Wednesday, November 25, 1998
Owls get another
shot at Wahine
in quarters
Rice, Wyoming, Utah and
By Cindy Luis
San Jose State advance in the
WAC volleyball tournament
Star-BulletinLAS VEGAS -- How would Hawaii like its Rice served up tonight? Not too sticky, not too hot and not too upsetting to the Wahine's Western Athletic Conference Tournament title aspirations.
If anything, No. 7 Hawaii is hoping the Owls will be too tired to put up much of a fight after last night's victory over New Mexico. Rice needed a career-high 26 kills from senior blocker Tiffany Carrethers and 2 hours and 19 minutes to subdue the Lobos, 15-6, 16-18, 15-8, 15-13, at the MGM Grand Garden.
It will be the second time in three years that Hawaii (26-2) and Rice (23-9) will meet in the tournament quarterfinals. In 1996, the Wahine defeated the Owls, 15-10, 15-6, 15-6.
"It's hard to get a feel for them based on this match," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "They have two middles (Carrethers and Libra Taylor) who hit the high, quick set. The concern is about timing our block.
"I'm hoping we can get the pace up and hope the speed of our attack is faster than what we saw tonight."
The Rice-New Mexico match was the longest of the opening day of the tournament, a day that went according to seeding. The Nos. 3 and 4 Pacific teams advanced -- Utah and San Jose State -- as did their counterparts from the Mountain -- Rice and Wyoming.
It was an especially long day for the Owls, whose plane was delayed out of Houston for nearly three hours Monday night. They didn't arrive here until after midnight; they finished last night's match at 1 a.m. Houston time.
"Tonight's game was not representative of how we've been playing," Rice coach Julio Morales said. "We were sluggish. We were flat. Don't know if it was the jet lag, the time difference or what.
"To be honest, we haven't seen much tape on Hawaii. We know they're a very good team and we hope that we will be able to play our game against them."
The key matchup may be in the middle between the 6-foot Carrethers and Hawaii's 6-3 Heather Bown. Shoji said he hopes to use his height advantage at the other middle spot, where UH's Veronica Lima or Jennifer Roberts, both 6-2, will go against the 5-11 Taylor.
"I think Hawaii has a lot more weapons than we did," Lobo coach Laurel Brassey-Iversen said. "I don't think they'll have much problem with Rice. We didn't have any middle attack and Hawaii has a great one. It should be a good matchup, but Hawaii shouldn't have a problem."
Paula Feathers and Adaline Bouldin each had 19 kills for New Mexico, which ended its year at 9-18.
The Wahine practiced yesterday after taking two days off. Sophomore hitter Jessica Sudduth practiced for the first time in two weeks yesterday, but won't start tonight, but Shoji hopes to get her some playing time.
San Jose State 3, Southern Methodist 0: The Spartans (20-10) gave coach Craig Choate his 100th career victory at the school as well as something even more important: win No. 20 for the season. They go for No. 21 against Mountain champion Colorado State (4:30 p.m HST).
"We got to 20 and that was a goal," Choate said. "We need that if we want to think about the NCAA Tournament.
"For us, it doesn't matter who we play. We're going hard or we're going home."
Darcy Walker led the Spartans with 18 kills and 12 digs. Janna Newsom had a team-high 10 kills for the Mustangs (14-17).
"We played (BYU) earlier in the season and just got blown out of the water," Wyoming coach Susan Judge said. "But we are a different team now and maybe they are, too. I don't care if a team is ranked. Volleyball is volleyball."
The Cowgirls got 13 kills apiece from Anne Stohrer and Melody Friehauf. Friehauf also was in on seven of Wyoming's 10 blocks, which helped account for the Bulldogs' dismal .094 hitting percentage.
Shanus Bennett led Fresno State with 14 kills, but hit .000. Adrienne Sankey, recovering from a sprained that sidelined her the past two matches, added 13 kills and 10 digs.
Utah faces UNLV today (11 am. HST) as it attempts to get to the tournament quarterfinals for the first time in three tries.
"Every win is important at this point," Utah coach Beth Launiere said. "Every win gets us closer to the NCAA Tournament. Right now our goal is to get to the quarterfinals."
Kalani Tonga was the only Ute in double-kill figures with 15, hitting .419. Marci King led TCU with 11 kills.
Against UNLV, the Utes will have to contend with a team that considers this a home match. The Rebels were 13-1 at Lied Gym this season, winning their last 11.
"We see this as an extension of our home court," UNLV coach Deitre Collins said.
It was quite a change for Collins who, at this time last year, was already preparing for the 1998 season. UNLV finished 9-18 overall and 2-12 in the Pacific Division to miss the WAC Tournament, which was being played less than a mile from the UNLV campus.
Yesterday, Collins had the day off -- sort of. By finishing second in the Mountain Division, UNLV earned a first-round bye and met Utah in today's first quarterfinal (11 a.m. HST).
"I'm tired, but it's a better tired than last year," the former All-American blocker for Hawaii said. "It's been a busy five days for us -- a successful five days that helped avoid some sleepless nights."
Last week, the Rebels (22-7, 11-3) knocked off the top two teams in the Mountain -- Colorado State and Wyoming. It was the first time UNLV had beaten either team.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
