Posted on: Wednesday, October 27, 2004

UH's Shoji will miss first match in 30 years

•	WAC volleyball standings
•	Team statistics

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

For the first time in his storied 30-year career as head coach of University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine volleyball, Dave Shoji will not be on the bench this week.

DAVE SHOJI

The team left yesterday for matches at San Jose State tonight and Boise State on Friday afternoon. Shoji stayed home to be with his father, Kobe, who is in the hospital. Kobe has been fighting various serious illnesses for nearly a year.

"It's important for me to be here with my father at this time," Dave Shoji said in a UH release. "The team will be in good hands with (associate head coach) Charlie (Wade) assuming the head coaching responsibilities and (assistant) Kari (Ambrozich) there with him."

The school celebrated Shoji's 1,000th match as head coach a month ago. Wade said Shoji told him before the team left yesterday that "after 1,000, missing two might not be so bad."

Third-ranked Hawai'i (18-0, 8-0 Western Athletic Conference) will put its unbeaten record and 98-match WAC winning streak on the line tonight at San Jose. The Spartans (14-7, 5-3) saw a five-match winning streak snapped Saturday when they lost in five games to Rice. It was SJSU's seventh five-game match this season; it had won the previous six.

Carrie Nash, who carved up the Hawai'i block in the WAC Tournament championship last November, leads the Spartan attack along with freshman Jennifer Senftleben. Both average 3&Mac253; kills a game. Nash is also averaging more than four digs, and has 15 double-doubles this season.

Shoji believes his team holds the key to the trip's success. SJSU and Boise are a combined 0-26 against UH since it joined the WAC.

"If we play well, we'll win these matches," Shoji says. "We've won all our matches so far, but we've just played well enough. We haven't necessarily played well."

Wade's goal is to keep things as normal as possible.

"Our concerns are with Dave and Kobe and their family," Wade says. "Our focus is on San Jose and doing all the things we've been doing on the road. Kari and I have been with the program a decade, so we'll just keep things status quo and hopefully get two wins."

Wade says everything leading up to the match will be the same, then he will turn in the lineup card and call the timeouts.

"I'll be coaching the girls the same way I coach the girls all the time," says Wade, who has previously been head coach at the club level. "During the match I'll coach the team like I think Dave Shoji would coach the team. Make everything the same, as much as possible."

NOTES

• Both road matches will be broadcast live on KKEA (1420 AM), beginning at approximately 3:45 p.m. today and 11:15 a.m. Friday. The Boise match is part of a Rainbow-Bronco volleyball/football doubleheader.

• San Jose State and Boise State have moved into the final two spots in the latest 15-team Division I West Regional Rankings. Hawai'i is first, followed by UC-Santa Barbara, Rice, Long Beach State and Utah. UH plays the Utes Nov. 24 in Salt Lake City. Other WAC teams in the regional rankings are Nevada (10th) and SMU (12th).

• All five WAC West teams have at least four wins. In the East, Rice has eight wins and the four other teams are a combined 7-29.

• UH freshman Tara Hittle turned 19 Monday and backup middle blocker Nickie Thomas will be 19 Saturday. On Hittle's first collegiate road trip, she hit .585 and averaged more than 4&Mac253; kills, earning national Player of the Week honors.

• This is the third time in the last five years Hawai'i has opened with 18 wins. In 2000 and 2002, the Rainbows ended up in the final four.

• Alicia Arnott's 30-kill performance at SMU 10 days ago put her in Olympian company. The only other Rainbow Wahine to hammer 30 kills in a match and also hit better than .450 (Arnott hit .463) are Teee Williams (44 kills, .493 in 1989) and Deitre Collins (30 kills, .472 in 1981).

• Junior libero Ashley Watanabe has been in and out of the starting lineup, but is still averaging 4.32 digs per game. Kim Willoughby set the UH record in 2001, at 3.66 per game. Watanabe is third in the conference in digs.

• Victoria Prince leads the WAC with a .400 hitting percentage, which ranks 11th nationally. Kanoe Kamana'o is first in assists, at 13.79 per game, which is ninth nationally. In WAC blocking, Prince is third (1.44 per game) and Kamana'o (1.09) eighth, sandwiching Kari Gregory (1.37/fifth).

• Kamana'o is the only Division I player in the country averaging more than 13&Mac253; assists, three digs and one block a game. The sophomore needs 54 assists to tie Margaret Vakasausau at sixth on the UH career list.

• Hawai'i leads the WAC in assists, blocks and kills. In this week's national statistics, the Rainbows are ninth in assists (15.81), 15th in kills (16.86) and 16th in blocks (3.07)

• WAC Tournament tickets go on sale Monday, at $30 for an adult all-session pass and $15 for students. The 2004 tournament will be Nov. 19 to 21 at Nevada's Virginia Street Gym. Tickets can be purchased by calling Nevada's ticket office (775-348-7225).

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043