Posted on: Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Hope alive in WAC volleyball

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

"It's the No. 6 team in the country; it's the Western Athletic Conference home opener and it's the lone opportunity for several thousand fans to make the opponent squirm as the Bulldog volleyball team looks to make history (this) week."

— Fresno State Web site.

Gee, you don't think they are talking about the University of Hawai'i, do you?

Actually, this week is all about the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team. From Fresno to Reno — and with interested bystanders everywhere else in the league watching — unofficially this is "Ambush Week" when the WAC takes what it sees as its best shot at ending UH's 90-match conference win streak.

It is when unbeaten (10-0) Hawai'i hits the road for the first time and against the two top contenders, Thursday at Fresno and Saturday at Nevada.

It is when opponents pull out the stops to try and end five years of heavy-handed domination. In Fresno, that means throwing open the doors to the 11-month-old, 16,116-seat Save Mart Center, where Bulldogs' coach Lindy Vivas has invited the fans to, "come out again and be even more vocal and visible" than the school-record 4,700 who showed up last year.

In Fresno they're talking about "turning the tables" on UH when it comes to large, enthusiastic crowds. Never mind that the Rainbows are accustomed to big turnouts or that 5,000 fans rattling around in a two-thirds empty arena might not constitute much of a distraction.

Normally the Bulldogs play in the 40-year-old North Gym that seats 1,400, the administration preferring to save the $8,000-a-night it costs to run an event in the $100 million Save Mart Center.

But what could be bigger than what the Bulldogs see as their best opportunity to end an 0-for-32 drought against UH and "make history"?

"I think Hawai'i had such dominate players in the past that you had to play the very best, perfect, match against them to win," Vivas said yesterday. "I think that the feeling in the WAC (this year) is that Hawai'i is definitely one of the strongest teams, if not the strongest team, but there are some headaches that are gone. One of them is Kim (Willoughby). The other is Lily (Kahumoku)."

As Nevada coach Devin Scruggs put it in August: "It is finally a more even playing field. Are we going to win? I would never guarantee that, but we have a better opportunity. I think everybody in the conference thinks they have a chance to beat Hawai'i this year."

How much UH's unbeaten start has prompted them to tether those hopes is something else. "I'm pretty sure they didn't think we'd be 10-0," said Dave Shoji, the UH coach.

But Vivas said, "I think playing on the road in the WAC is always difficult, so we're their first test, us and Nevada."

Hope lives in the WAC. It remains to be seen for how long.

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