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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, August 31, 2006

Dave Shoji century victories

 •  UH volleyball coach courting history

Advertiser Staff

100:

Nov. 3, 1979

15-4, 15-11 over USC

It was a memorable year — the Rainbow Wahine would win the school's first national team championship a month later at AIAW nationals. The team was anchored by All-Americans Angie Andrade Terry Malterre, Waynette Mitchell and Diane Sebastian. The 'Bows and Trojans struck up a riveting rivalry best exemplified by two matches: USC upset UH in the 1981 regional and captured the first national title. A year later, down two games to none to the Trojans in the national final, the Rainbow Wahine staged a remarkable rally to more than get even.

200:

Oct. 29, 1982

15-17, 15-9, 15-13, 17-15 over UCLA

Behind All-Americans Deitre Collins and Kori Pulaski, Hawai'i overcame a 12-2 fourth-game deficit in the semifinals of the UOP Wendy's Classic, in Stockton, Calif. A night later, the Rainbows outlasted Pacific in the tournament final. Seven weeks later, they would come back against USC in the same Spanos Center to get their second national championship.

300:

Oct. 25, 1985

15-11, 15-11, 15-9 over UC Irvine

The match was 66 minutes of dominance but it didn't matter to the 669 sweaty fans at Klum Gym, who were extremely aware of Shoji's milestone. The late Pansy Matthews, grandmother of UH All-American Tita Ahuna, pulled out a huge "300 Win" sign in the final game and held it up until Aloha Point went down. Two years later, the core of that team and the addition of Olympian Teee Williams won Hawai'i's fourth title.

400:

Nov. 7, 1988

15-11, 13-15, 15-13, 11-15, 15-3 over Cal Poly-SLO

Williams went for 40 kills and 45 digs in a 3-hour slugfest at San Luis Obispo. After, the Rainbow Wahine admitted they knew what was at stake that night. Their inspiration was evident in the fifth-game blowout and their surge into the NCAA final, despite the loss of four starters from the 1987 championship team.

500:

Oct. 6, 1992

15-5, 17-15, 15-6 over Utah State

A week earlier, the celebratory cake remained in the training room as BYU-Hawai'i stunned a Rainbow Wahine team decimated by injuries. Hawai'i, its roster back up to nine in Logan, took out the Aggies behind Kenyatta Lovelace and Kristal Attwood. With the cake 3,010 miles away and looking a little green, Shoji celebrated with champagne and silly string.

600:

Sept. 14, 1996

15-11, 15-7, 15-7 over Cal

All-Americans Angelica Ljungquist and Robyn Ah Mow helped throw Shoji in the air — and catch him — when it was over. Three months later, they led the Rainbow Wahine to their first final four in eight years. "It won't take us eight more years to get in our next final four," Shoji promised after his team lost to Stanford in the NCAA final. He was right. Hawai'i has been back three times since.

700:

Oct. 30, 1999

15-3, 15-5, 15-10 over Fresno State

Hawai'i won its first 17 with Olympian Heather Bown before getting swept by Stanford in front of a soldout Stan Sheriff Center crowd. It won its next dozen with the same dominance the Bulldogs experienced that milestone night in Fresno — losing just four games in the process. Then, before another soldout home crowd and two wins away from hosting the NCAA Championship, the 'Bows were blindsided by Texas A&M in an NCAA regional.

800:

Nov. 27, 2002

31-29, 30-16, 30-18 over Utah

Shoji clinched his 14th 30-win season and became the fourth women's volleyball coach to hit 800 wins on the same sub-freezing night in Salt Lake City. The Rainbow Wahine would overcome the NCAA committee and Nebraska in Lincoln two weeks later behind All-Americans Lily Kahumoku and Kim Willoughby and advance to the final four in New Orleans. They could not overcome Stanford, which gave UH its only two losses of the season — the first in Hawai'i and the last in the Big Easy.

Note: Victories Nos. 300, 400, 500 and 600 were changed to different dates when UH reconfigured Shoji's record in the late 1990s to account for earlier discrepancies. The Advertiser century victories here are as they were originally celebrated and remembered.