Posted on: Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Shoji must keep UH grounded

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff

It is weeks like this when University of Hawai'i women's volleyball coach Dave Shoji really earns the installments on that $95,004 annual salary.

Not because the Rainbow Wahine are playing a fearsome, nationally ranked opponent. But because they are playing the exact opposite, 5-13 Louisiana Tech, Thursday.

Teams, such as the unbeaten Rainbows, pretty much get themselves up to play a No. 1 or Top 10 team. Little motivation is needed when it is a Southern Cal, Stanford or UCLA across the net. If the adrenaline isn't pumping then, it is time to summon the coroner.

But, Louisiana Tech? Well, that's where the real work comes in, especially on a 4,035-mile, five time zone jaunt. It is where 30 years of head coaching experience, and the stratagems learned along the way, can spare a team from a yawn-induced letdown.

These Rainbows, who were No. 13 seven weeks ago, have earned the considerable pats on the back they've been receiving in a climb to a 14-0 record and No. 3 in the USA Today/College Sports Television Top 25 Coaches Poll.

The Rainbows have such a sweet thing going, you'd hate to see them stub their collective toe. If they avoid the trap doors, there is no reason why they shouldn't be unbeaten and bound for a pretty nice seed in the NCAA playoffs. At this point, the only team on the regular-season schedule that can beat Hawai'i is itself.

The trick, with applause still ringing in their ears and the headlines regularly singing their praises, is bringing the Rainbows back to Earth each week. A task made tougher when an opponent isn't anything special.

Former UH football coach Bob Wagner, in moments of candor, liked to say "you guys (the media) and fans pump them up all week and then we have to make them feel like (junk) to bring them back down again."

We saw some of that last week when, about the time the Rainbows were ready to exhale from their first road trip, Shoji pointedly announced that he would be reevaluating all the starters. With their complacency jolted, the Rainbows responded by disposing of Boise State and Texas-El Paso as if opponents had made disparaging remarks about their families.

Now, with the road trip to Louisiana Tech and Southern Methodist standing in the way of a battle of Western Athletic Conference unbeatens, UH (4-0) and Rice (6-0), Oct. 21 back at the Stan Sheriff Center, the Rainbows can ill afford a pratfall.

"The minute you think you're pretty good and that, maybe, you should win a match without having to show up, then, that's when you get beat," Shoji said. "And, we're not going to let them do that.

"Maybe we'll take (tape) of their best couple of players and make a highlight tape or something showing them putting down a lot of balls ... (but) we'll find a way to get (the Rainbows) fired up."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.