Posted on: Friday, October 29, 2004

Rainbow Wahine adopt 'fiery' attitude

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i's list of volleyball streaks is growing unwieldy.

The third-ranked Rainbow Wahine (19-0, 9-0 WAC) will try to make Boise State their 100th consecutive conference victim this afternoon at Bronco Gym. The Western Athletic Conference match will be broadcast live on KKEA (1420 AM) beginning at 11:15 a.m. Hawai'i time.

The 'Bows are also looking to add to their winning streaks over unranked opponents (191), in regular-season matches (47), in opponents' gyms (27) and without their head coach (3).

Dave Shoji, in his 30th year as head coach, missed this trip to stay with his father, Kobe, who is in the hospital. The Rainbow Wahine worked through his rare absence Wednesday by beating San Jose State in four games.

Associate coach Charlie Wade — who missed the season's first trip due to the birth of his first child — will again be in charge today, with assistant Kari Ambrozich. While Wade runs in hyper drive, Shoji is dramatically less demonstrative.

"Charlie's role is to jump up and down and motivate us. He's a more fiery spirit," UH captain Melody Eckmier says. "He didn't change. He just brings it to the head coaching position. He admitted he was super-juiced for the San Jose game. He had to tone himself down a little.

"He's very positive. He just tells you what you've done wrong. He's very particular about what he says and why he says it. It helps us a lot, especially when we're missing that head coach."

Wade is not the only one trying to tone it down. Shoji asked his team to do the same on the last trip. Ultimately, he told them to "crack a book or play a game" because they grew "too loud for my taste ... I'm getting old."

Shoji had no complaints with why his team is what he calls "happy loud." All the players enjoy being in close proximity all the time. He was worried that the team's "giddiness" was taking away from its focus.

Eckmier recalls Shoji asking the team to "go hard and have fun and smile, but treat it more like a business. ... Instead of bouncing off walls all the time, be calm and collected."

"It's hard to do both," she admits, "but it is possible."

Wade is convinced that's true.

"They are passionate about each other and passionate about playing volleyball for the University of Hawai'i," he says. "And, they are pretty confident about what they're doing. That manifests itself sometimes into some extroverted energy. ... When they get together collectively, they are a pretty happy group.

"But I really appreciate how hard they worked during that (San Jose) match. They maintained their poise and confidence and played hard the entire time."

NOTES

Boise State (16-7, 5-4) has already qualified for its first WAC Tournament. It won a total of eight matches the last three seasons combined. This year, the Broncos had five match points before losing to Nevada. They also fell in five at San Jose State, took a game off Rice and defeated SMU and Fresno State for the first time. Sophomore Cameron Flunder, who averages more than four kills a game, earned the program's inaugural WAC Player of the Week honor last month.

Former Rainbow Wahine All-American Lily Kahumoku will leave for Italy next month to play professionally for Siciliani Santeramo. Teammates will include Olympian Heather Bown, another former UH All-American. Punahou graduate Lindsey Berg, another Olympian, is playing for Scavolini Pesaro. Kahumoku is in her final semester and hopes to arrange it so she can finish her classes abroad.

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

WAC Volleyball

WAC Overall

Western W L W L *Pts.

• Hawai'i 9 0 19 0 14
• Nevada 7 2 14 6 11
• San Jose St. 5 4 14 8 9
• Boise St. 5 4 16 7 9
• Fresno St. 4 5 11 10 7

* non-conference