Men's Volleyball 04.27.2010

ROAD WARRIORS BLOG: Season Ends With Loss To Stanford

Follow the Warrior volleyball team during its trip to Stanford, Calif., for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships this week. All week long HawaiiAthletics.com will feature a blog, "ROAD WARRIORS" chronicling the team's quest for its elusive first MPSF Tournament title. Top-ranked and No. 1 seed Stanford hosts the four-team tournament which begins with the semifinals, Thursday, April 29.

By: Derek Inouchi, Media Relations Director

Day 3: Thursday, April 29
12:15 a.m. PT - Back from the gym after a long day and disappointing ending. Stanford played great but we had missed opportunities especially at the end of Sets 2 and 3. We could've won both of those games and maybe the outcome would've been a different story. The difference of the match was the Cardinal were able to close out those games. UH had two set points and swings for the game in Set 3 but couldn't capitalize.

It was still a great season. This was pretty much the same team which went 9-18 last season and they were two wins away from the Final Four. But the future is bright for head coach Charlie Wade and the Warriors. Six seniors are gone, including starting middles Dragon Rawson and Steve Grgas and libero Ric Cervantes but back are All-Americans Jonas Umlauft and Joshua Walker. Setter Nejc Zemljak also has one full season of starting experience under his belt and Steven Hunt and Gus Tuaniga provide a solid core of returnees. Also Coach Wade and the coaching staff have a number of signees and walk-ons ready to join the 2011 squad.

It was a fun experience travelling with the team, albiet a short one. But you can see Coach Wade has this team going in the right direction and only good things are in store for the Warrior volleyball program. There were tears from some in the locker room but also fire in the eyes of those returning, hoping that there will be tears of joy come next year.

7:00 p.m. PT - At Maples Pavilion watching Cal State Northridge and BYU. Cougars lead 2-1 but Matadors winning handily in the 4th set. Its going 5 sets and the Warrior-Cardinal match will not begin at its 7:30 scheduled start. Crowd is slowly filing in. Good number of green-clad fans in the stands. Stanford students not here yet. They have a section reserved for them with no seats.

Will check back after the UH-Stanford match.

3:30 p.m. PT - Four hours till first serve between the Warriors and Cardinal. There are many storylines in this match-up.

- Can Stanford beat Hawai'i three times in one season?
- Will UH overcome its first-night hiccup on the road, which saw them lose its last four opening matches before winning the rematch between CS Northridge, USC, Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara.
- Stanford's roster features seven former Hawai'i high school players, including MPSF Player of the Year Brad Lawson (Iolani) and the Shoji brothers, Kawika (Iolani) and Erik (Punahou). All three are first team All-Americas.
- UH's season began with a road trip to Stanford (Jan. 15-16) and will end here in Stanford (Cardinal hosts both the MPSF and NCAA Championships).
- The teams have met twice in postseason play but not since the 1992 WIVA quarterfinals. The Cardinal won both meetings.

A number of Hawai'i media have made the trip to the Bay Area. In addition to the KFVE crew (director Aaron Iyomasa, graphics guy Steve Jackson, play-by-play John Fink, and color analyst Ryan Tsuji), Blaine Kauwe with ESPN1420 is here along with Stephen Tsai of the Honolulu Advertiser. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin's Cindy Luis did not travel but the SB will have a stringer covering the match.

Several loyal UH supporters including Charlie Wade's in-laws, associate coach Dan Fisher's wife Joni, and former Rainbow Wahine Jenn Carey, Jessicia Sudduth-Kaven, and Aven Lee are here to support the Warriors. It should be fun to see a large number of fans in green. No matter the sport, Hawai'i fans come out in force and they make their presence felt. If you live in the Bay Area, its not too late to come out and show your support.

Are you ready for some volleyball? Don't forget to tune into KFVE and ESPN1420 beginning at 4:30 p.m. HT. GO WARRIORS!

1:40 p.m. PT - The Warriors are in the middle of a one-hour serve-and-pass practice.

11:41 a.m. PT - It's GAME DAY! UH vs. Stanford in MPSF semifinals. The AVCA just announced their All-America teams and Jonas Umlauft was selected as Newcomer of the Year and to the first team. Josh Walker was named to the second team. Congrats to both of them! Both were grateful of the award when told of the news and thanked their teammates.

The team conducted a one-hour study hall session after breakfast. They will depart for a short practice which begins at 1:15 pm at Maples.

Day 2: Wednesday, April 28
2:00 p.m. PT - The Warriors finished a spirited two-hour practice at Maples Pavilion, also known as The Farm. The players were loose but at the same time focused at the task at hand. They are playing a tough Stanford team which beat them in straight sets both nights earlier this season. Talking to Dave Keifer, Stanford's Sports Information Director, he said a crowd of 1,500 is expected for tomorrow's semifinals. I'm sure they'll be a lot of Hawai'i folks in the stands wearing green. Its always fun to play on the road because there are usually a good number of UH fans in the stands, sometimes even out-numbering the home team.

Also stopping by practice to say hello was Cobey Shoji, Stanford's women's volleyball director of operations. Cobey's dad is Dave Shoji, head coach of the Rainbow Wahine whose sons, Kawika and Erik, play for the Cardinal. Dave will be in the stands tomorrow for the big match.

After practice, the vans broke off for lunch and the team will gather later for a film session, dinner, and another study hall session. The itinerary is very organized with assistant coach Shelton Tang making sure everything is in order.

If you live in the Bay Area, come on down for the match tomorrow. We'll need a lot of support as I hear the Stanford student section really gets into the match. Admission is general admission with ticket prices $10 adults and $5 students. For everyone in Hawai'i, KFVE will televise the match live at 4:30 p.m. HT and the match can also be heard on ESPN 1420 AM and over the internet at www.espn1420am.com.

10:15 a.m. PT - Good morning everyone from Palo Alto. The team woke up and had breakfast in the hotel before conducting a one hour study session. Some of the guys even found time for a quick dip in the pool before breakfast. Finals are around the corner and all of the players brought their books on this trip. This is a business trip and there is no time for sightseeing and shopping malls. Only volleyball and school work.

The team will practice for two hours at Maples Pavilion, site of its MPSF semifinal against the host Stanford Cardinal. It is also the same court where the Cardinal swept both matches against UH in January. But that seemed like an eternity and the Warriors are a different team since then. Jonas Umlauft, who was recently selected as MPSF Freshman of the Year, is on fire as of late and finished the season leading the league in kills.

Coach Charlie Wade has kept the team loose and brought prizes for impromptu trivia contests. One of the questions, "Who was the last UH player to lead the MPSF in any statistical category?" That was an easy one as most of the guys knew it was Ric Cervantes (digs) in 2008. The question that stumped everyone, "Prior to this year, who was the last team UH defeated in the playoffs?" No one remembered that is was Pacific in 2003.

Well, we're off to practice. We'll probably run into the KFVE crew who just arrived and are doing a site visit at Maples. Don't forget to tune in tomorrow on KFVE as the match will be televised live at 4:30 p.m. HT. Also, check out Nejc Zemljak's video blog on HawaiiAthletics.com. He will be providing daily updates on the road.

Day 1: Tuesday, April 27
11:08 p.m. PT - Flight to SFO went smooth and we drove 30 minutes to our hotel in Palo Alto. Like every trip this season, the team rented four mini-vans and each went their separate ways for dinner. Our van, driven by assistant coach Shelton Tang, included myself, Nejc Zemljak, Joe Strotman, and Justin Ching and we all agreed on a popular burger chain for our first meal on this trip.

From what we can see, the hotel seems very nice although to get to our rooms, we need to enter from the outside...and the temperature in the Bay Area is a chilly 50 degrees. We have a full-day tomorrow, with breakfast at 10 am, practice at 1 pm at Maples Pavilion, and dinner. Off to bed. See you in the morning.

12:00 p.m. HT - While waiting in the back of the Stan Sheriff Center ready to depart for the airport, it was discovered that the team's bus had a flat tire. It was the team's first major hurdle on this road trip. But coming to the rescue was a student dormitory shuttle. It was a funny sight to see the students and players switching buses. The students went off with a flat-tired bus, while the players crammed into the smaller dorm shuttle. But on the way we went and we made it to the airport in time for the 12:30 p.m. departure.

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ROAD WARRIORS BLOG: Season Ends With Loss To Stanford