Rainbows set to take "the roof" to Cardinal.
Photo by Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin

It's not just that the Cardinal hold a 13-3 edge over the Rainbows in the last eight seasons. It's that the edge is more like a nagging paper cut that stings at the least opportune moment.

Hawaii has never seemed to be able to beat Stanford when it counted:

• In 1989, a five-game loss to Stanford in the championship of the NCAA Selection Tournament prevented Hawaii from reaching the NCAA Final Four for the first time ever.
• In 1990, two losses to the Cardinal was the tie-breaker that kept the 18-9 Rainbows out of the playoffs.
• In 1992, Stanford served aloha ball on the coaching career of Hawaii's Alan Rosehill with a 60-minute sweep in the first round of the league playoffs.

"This is a real important series for us for a number of reasons," said Hawaii coach Mike Wilton, whose team has won its last 10 outings. "It's the last two conference games and we would like to try and go undefeated in conference. It doesn't happen very often.

"For sure Stanford is the strongest team we're playing in the last four games of the regular season. It's an opportunity to prepare for the playoffs as well as begin to create a playoff atmosphere for our team and our fans."

Hawaii, which has clinched the Pacific Division title for a second straight year, will host a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation first-round playoff match on April 20. Should the Rainbows win, they will host the MPSF Tournament April 26-27; the winner goes to the Final Four, the runner-up more than likely will earn the at-large berth in the national championship tournament.

The Cardinal, winners of their last six matches, are jockeying to keep their current playoff position as the third-place team in the Pacific Division. A third-place finish would send Stanford to Long Beach State for the first round, a team the Cardinal beat March 8; a fourth-place finish sends Stanford to No. 2 UCLA.

"This is a real good team we're going to be facing," Wilton said of Stanford. "They've got big guys who can hammer the ball and they're a good blocking team. It's going to be a great challenge for us and we're looking forward to it."

Stanford, which suffered through a four-match losing skid in February, has rebounded behind the hitting of Matt Fuerbringer. The 6-foot-7 opposite is third in the MPSF with a 6.89 kill average, ranked behind Pacific's Greg Wakeham (7.90) and Hawaii's Yuval Katz (7.87).

The Cardinal also feature junior setter Stewart Chong, a Kamehameha Schools product who is third in conference assists. His favorite targets have been Fuerbringer and 6-8 sophomore blocker Keenan Whitehurst. The latter is hitting .438 in conference.

Whitehurst was named the MPSF Player of the Week yesterday. He hit for average at .438 in wins over Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. He had 29 kills in nine games and 17 blocks, including 14 block assists against LMU that tied a conference season high.

Excluding the 5-10 Chong, Stanford starts a lineup averaging 6-feet-6. The Cardinal's size and hitting ability (.335 as a team) concerns Wilton.

The Rainbows will welcome their 100,000th fan tonight, becoming the first men's college team to draw that many fans.

With a potential of seven home matches remaining, Hawaii could break the UH Wahine's national record of 145,006.

Hawaii vs. Stanford

Matchup: No. 1 Hawaii (21-1, 17-0)
vs. No. 4 Stanford (13-5, 10-5)
Tonight: 7 p.m.
Saturday: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Special Events Arena
Broadcast: Live on KFVE-TV (channel 5)
and KCCN radio (1420 AM)

The UH men's volleyball booster club (486-4811) is making travel arrangements and travel packages are also available through Jackie's Travel (593-9557).