Wednesday, November 4, 1998

Postseason berth
on line for UHH

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

A coach can't ask for anything more than to control her own postseason destiny.

Sharon Peterson knows that if her Vulcan volleyball team can get past Chaminade Friday night at McCabe Gym, Hawaii-Hilo will advance to next week's Pacific West Conference tournament.

Hawaii-Hilo (12-14, 6-7 PacWest), the defending conference champion, is one of four teams vying for the final three spots in the inaugural conference tournament. Also gunning for postseason spots are Alaska-Anchorage (11-16, 6-7), Montana State-Billings (7-10, 5-7) and Western Washington (12-13, 7-10).

Already qualified for postseason play are host Brigham Young-Hawaii, the No. 1-ranked team in Division II; Hawaii Pacific, which moved up a spot to No. 3 in yesterday's poll; Seattle Pacific, the West Division champion; and at-large teams Western New Mexico and Saint Martin's.

According to a conference official, Hawaii-Hilo could get in even if it loses to the Silverswords because of various tiebreakers. The one three-prong scenario that eliminates the Vulcans is a loss to Chaminade, a win by Western Washington over Simon Fraser and two wins by MSU-Billings over Western New Mexico.

The PacWest Tournament is scheduled for the Cannon Activities Center Nov. 12-14. BYU-Hawaii is the top seed and HPU will likely be No. 2.

RECORD WIN: Debbie Sant'Anna had 29 kills and Hai Yan Wang added 16 to lead Hawaii Pacific to a school-record 24th victory in women's volleyball last night.

The No. 3-ranked Sea Warriors defeated Chaminade, 15-7, 15-11, 11-15, 15-4, in a nonconference match at St. Andrew's Priory Gym.

HPU (24-3) finishes the regular season Friday at St. Andrew's against top-ranked BYU-Hawaii, the only team to defeat HPU this season.

Gerrine Sam Fong led the Silverswords (9-19) with 11 kills.

Chaminade hosts Hawaii-Hilo in a conference match Friday and nonconference match Sunday.

SILVA CITED: Junior hitter Arlete Silva, a key player in BYU-Hawaii's conference victory over Hawaii Pacific last week, was named the PacWest Player of the Week yesterday.

Silva had 19 kills and hit .441 against the Sea Warriors. For the week, Silva had 37 kills, 24 digs and 12 blocks.

Three other players from Hawaii were honorable mention choices:

HPU's Debbie Sant'Anna had a match-high 22 kills and set a school record with her 49th and 50th service aces in the loss to BYUH.

Hawaii-Hilo's Ginelle Palau had 19 kills and 17 digs in the victory over Chaminade.

BYU-Hawaii's Becky Laubach had 24 kills, hit .500 and had 16 blocks as the Seasiders beat the Sea Warriors twice.

HARRIERS OFF: The men's and women's teams from Hawaii-Hilo, Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade, and the men's team from BYU-Hawaii will compete in the NCAA Division II PacWest/West Region championships Saturday at Bellingham, Wash.

On the line are trips to the Division II nationals Nov. 23 at Lawrence, Kan. The top two men's teams and top three women's teams qualify for nationals, as do the top two men and women finishers from schools that did not qualify as a team.

Among the top runners from the Hawaii schools are: Christian Friis (HPU), Jesus Villavicencio (UHH), Eleazar Hernandez (UHH), Elinor Klang (HPU), Alethea Rebman (HPU) and Monique Mata (Chaminade).