UW flex their Pac-10 Muscle against Hawaii

It was hard to believe that about two weeks ago the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine were the number three team in the country while watching them get dismantled by the University of Washington in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night.  The Wahine had no response the variety and power of the UW attack.  They weren't big enough, weren't fast enough, weren't composed enough and just flat out weren't good enough to compete with the unranked and unseeded Huskies who finished fifth in the Pac-10 and suffered eight losses at the hands of conference foes. 

 Credit Where Credit is Due
UW played a fine match.  They used the speed and athleticism of Biannca Rowland to confuse Hawaii's blockers, then switched up to the feature the power of Becky Perry before finally crossing up the bewildered middles with Kindra Carlson attacking from the back row.  Jenna Hagglund again had a fantastic match leading her team to a .328 hitting percentage and there is little doubt that UW is playing their best volleyball of the season.  Few would argue after watching the last two matches that red shirt freshman libero Jenna Orlandini is the real deal as well.  UW have a good thing going right now and a lot of momentum coming out of a dominating win.  That's a good thing, because they are going to need it.  More on that later.

Being Hawaii is Just Not Good Enough Anymore
Hawaii did not look ready to play.  WAC player of the year Kanani Danielson hit just .176 and was such a non-factor that she was moved to the right side in the third set.  Senior setter Dani Mafua looked on the verge of a breakdown at times and just looking at the UH team made some fans wonder if the University of Hawaii even bothered with an off season conditioning program.  The large contingent of Hawaii fans had every right to feel a bit short changed by the product that came to Seattle this weekend.  The fact that this team was ranked as high as number two in the country this season seems to have had far more to do with the reputation of the program and little to do with the quality of the team.  Volleyball on the mainland has come a long way in the last 10 years and this weekend may just prove that it is no longer good enough to just be Hawaii anymore. 

Level of Competition
In hindsight, the writing was on the wall last night when UH struggled at times with lowly Portland State last night.  The tendency for Hawaii fans was to chalk the lackluster performance up to a combination of anxiety, travel and an overachieving Portland State squad.  The Wahine did not rise to the occasion against Washington and looked very much like the same team that struggled with Portland State, but facing a much stronger opponent.  The truth is that Portland State is much more in line with the level of competition that the Wahine have seen over the course of their undefeated Western Athletic Conference schedule.  They had no answer for a quality opponent like the University of Washington, and Washington was far from intimidated by the Wahine after banging heads with the likes of Cal and Stanford this season.  One could fathom that being in the WAC puts Hawaii at a severe recruiting disadvantage and leaves them relying on homegrown talent like Danielson and Mafua, who may have all the potential in the World, but are not developing the same way at Hawaii as they would against the competition that a Pac-10, Big-12 or Big-10 school would have to offer. 

So much for the green koolaid
After having read about Danielson for the last three years and listening to a number of UH matches on the Internet, I was starting to believe that she may just be the best thing that has come out of Hawaii since L&L Drive-in.  After seeing her in person this weekend, I am starting to wonder if watching the Wahine beat up on WAC opponents has warped the Hawaiian volleyball communities vision of what a great player is.  Kanani is impressive physically, but she is undeveloped.  She looked young and vulnerable on the court tonight.  She looked like she had potential, but so does every u16 that you see at the Junior Olympics.  She has a lot of promise, but little refinement and little poise.  Lack of consistent big match experience may have cost her the opportunity to play overseas and may cost her a shot at the US national team.  If her career fizzles after this weekend, I fear that will do little to promote the UH recruiting efforts, even in the islands. 

UW move on
It seems a bit unfair that the reward Washington earned by upsetting (technically) Hawaii is a Friday night match against #2 Nebraska.  Is it too much to hope that they get to face two horribly overrated opponents in a row?   If they play the way they played tonight, Nebraska may not need to be overrated to fall to the upset minded Huskies.