Professional Documents
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WEDNESDAY
8/ 27/ 14
OLIVIA
MAGILL
SARAH
MENDOZA
2 0 14 PREVI EW
AIAW
SECOND
2 2
NCAA
SECOND
2 2
AIAW
SECOND
2 2
AIAW
THIRD
3 3
AIAW
THIRD
3 3
AIAW
CHAMPION
NCAA
CHAMPION
NCAA
CHAMPION
NCAA
CHAMPION
AIAW
THIRD
3 3
WINS
STAR-ADVERTISER PHOTOS
Theres always
excitement with a new
season. We have a lot of
people who have never
been on the floor on a
regular basis. I dont
know if thats exciting
but its a little scary.
T WAS the perfect stormfor Big West
volleyball last season.
The final week of play not only kept
Hawaiis quest for a 19th consecutive
conference title outright or shared
fromsinking, it also floated the postsea-
son boats of UC Santa Barbara and Cal
State Northridge.
A three-way tie meant having three
teams in the NCAA tournament, a first
since 2006 for what was once among the
premier conferences in the country.
The RainbowWahine got what they needed
when Long Beach State outlasted UC Santa Barbara
in five sets on Nov. 30. Coupled with sweeps of UC
Riverside and Cal State Fullerton on the final two
nights of the regular season, Hawaii breathed a col-
lective sigh of relief, finishing 13-3 in the BWC
standings along with UCSB and CSUN.
Long Beach State, UHs longtime nemesis-turned-
unlikely-savior, limped to an 11-5, injury-plagued
finish.
The question for 2014 is will it again take another
perfect storm to get multiple teams into the
postseason game or has the Big West re-estab-
lished itself?
THE NATIONAL PERCEPTIONappears to be a lit-
tle bit of both. Hawaii is the only conference mem-
ber ranked in the AVCA preseason Top 25, coming
in at a program-low17th. However, the three teams
behind the Wahine in the Big West poll all received
votes in the national rankings.
No question, a lot of people got a taste of vic-
tory and of success last season, said Brian Gimmil-
laro, whose Long Beach State teamwas picked
second behind UH. Those coaches and players
mostly are back.
I have no doubt that its going to again be a
strong conference. Certainly the teams that are
picked high in the upper half are all good, with the
bulk of their strength back.
I dont think were anywhere as good of a con-
ference as it once was. But we are getting better,
and were closer to it.
The conference members future and current
dominated the early days of the NCAA tourna-
ment, with Hawaii (two of its three as an independ-
ent), Long Beach State and Pacific winning a
combined six of the first 10 championships, and
the 49ers another two in 1993 and 1998. As late as
2004, the Big West had six teams selected for the
NCAA tournament but dropped to a one-bid league
in 2011 (Long Beach State) and 2012 (Hawaii, re-
turning after 16 seasons in the Western Athletic
Conference).
The national perception battle begins long be-
fore the first whistle of Sept. 26, the opening night
of conference play. It starts this Friday with presea-
son tournaments that lay the basis for the RPI that
is used in seeding the top 16 teams in the NCAA
tournament.
HAWAIIS SCHEDULE is not as ambitious as last
season, when opening with defending national
champion and preseason No. 1 Texas. But it will be
challenging for the young Wahine, with four
starters among the eight gone fromthe 25-5 squad.
They host three solid teams that went to the NCAA
tournament in Ohio (defending Mid-American
champion), San Diego State (Mountain West pre-
season fourth) and No. 25 Arizona State (Pac-12
preseason fourth).
Of the remaining eight Big West teams (Pacific
left for the West Coast Conference), Long Beach
State looks to have the toughest opening weekend.
The 49ers, receiving one first-place vote in the Big
West poll, are at No. 11 Illinois on Friday and face
No. 20 North Carolina and Southern Illinois on Sat-
urday in the Illini Invitational.
UCSB and CSUNalso received first-place votes in
the conference poll. The Gauchos open at the Col-
orado State Invitational, which features the host
Rams, Marquette and Virginia Commonwealth; the
Matadors are at the UNLV Invitational, playing the
host Rebels twice (avoiding conference foe UC
Riverside) and Western Kentucky.
THE HOPE around the league is for the Big West
to do well as a whole during the preseason so that
an in-conference loss doesnt drag down the RPI.
Hawaiis RPI remained high enough to be seeded
11th despite a bad loss at UC Davis last October..
CSUNadvanced to the second round of the
NCAA tournament for the first time in programhis-
tory, upsetting Colorado State. UCSB fell to
No. 9 San Diego, one of two nonconference teams
to defeat Hawaii last season.
Each coach understands that a strong schedule
not only helps their teambut, because of the RPI
formula, that of the conference as a whole. The
schedule is heavy with Pac-12 and West Coast
Conference matchups, particularly by the Big
Four at the top of the Big West poll.
Hawaii also has Oregon and UCLA coming in,
while Long Beach State hosts Oregon State, Saint
Marys and San Francisco. Cal State Northridge
travels to tournaments hosted by Arizona, Okla-
homa and San Diego, the latter where the Matadors
also play Stanford. UC Santa Barbara sees Loyola
Marymount at the Sac State Invitational and host
Cal at the Golden Bears tournament.
The scheduling game is tricky. Tough but not too
tough, beat opponents instead of getting beaten up.
Has the Big West done enough to get three or
four teams into the NCAA tournament this season?
Tune in Nov. 30 for the selection show.
NUMBER 8 10 1 3 11 5
NAME NIKKI TAI GINGER KEANI KALEI MEGAN
TAYLOR MANU-OLEVAO LONG PASSI GREELEY HUFF
HEIGHT 6-3 6-0 5-11 5-10 6-2 6-3
CLASS Sophomore Junior Junior Junior Freshman Freshman
HOMETOWN Honolulu Hilo Kihei, Maui Pearl City Riverside, Calif. Federal Way, Wash.
HIGH SCHOOL Kaiser Punahou Kamehameha-Maui Pearl City King Beamer
KEY STATS All-Big West, second Third in kills (229), Went 32-10 in sand National Junior College Press-Enterprise Four-year letter-winner
in kills (284), AVCA added 154 digs, as Wahine finished Player of the Year (2012) Player of the Year in volleyball and
sand All-American 17 blocks, 4 aces third nationally at College of Southern Idaho in volleyball basketball
To be a setter at Hawaii is akin to being in the po-
sitions Pantheon. Greatness is expected, the lineage
beginning with coach Dave Shoji and his All-America
setting hands at UC Santa Barbara.
Nahaku Brown, Joyce Kapuala Kaapuni, Martina
Cincerova, Cheri Boyer, Robyn Ah Mow-Santos,
Kanoe Kamanao RainbowWahine All-Americans
who have set the standards nationally and
internationally.
Sophomore Tayler Higgins and freshman
Kendra Koelsch are vying to replace
graduated senior Mita Uiato and her
Big West-leading 11.11 assist-per-set
average.
Higgins, who led Punahou to two
state championships, has the edge in
experience after playing in all 30
matches last season as a reserve.
She finished with 70 assists in 70
sets, a career-high 11 coming in
the crucial 3-2 win at UC Santa
Barbara.
Koelsch, Huntington Beach
Highs teamMVP and school
female athlete of the year,
has the edge in height by
4 inches. One of her up-
sides is she is a very good
blocker.
LAST SEASONS PERFECT STORM MAY SIGNAL
A RETURN TO GLORY DAYS FOR THE BIG WEST
I
KEY TO SUCCESS
OUTSIDE HITTER
In a word, consistency. The goal for
the hitters is not to just START the
match but to STAY there. The
pressure is on the returnees to be
as effective and steady as possible,
not just in hitting and blocking, but
when in the passing rotation. There
are talented newcomers ready for
the call when it comes. Like a
Chinese menu when selecting two
from Column A and one from
Column B, creating the best
combination likely will require
several return visits.
KEY TO SUCCESS
E BLOCKER
9 19
OLIVIA EMILY
MAGILL MAGLIO
6-1 6-2
Junior Freshman
okai Shoreline, Wash. Coquitlam, B.C.
Seattle Prep Pinetree
blocks Led Arizona in blocks Two-time Canadian
olo (15); as a freshman (114) Nationals All-Star
210) and a sophomore (119)
uation
arch.
cided to
ister as a
th 105
inciding in-
the 10-6
tion.
r 0.93
te is giving
ely on vol-
olokai Slide
o. The Rain-
n in 6-3
to sopho-
de, where
g time.
Hawaii is in a position of strength here
with two athletic and versatile middles.
Adolpho should continue to be a force
both on offense and defense. Magill
was underutilized on offense for the
Wildcats but wont be with the Rainbow
Wahine. She gets up quickly on the
attack and the block. Timing with the
setters is always critical and both have
connected well with Higgins and
Koelsch.
1990
28
6
1991
26
5
1992
15
12
1993
19
11
1994
25
5
1995
31
1
1996
35
3
1997
25
8
1998
32
3
1999
29
2
2000
31
2
2001
29
6
2002
34
2
2003
36
2
2004
30
1
2005
27
7
2006
29
6
2007
27
6
2008
31
4
2009
32
3
2010
29
3
2011
31
2
2012
27
3
2013
25
5
TOTAL
1,128
189
TEAM RECORD PTS.
1. Hawaii (5) 13-3 77
2. Long Beach State (1) 11-5 68
3. UC Santa Barbara (2) 13-3 63
4. CSUN (1) 13-3 60
5. UC Irvine 5-11 42
6. Cal Poly 6-10 34
7. UC Davis 6-10 25
8. Cal State Fullerton 4-12 24
9. UC Riverside 1-15 12
BIGWESTPOLL
First-place votes in parentheses
USA VOLLEYBALL
ALL-TIME GREAT COACH AWARD
NCAA AWARD
COACH OF 25TH ANNIVERSARY ALL-STAR TEAM
TAI
MANU-OLEVAO
TAYLER
HIGGINS
Options, options and more options.
An offense that was being built around sophomore outside hitter Nikki
Taylor has become somewhat of a jigsawpuzzle after Taylor sprained
her right (hitting) elbowover the summer and is out indefinitely. While
the 6-foot-3 All-Big West selection and AVCA sand All-American rehabs,
Hawaiis offense heads to a more conventional look using a true oppo-
site on the right and two left-side hitters predominately hitting on the
left. (In recent years, the left-side hitters had hit twice on the left, once
on the right, and the right-side hitter twice on the right, once on the left).
Multiple-choice questions meet multiple-choice answers. Go smaller
and more experienced? Then put juniors Tai Manu-Olevao (6 feet), also
an assistant teamcaptain, and Ginger Long (5-11) on the left and Keani
Passi (5-10), who redshirted last year after an All-America career at Col-
lege of Southern Idaho, on the right.
Go bigger and younger? Plug in freshmen Kalei Greeley (6-2) and/or
Megan Huff (6-3), the latter a converted middle, in the lineup. Both can
hit fromeither side as well as frombehind the 3-meter line.
NCAA
SECOND
2 2
NCAA
THIRD
3 3
NCAA
THIRD
3 3
NCAA
THIRD
3 3
COACH OF
THE YEAR
ALL-TIME
WINNINGEST
COACH
KEY TO SUCCESS
SETTER
NUMBER 7 2
NAME TAYLER KENDRA
HIGGINS KOELSCH
HEIGHT 5-9 6-1
CLASS Sophomore Freshman
HOMETOWN Honolulu Huntington Beach, Calif.
HIGH SCHOOL Punahou Huntington Beach
KEY STATS Played in all 30 matches, Lettered in indoor
third in assists (72), and sand volleyball
added 40 digs, 5 aces and surfing
The setter runs the show and for the
young Hawaii team much depends on
how quickly Higgins and Koelsch are
able to take command under the bright
lights. The real possibility is for a
modified 6-2 system where Koelsch will
play front row, taking advantage of her
blocking abilities, and Higgins subbing
into the back row. Connecting on the
middle attack and from the 3-meter line
will be crucial.
PULL OUT INSIDE PAGE. CUT EDGES AS SHOWN.
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ABOUT THIS SECTION
TEAM W L PTS. 2013
1. Penn State (32) 34 2 1,417 1
2. Texas (11) 27 3 1,389 3
3. Stanford (7) 27 6 1,356 5
4. Washington 30 3 1,280 4
5. USC (2) 29 6 1,272 6
6. Wisconsin (8) 28 10 1,264 2
7. Nebraska 26 7 1,149 7
8. Purdue 23 12 980 8
9. BYU 24 7 924 13
10. Florida 28 4 897 15
11. Illinois 18 15 813 16
12. Minnesota 28 7 802 10
13. Florida State 26 8 695 11
14. San Diego 26 4 628 9
15. Missouri 35 1 547 12
16. Michigan State 23 12 494 14
17. Hawaii 25 5 481 16
18. Colorado State 28 2 472 21
19. Kentucky 22 9 452 20
20. North Carolina 27 5 378 25
21. Duke 28 5 361 22
22. Kansas 26 8 232 17
23. Creighton 23 9 184 NR
24. American 32 3 134 19
25. Arizona State 19 14 129 NR
AVCATOP25
First-place votes in parentheses
Others receiving votes:
Oregon 115, Oklahoma 114, California 111, Marquette
102, Arizona 60, Iowa State 59, LSU 52, Colorado 32,
UC Santa Barbara 26, Michigan 23, UCLA 23, CSUN 19,
Long Beach State 11, New Mexico 9, UT San Antonio 3