Posted on: Friday, July 9, 2004
Rainbows seen as vulnerable
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
Since the end of the 2003 Western Athletic Conference women's volleyball season, the subject of the University of Hawai'i's vulnerability for 2004 has been on a lot of minds, if not exactly rolling off lips.
"I know they (rival coaches) feel they finally have a shot at us this time," said Dave Shoji, the Rainbow Wahine coach. "It is kind of understood, they just don't say it."
Well, now they have.
The coaches' annual preseason poll this week says all you need to know about how the rest of the WAC sees UH as susceptible for the dethroning. It says, loud and clear, the subjected are itching for a revolution.
In a vote of the conference's 10 coaches, half picked somebody other than UH to win the championship for the first time since 1997. That's a remarkable number considering that for five years the only ballot UH didn't get was that of Shoji, who was not allowed to vote for his own team.
According to the conference office, it was the first time in six years any school other than UH got more than one vote. But now, apparently, people think any of several teams — Fresno State, Nevada or Rice, all of whom got first-place votes — are capable of giving the Rainbow Wahine the boot.
"They've been so dominant so long with Kim (Willoughby) and Lily (Kahumoku)... it is refreshing to feel like we have an opportunity to finally compete with them," said Devin Scruggs, Nevada's coach.
Indeed, it has been a cause for opponent celebration when teams don't get swept by the Rainbow Wahine, who have won 90 consecutive conference matches. Significantly, only 15 of them have gone beyond the three-game minimum.
UH's string of dominance, dating from 1998, is the second-longest in the NCAA, trailing only Florida's 130-match run through the Southeastern Conference.
But all that took place before UH lost five of its record six all-WAC performers, Willoughby, Kahumoku, Lauren Duggins, Maja Gustin and Nohea Tano. Not that the cupboard is empty with all-WAC setter Kanoe Kamana'o and some promising recruits.
The Rainbow Wahine's rare rebuilding also coincides with a quietly improving WAC. Second-place Fresno State, which has made some of the biggest strides, returns four starters. Nevada has its one-two punch back and Rice and Southern Methodist are poised for good seasons.
"I think this year, with us having lost so many quality players, people think they have a chance," Shoji said. "We'll start five new people and probably all of them will be underclass. If I was one of the other coaches, I would think this is the year for some people to beat us."
And, clearly, many do.
But after eight consecutive regular-season titles for the Rainbow Wahine, a lot of us will have to see somebody actually knock off UH before we believe it.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.
