Wahine won’t take Spartans lightly

There's patience. And then there's Craig Choate.

The San Jose State women's volleyball coach's résumé includes an achievement few have attained: beating Hawaii on the first try. It came during Choate's rookie season with the Spartans, in the Big West opener on Sept. 14, 1993, when holding off the visiting Rainbow Wahine in five.

San Jose State at No. 15 Hawaii When: Today, 5 p.m. Where: Stan Sheriff Center TV: Live, KFVE (Ch. 5) Radio: Live, 1420-AM Gametracker: www.HawaiiAthletics.com Tickets: $3-$19 Series: Hawaii leads, 54-4.

Twenty-eight meetings later, Choate is still waiting for victory No. 2. Just as the rest of the volleyball world is waiting to see if 15th-ranked Hawaii will lose a second Western Athletic Conference match this year. New Mexico State snapped UH's WAC winning streak at 114 matches on Oct. 13.

"I'm sure it gave the other teams hope," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said after his team's win over Idaho on Friday night.

It didn't change Choate's mind-set.

"So they finally lost one after 200 years. So what?" Choate said. "They are still the best team in the conference and everybody knows that."

The Spartan coach also knows that his team will have to play much better than it did Wednesday when it outlasted Fresno State in five, 30-28, 30-23, 16-30, 25-30, 15-13. It was San Jose State's sixth five-gamer this year, and only the second time the Spartans have hung on to win.

SJSU scored the final two points of the match, breaking the 13-13 tie on Jennifer Senftleben's 13th kill and a Bulldog hitting error. The Spartans were outblocked 12.5-5 but pulled it out due in part to libero Jessie Shull's 36 digs, and a season-high 17 digs by freshman defensive specialist Kristal Tsukano, a Kamehameha Schools product.

"I didn't like much of what happened at Fresno," Choate said. "We didn't play as hard as usual. I did like that we played hard enough to win."

The Spartans also got pretty efficient serving in the 2-hour, 27-minute victory over the Bulldogs. They had five aces to three service errors, while Fresno State had four aces to 14 errors.

When facing the Wahine on Sept. 30, the Spartans had 10 aces, four by Shull. Hawaii led 29-27 in Game 3, but needed three swings at match point before finally subduing San Jose State, 30-20, 30-25, 31-29.

"They were hard to beat," Hawaii sophomore hitter Jamie Houston said after yesterday's light practice. "We almost went to four. But we took care of things on our side. I think that as long as we take care of us, of our side, we're fine."

The last outing against the Spartans pretty much resembled the Wahine's match against Idaho. Hawaii's offense relied on its two left-side hitters, Houston and senior Sarah Mason, who led the team in kills, with junior middle Juliana Sanders turning in an efficient double-digit kill night.

The middles also shored up a tough block. Sanders and junior Kari Gregory were in on five of the team's 12 blocks against the Spartans last month, and six of the team's 13 blocks against the Vandals.

Hoping to get in on the block party today against her hometown team is freshman Amber Kaufman. She had three block assists against Idaho, "but I was terrible until the third game," she said. "I really need to improve my blocking."

The Wahine also want to improve on maintaining intensity through the entire match. Hawaii had a quick start (8-0) Friday in Game 1 but needed to battle the rest of the night.

"I thought we were pumped to play, but after we won that first game pretty good, the energy level dropped," Houston said.

"I think going 10 days without a game made it a little hard to get back into it," Kaufman said. "I think we could be a little more intense out there. San Jose gave us a hard time up there. They're good and they showed it."

Focus will be the key, according to Shoji.

"We can't get complacent, can't afford to let down," he said. "Teams usually perform pretty well here. If you can't get excited about playing with our crowd and our atmosphere, I don't know what will get you excited."

Notes: Hawaii has two more regular-season home matches following tonight's contest: Louisiana Tech on Nov. 10 and New Mexico State on Nov. 12. ... The Wahine have 54 wins over the Spartans, the most against any single opponent. ... Kamana'o, with 5,802 career assists, is 72 away from replacing Colorado State's Analisa Saylor as the all-time WAC assist leader. The NCAA record is 6,650, held by Alabama-Birmingham's Tammy Robertson.