure. When they experience failure, they break down a little bit. Probably as the season progresses, that will probably change."
Weng said Cal State's defense and the pressure of playing their home opener in front of 608 people contributed to the close match.
Apo said BYUH needs to work on its blocking and defense before it can start thinking about the postseason.
"We still got a long way to go," he said. "It's so early in the season, we don't want to be putting anything in our girls' head. Everyone has a chance at the national championship. I think with this start it's going to help the girls know that there is a chance. We just have to focus and play hard."
CROSS COUNTRY
• HPU wins PacWest opener: The Hawai'i Pacific men's team opened the Pacific West Conference season by winning the Chaminade Invitational Saturday in La'ie. HPU scored a meet-low 16 points, followed by BYUH (63), UH-Hilo (76) and Chaminade (82).
In the women's meet, the University of Hawai'i won the title with 31 points, followed by HPU (37), BYUH (73), UH-Hilo (87) and Chaminade (147).
HPU won the individual titles for both races with Nina Christensen winning the women's 5-kilometer race in 17:58, and Christian Madsen taking the men's 8-kilometer race in 26:59.
WATER POLO
• Chaminade wins opener: Chaminade won its opening game at Pomona College of Calif., 18-6, yesterday.
Freshman Milos Matijevic scored four goals for the Silverswords. Logan Lapana, Brian Murphy, and Tim Craycraft added three goals apiece.
Chaminade continues play today at Chapman.
Also yesterday, visiting Brigham Young-Hawai'i fell to No. 10 UC-San Diego, 9-4.
BYUH (1-4) concludes its road trip today against Cal Baptist.
This week's schedule
Women's Volleyball
Friday's matches
MSU-Billings at BYU-Hawai'i
Western New Mexico at UH-Hilo
Saturday's matches
MSU-Billings at Chaminade
Western New Mexico at Hawai'i Pacific University
Cross Country
Saturday's meets
UH-Hilo Invitational at Hilo
MSUB at S.D. Tech Invitational at Rapid City, S.D.
Men's Water Polo
Today's matches
BYU-Hawai'i vs. Cal Baptist in Riverside, Calif.
Chaminade vs. Chapman in Pomona, Calif.
Friday's match
Chaminade vs. UC Davis in Redlands, Calif.
Saturday's matches
Chaminade vs. Santa Clara in LaVerne, Calif.
Chaminade at LaVerne
Sunday's matches
Chaminade vs. Whittier in Redlands, Calif.
Chaminade at Redlands
