It's April? Already?!!

I haven’t written in awhile, lots going on. Here’s some catching up:
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It Really Is Good!
This was my first time singing in the choir for the Easter season which included singing in the Good Friday Night service. It was fun; we praised the Lord with song and enjoyed a moving performance by the Drama Team. One couple witnessed their daughter receiving Christ into her life.

The drama was centered around the song, “Weight of the World.” The second verse and chorus: There are times I forget/ that the blood that was shed/ was for me and the weight of my world/ God is there right by my side/ the times I dance the times I cry/He bore the weight of my world. The song, of course, speaks to the things that can bear down on us in this world, the worries, the cares, the guilt, etc, and a piece of what it meant that Jesus died on the cross. He took all of that stuff upon himself, though he had none of that in his own life, took it with him to the cross and died for them. The second part of it was the resurrection that we celebrate on Easter morning when Jesus conquered death and with it all of those cares and worries and we can take comfort in that.

One of the short videos that were shown moved me. The title of it is “God Sent.” I’ve found it on the web and will post the link at the end of the entry if you’d like to see the demo of it. I liked it enough that I’m considering the purchase of a copy of it. It’s under “Easter Themed Videos with words.” Here are some of those words, talking about whom we need and whom it is that God sent: To those who cannot speak for themselves, God sent an advocate and high priest/ to those who are alone, God sent Emmanuel, “God With Us”/ to those whose lives have been filled with torment, God sent the Prince of Peace. The video has more in it connecting the names in the Bible referring to Jesus Christ to what they mean for us.
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Then Easter was on March 23rd this year, rather early. Did you miss it? Someone said it was early because of it being a leap year. I was up at 5:30, Mom and I made our way to church and yes, it was also fun!

Every year, weather permitting, KUC holds its Easter Sonrise Service outside on the lawn on the church grounds. The hand bell choir started things off; I love the sounds of the h.b.c. Chris Ikeda is usually in the group but took a break so he could take pictures of his new bride with the bells. We had the privilege of hearing Randy Hongo give his testimony, which included images of a PanAm shoulder bag and a pocket protector, and then he sang while our hula dancers performed.

The voice choir splits in two and spends the service listening from the 2nd floor lanai when not singing. Susie looked across at the other half of the choir all in white and said, “Don’t they look like angels?” Well, yes, they did! Later, Jackie said, “We only get to do this [watch from above] once a year.”
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The little-er girl in red is Gracie. Finally as church news, KUC held a child dedication service couple weeks ago. I think it was 9 young children that were blessed by Pastor Peter. A family I had met just a couple months ago as I returned to my home at KUC dedicated their baby girl Gracie. The last child was a baby boy named Noah. Noah slept soundly as his mother held him in front of the congregation. As part of the dedication, Pastor Peter had looked up each child’s name. What does “Noah” mean? Rest.
Noah at rest.

I didn’t really do these events justice. It’s difficult to explain what it all means on a short entry.

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The Lone Star
The Warrior Volleyball team has two more matches for the regular season at Pepperdine. Last week, they played their last home matches against BYU, a formidable team as they held the #1 spot for weeks. On Thursday night, BYU took the match in 4 games. The Warriors fought valiantly but didn’t make it by an inch.

Friday night wasn’t much different, except that BYU swept UH. It was senior night so in UH fashion, we acknowledged the 5 BYU seniors. Then came the celebration of our lone senior, Jake Schkud. I think Schkud felt strange being the only one but he took it all in. His parents and sisters were introduced and also a bunch of Beckwiths lined up to congratulate Schkud. He was literally buried in lei. The families started the pile, then his teammates lavished more lei on Schkud to where he couldn’t see. Carney tried to smash the lei down for him, then more teammates came out with more lei. Schkud couldn’t escape.

They showed the senior video starring Schkud. It was interesting because they chose classical music to accompany it. I was trying to figure out what piece it was ‘cuz I have the feeling I should know it. It was a nice touch. Usually to cap the video is a picture of the seniors together, so what I deem to be in Schkud fashion, Schkud posed with the volleyball, reclined on the floor. I say it was in his fashion ‘cuz Schkud’s the same guy that two years ago, shaved part of his hair off to imitate Al Scates, the UCLA coach, when UCLA came to play. Schkud seems like a really fun guy.
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Home Not Quite Alone
Mom, Dad and Brother went to Vegas again, this time leaving 5 cats and a dog to take care of me. Dad’s still waiting for the time that I go with them but I don’t know how to tell him that I don’t really care to go to Vegas. I’ve been there 4 times with 4 different groups of people. I would only go if I could see a show ‘cuz that’s one thing I haven’t done there yet. The last time I went I wanted to see Bette Midler’s show but nobody I went with wanted to go, what bums.

Mudge getting in a good stretch. So, 2 of the cats are my brother’s. The last time they went to LV, his cats came to our house. Then I had to lock up my 2 cats in the bedroom with me and let his 2 have the house at night. He’s got 2 of the ‘fraidiest cats ever. During the day, they camped out under my bed which is why I had to let them have the house at night or else they wouldn’t venture out to eat. And they’re huge. I mean enormous. Well, to be fair, Mudgie’s just got a lot of hair but Honey Girl’s just fat. Take my word for it, I’m not exaggerating when I say that when H.G. runs, the whole house shakes.

Hanging with Charis. This time, H.G. and Mudge stayed at Brother’s place so I went over there occasionally. It’s just too much to load ‘em up these days. I stayed in my parent's room with the big bed and all the pets at night. The 3 cats all took a corner of the bed and lucky me was left with a corner of the bed myself. The dog stayed on the floor in his watermelon bed. He mostly behaved the whole time and the cats let him live. I love having the big bed; I pile all the pillows, add my pillows, and relax. Not much more to report here.
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No, I Wasn’t Sold At the Fair
Since they were off island, I went to the Made in Hawai‘i Gift Fair on my own. I wasn’t impressed much this time. I could make most of the stuff myself and there weren’t many booths this time. I liked a shirt but it was about $50 bucks and nothing really fancy. I liked a bag but it was about $70 bucks and still not worth it. I watched a guy in a wheelchair painting by holding the brush in his mouth and the piece looked beautiful, better than I could do at this time probably. I think his booth was called “This Abled Person.” I didn’t see a piece of his that I really liked and really, my walls are full and so I wouldn’t be able to give his work justice. I can’t wait to have a house of my own with lots of wall space for art, maybe even a whole room of just art and books. Anyways…

The clay flower vials. I did find a few things that I liked very much and could afford. Mom has a rose plant that produces gorgeous blooms and so I got her a flower vial. The vial is wrapped in clay fashioned with color and a kanji stamp. I got one for Dad, not that he likes flowers but that he would be represented in this way. Mom’s one is red because that’s her favorite color and the kanji is for “love.” I didn’t have many choices by the time I went to the fair so I was lucky that the color and kanji came together in that way for Mom’s. Dad’s one says “long life” and is yellow which I think is still ideal for him. I haven’t given it to them yet so don’t spoil the surprise! Added to the special-ness, for me, is that they were one of the crafts at the fair that I thought were most unique, ones that I don’t generally see at other craft fairs, helping to make them worth their price.

Another rather unique craft product was at a hair station. The station had scrunchies that were fancied up with jeweled decorations added, fancied hair clips and the like. The ones I bought were these combs that could be used in multiple ways. Let me attempt to explain: two hair combs are paired up facing each other and attached by crisscrossed elastic bands. The bands and combs are all dressed up with beads of different sizes and shapes. The two combs can be used to fix a quick and easy yet fancy ponytail or be used to hold a bun in place or other ways. The lady selling them had hairpieces to demonstrate some of the uses; I should have taken a picture of them to show what I’m talking about but in anyway it’s a craft that I found quite unique and useful; if you’ve seen all the hair I have you’d agree. The lady demonstrated a ponytail on me. The combs came at a reduced price for buying three and by chance I found three that I liked or I wouldn't have bought any. I don’t know that I’ll keep all three or gift two of them but I’m at least keeping the white one for myself.


I thought I was done then. I cruised around one more time, evaluating the different things I saw. Then I had to look at one more jewelry booth. This one made use of a lot of pearl and shell material, rather beautiful. The only reason I had bought anything at all from there was that my eyes fell upon a pair of shell earrings engraved in the image of monstera. I’ve come to like the look of monstera very much and so I bought the earrings which I could afford at this time.

The best part of the fair was that I ran into the mother and sister of a high school friend. I had recognized first the designs printed on the shirts and things because the mother had gifted some to a group of us back in intermediate, a shirt and two bags of which I still have. Then I recognized the mother; it had been our graduation when I had last seen my friend and her family. The mother told me how my friend is doing up in NV and such. Then she had the sister write down the number for me. Then she had the sister call my friend and I was to leave a voicemail but my friend answered. I tried to be quick because we’d waken her up from a nap but it was so good.

To explain the feeling a little, this friend and I had a somewhat fragile friendship back in high school and there are things of which I could hold against her from that time. By this point, I’ve chosen to let go of all of that, not only with her but with other people as well. It’s just not worth my time to hold onto it and it wasn’t so terrible that I couldn’t forgive and forget.

And so it felt good to hear her voice and to hear her say that she had just been thinking of me not too long ago. She couldn’t remember who she was talking to but she had asked about me and had gotten no answer. I let her go back to napping and gave my info to her sister to relay. I hope I hear from her again. I love reconciliations and reunions.
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So that’s a little of what I’ve been up to. I apologize for the fuzzy pictures. Mahalo.

To view the "God Sent" video.

High Hopes Crashing Down…

It’s been kinda crazy so I haven’t been paying close attention to the volleyball as I usually do. I’m just realizing this as I’m listening to the second match between the #14 UH Warriors and the #12 USC Trojans. The Trojans won the first match last night, 30-22, 24-30, 30-26, 30-24. Looking at the box scores from last night…not pretty.

So I’m listening to the match on the radio because they’re at USC again tonight. Game 1 went to Hawai‘i, 30-28. Then they got slaughtered in games 2 and 3, scoring just 16 and 17 respectively. They’re fighting back here in game 4, trying to take it to a fifth game. I looked up the USC roster and if I remember correctly, they only graduated one senior last year who wasn’t really a starter; just by that, they should be a really strong team. They’ve got strong seniors and juniors this year with lots of experience: the lefty Schellenberg, steady-setter Killian, the fiery Figueroa, the quirky Matt Anderson. Pavlovich, Current and Vernon have had game time experience. They picked up a couple of top Hawai‘i prospects in McKibbin (Punahou) and Tri Bourne (Academy of the Pacific). Plus 22 others on the roster of whom I am sure there is some surprise talent.

[Hawai‘i has just amazingly taken game 4, 32-30, and is going into game 5, still playing to win!]

Then I looked at the national rankings. Hawai‘i is currently 14th, USC is 12th. I was expecting USC to be a little higher with the fire power they brought back this year. In the MPSF, we’re battling them for 8th place. Next I see that Northridge (CSUN), who is usually at the bottom of the MPSF and the national rankings, are tied for first with Penn State! What?!! And Loyola-Chicago (LUC) just dropped off the national rankings, what?! A few weekly polls ago, UH had dropped off the national also. So, with Penn State and BYU generally dominating the polls this year, a general powerhouse like UH and the quickly-building LUC dropping in and out of the polls, and the low-ranking for the past several seasons CSUN at the top nationally, um, it’s a crazy year, a very volatile competitive year. I have no idea who’s going to win the MPSF or the Nationals, it’s anyone’s game at the moment.

AND, looking at the rest of UH’s schedule, it’s very possible that UH might not make the MPSF. I am saying this as a very optimistic loyal UH fan. The top 6 make it automatically while 7 and 8 plays to enter the tournament. Even if they win tonight, they’ll be in 8th for the MPSF. Next, UH remains on the road to visit current #1 CSUN, then home for BYU who had been battling Penn State for first for most of this season, and finishing off on the road at Pepperdine at #5.

So, we still have a chance however slim it may be. A couple years ago, UCLA struggled most of the season to win it all, so…. I don’t know, it’s a little hard to be optimistic this year.

HAWAI‘I WINS, HAWAI‘I WINS, HAWAI‘I WINS!!! 17-15 in extra play. Unbelievable, great.

So the full sentence is… high hopes crashing down to float on the surface towards the edge of a very high waterfall.

I hope we survive the drop!
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And just a note: on the side, one of the link groups I've started to put up is for "Featured Entries." These are ones that I hope you would not miss reading so if it's there, please check out those entries. Well, it's my blog so I think every entry is meaningful, but, you know... Mahalo!

[Picture of Schkud by UH Athletics]

Happy Leap Year Day!

Oh, it's not a national holiday? A 5th Grader question a few months ago was ‘how many days are in a leap year?’ To his credit, the guy knew that it was a one day difference, umm…but he didn’t know if that made it 364 or 366. Hmm.

It’s gonna be a bunch of things today. First, I wanna say that I am happy at the moment. Blank Slate’s gonna laugh ‘cause we just had a long conversation recently about happiness but that would take a whole ‘nother entry to go into. I will say that I am so grateful and glad for two recent emails I received.

The first was from Ripple, a good friend from the WU days. I have thought of and missed Ripple every so often. Aren’t memories just wonderful at times? It amazes me that after all these years of separation thinking of Ripple still puts a smile on my face. Good friends are hard to come by and Ripple was there for me through many sleepless nights [in studio], 3 a.m. air guitar, KIX wars, music lessons for me about the good bands like Foo Fighters, the L.A. ‘Doy-ers,’ and even the 6-foot bridge models. We had our rough patches and getting through mini-crises together, as all good friendships do; those may be the most precious moments when a relationship is tested and strengthened. I have replied to Ripple and hope to hear from him again. I am anxious to hear how he is.

The second was from a friend that goes way back to the hanabata days of kindergarten, First Friend [nn]. I remember First Friend as the first person at school to befriend me. Most everyone else came into kindergarten having known each other from preschool; I didn’t go to preschool. Hence, the nickname First Friend. It very well could have been Higs, we were all friends back then, but I have the feeling that it was indeed First Friend. After my family had moved and I changed schools, First and Higs kept in touch with me through many letters and to my complete surprise, First showed up at my graduation with a lei; it was handmade and I tried to preserve it as long as I could. First has given me news that Higs has married and so Higs may also be referred to as J.Craig; it’s the same person. It sounds like First is doing very well and I am glad for her. I haven’t gotten back to First yet, but I will be sending you a personal email soon. I am so glad that you received my letter!

While on the topic of old friends, they’ve just been popping up lately. Kris and I had our annual catch-up session couple weeks ago, hoping I will make it at least a quarterly catch-up, Kris has been good about wanting to see me and I have been bad though I care for her well, I need to start showing it much better. It’s always good fun talking with Kris. Before that, I had dinner with MirrorMan. I had cooked for him years ago and so he has finally repaid the turn with a meal cooked by him, it was good! And we watched ‘Miracle,’ it was good! MirrorMan is off to the Air National Guard soon and I am so proud of him, it is good! Then this past Sunday at church, after all the activities were done, I saw my dear friend Villa! I had had no idea where she has been the past maybe…8 years? She still looks good and young with that great big smile! I didn’t get much time to talk to her and she’s off to a trip, I think it’s a missions trip with YWAM, so I hope to see her again when she returns. Also at church was Clay and Jays, I hadn’t seen them in a long time either and didn’t have time with them.
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The American Non-Idol

It is official, I am back in the choir! Practice is on Thursday nights usually. Last semester, I was completely traveling by bus and so I would be so tired by the time Thursday had come, I forgot about it most times. I love being in choir, I wish I had a better voice but that’s okay ‘cause I can hide somewhat in Mrs. T’s powerful voice. I’d rather do that than continue being scolded by Mrs. T for missing practice and I’m sure she’d rather have it this way too. But I do love being in choir. I went to my first practice this season the Thursday before yesterday, learned that we were singing in service that Sunday, and I had two days to learn two songs. It went okay, but I’m very rusty and I’ve been laboring under sinus irritations lately which doesn’t help my breathing.

And Mom loves it. She doesn’t get to hear me sing in regular Sunday service ‘cause she’s teaching a Sunday School class at that time, but she loves all the people coming up to her saying they saw me sing in service. I’ll let Mom have that as much as possible. It’s kinda like my singing in choir lets Mom shine and that’s a good thing.

Anyways, we’re gearing up for the Easter Service. March 23rd, save the date if you’re in town. I’ll give more details later.
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Typing Stamina

It’s the close of February, opening of March. February logged a record 15 entries. That’s astonishing to me. I knew I blab a lot within my mind, but seeing it out on screen now and it is only about 10% of what actually goes through my mind. I think this shows why I tend to be very private in person ‘cause once you get me talking about something that I’m passionate about or dealing with or something like that, I might not be able to stop. I can talk for hours without saying anything substantive as well, you probably know that.

I wonder if I can keep up the frequency for March.
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Wishes Come True, In A Way

See Just For Fun. I had posted a Christmas list for fun, not expecting any of it ‘cause the list doesn’t matter. I put up the $ for the U-Pass, I already knew I was going to. Dad gets a case of AZ Green Tea when I go with them to Sam’s. Dad always buys custard pie for Thanksgiving and for Christmas. I saved and got the BarlowGirl CD just recently, it’s good! I didn’t get chocolate-dipped shortbread but Uncle and Aunty T sent brownies from Big Island Candies, I haven’t tried one yet, maybe tonight, can’t wait!

The best thing yet is that MegaMouth is mine! We took her to the vet and had her checked out, she's healthy with no microchip, yet. We haven't seen any posters for her in months. Too bad! She's MINE! Umm…she’s not getting along completely with SweetPea and Charis yet or I’m thinking it’s not gonna happen at all, but they’re not killing each other so I’ll take it. I could go on and on about Mega so I’ll leave that for another time maybe. And Mega doesn’t take any playing around from Chico the Dog, she whoops him good sometimes!

Speaking of dogs, the neighborhood pets seem to gravitate towards our house. The recent episode was last week when a Tibetan Spaniel wandered onto our driveway and tried to make house under Mom's car. We put up posters, no one called, no one seemed to be looking for her and she definitely did not travel far. We finally found help from a neighbor who has a friend that can take her in 'cause they researched but found she's probably an abandoned. Poor thing, but she was definitely not staying with us! She was obviously a spoiled little thing. Too bad, dogs love me, she did.
The Found Lost Tibetan
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I missed hearing the UH Volleyball matches at Pacific last week and this weeks at Stanford on radio. I know, what kind of fan am I? I don't know how I missed 4 matches in row! We swept Pac but Stanford swept us. Ugh! Stanford had been struggling the past few seasons, but now they've loaded up with good ILH players from Hawaii, not fair! Nah, but I can't believe they swept us so soon. Next week is LUC, I'm definitely catching those games! Maybe I'll go to both matches 'cause I budgeted for but missed going to a UCLA match. Hmmm...who should I call?

Finally, a big mahalo to Kev who has definitely been reading every so often and left the first comment on a post! MAHALO! I know it's a lot of bore, but I do say something amusing now and then, huh?

I think that’s enough randomness for now. Mahalo for reading in!

50/50 at the Stan Sheriff

Rematch last night, #15 UH defending home turf against #5 UCLA. Starting lineups: UCLA: O’Malley, Muagututia, Edwards, Stromath, Diefenbach, Hastings, Wade. UH: Clar, Walker, Schkud, Grgas, Rawson, Cervantes, and Carney.

UH started off strong, continuing the solid play from the night before while UCLA had an early back row attack violation and a couple of service errors. It looked like it might be a repeat of the previous night but it didn’t take long for UCLA to gain their bearings and take control of their game. By the half of game 1, UCLA led 13-15 [btw, I tend to say UH’s score first to keep some kind of consistency]. UH would bring the score back to a tie and trade off points until UCLA pulled ahead again at 26-28. UH tied it up at 28-all when the 6’4 Schkud blocked an attack by the 6’9 O’Malley. UCLA stayed in control and won game 1, 28-30.

Game 2 was more of the same. Great plays by both teams, a lot of trading off points for the tie, with UCLA leading at the half, 13-15. Dyer came in for Walker. At 14-16, Schkud got in an ace. 18-21 and Hutchins comes in for Clar, so there were two starters, two Warrior leading attackers off the court. Walker doesn’t come back in until 23-27. Game 2 went to UCLA on a Hutchins hit that went long, 24-30.

Game 3, more of the same. Frank started for Rawson, Clar came back in. UCLA took the lead early on, 6-10, but the ball was back in the Warriors’ hands and Clar brought them within 1 at 10-11 with an ace. Yet again, UCLA kept cool and led 13-15 at the half. UCLA, 25-29, Stromath serves up the ball and Clar kills it, 26-29. UH is still battling. On a Diefenbach kill, UCLA sweeps 26-30.

The difference between the first match and the second? Errors, UCLA made less errors. Service errors were about even, UH out-blocked UCLA the first night but UCLA evened up that stat the second night, digs about even. UCLA got more kills off of their attacks. Hastings, just a freshman right off filling in for Senior Captain Tony Ker who is a fine libero, added more stability to UCLA’s passing game. Hastings still has a lot to learn and fix to be as good as Ker, but he definitely improved from night one. Diefenbach, one of their tallest guys with a powerful arm, had been stalled by the UH block on night one, but had a more productive night two, 11 kills, no errors, hitting over 700 on the night. UCLA came back smoother and playing more like UCLA. UH, while still playing very well and never panicked, just didn’t pull it out for the second night against an experienced and resilient UCLA team.

[Quick stats by Honolulu Advertiser].And Al Scates gets his 50th win against the volleyball team of the University of the 50th state, hence, the title of this entry. I try to be clever with the titles but I know, I’m still working on it. UH also had about a 50/50 chance of winning.

Still, the Warriors have a chance to take it all this season, they always have a chance whether one’s as biased as I am or not. That they won the first night with only one full substitution, Rawson for Frank, and kept UCLA off-kilter shows a lot of tenacity and stamina for this young team. On the first night, Cervantes was the only returning starter from last season in the lineup.

So, I was rooting on the Warriors and will continue to do so. That the Warriors are playing well now and looks to have a solid starting lineup at this point in the season is a good sign. And didn’t I say at the end of last season that we haven’t seen all that Schkud could do? Well, he’s showing us now and leading this team to shine. Cervantes, Clar, Schkud, Carney, Grgas, Rawson, Walker all had a good match one or both nights against UCLA.

And on the side, they showed the scores of some of the other games from that night. UCI versus BYU, one had to know that it was going to be a good match up. BYU is sitting pretty at the top of the polls with an undefeated season going so far. UCI at a good #6, the defending champions with returning starters in Asuka, Harrell, I think Simpson and Wilson played last year too. UCI also has the two younger brothers of former starter Paul Spittle; if that’s any indication of their skills then they must be really good. Anyways, check out these scores, UCI [home team] first: 28-30, 34-32, 22-30, 30-28, 26-28. Did you miss it? First off, they traded off games, UCI won games 2 and 4, game 2 in extra play. But more spectacular, I imagine, was game 5, 26-28. GAME 5 is first to FIFTEEN. UCI held BYU back enough to take it to an almost-full, extra play fifth game.

Kinda like the complete extra play nail-biter between UH and Santa Barbara the other week.

Yes, I missed the alumni game of last week. What’s up with that? Well, representing the alumni, according to the UH website, were Jake Muise (’04), Shaun Frederick (’03), Kai Kahele (’97), Chris Kosty (’99), Mason Kuo (current assistant coach, ’99), Mauli‘a La Barre (’06), Sivan Leoni (’98), Kimo Tuyay (’04), and Ryan Woodward (’04). I should’ve gone; Leoni alone guarantees a good show! I wonder what Brenton Davis is doing, did he play last year’s alumni game? I wonder if they’ll get Podlewski in an alumni game.

Okay. So that’s the Rainbow Warrior Volleyball update.

Mahalo for reading in!

A Volleyball Valentine for the Fans

Jim Clar gets a kill past Ratelle.
Another thriller from the Stan Sheriff Center, #15 UH battled #5 UCLA for a milestone moment and the right to send a valentine to their fans. A win for UH would bring home Coach Wilton’s 300th win while a win for UCLA would be Al Scates 50th win against UH.

UCLA’s starting lineup consisted of Ratelle, O’Malley, Muagututia, Diefenbach, Stromath, Hastings and Wade. They stepped onto the court without their captain, Tony Ker, as he heals from a hamstring injury. No injuries were reported for UH who started Clar, freshman Walker, lone senior Schkud, Grgas, Frank, Cervantes and Carney.

Lisa Strand-Ma‘a filled in as color commentator for the resting Chris McLachlin. Mclachlin, a prominent figure in Hawai‘i volleyball circles is recovering from a heart attack he suffered about 2 weeks ago. Get well soon, Chris!

Right away, UCLA didn’t look like the well-oiled machine that it usually is. Something was definitely lacking in the libero position as Hastings filled in for Ker. Hastings must be a good player to be the backup for Ker, but Ker has the experience and control that often keeps the UCLA team in the position to attack. Service errors also plagued the normally tough-serving UCLA team, about 10 in the first game alone. Yet in UCLA fashion, they came out with the win in game 1 with hard-hitting Muagututia and the towering O’Malley racking up the points. Game 1, UCLA 25-30.

Bad serving remained the bane of UCLA in game 2. By halftime, UCLA would have 18 service errors for the first two games while UH had about5. UH actually served a perfect game 1 with no errors. The record will show UH with 1 service error, but the replay video will show that the error should have been called a service ace by Jim Clar. The ball clearly hits inside of the back line, even it’s shadow was in the court. The up official didn’t see it because a UCLA player was in the way, but the line judge, I don’t know how he missed that call. It was deemed out, resulting in a UCLA point.

Back to game 2, UH quickly pulled ahead and held a lead of 3-5 points. Besides the service errors, UCLA played strong but with more broken plays and missed hits than is usually seen. Game 2 went the way of the Warriors, 30-26. In game 3, Scates began to work his mystique by bringing in Dunlap for Diefenbach but Dunlap wasn’t able to do much more than Diefenbach. More broken plays, Carney got an ace in, UH won 2 long rallies back to back with a huge block and a Schkud kill. UH maintained the lead the whole way. UCLA was called for several illegal back row attacks, mainly committed by Muagututia, if I recall correctly. Game 3 ended with a clean and quick Clar kill, UH 30-24.

Early in game 4, Jagd [pronounced ‘jade’?] came in for O’Malley. The substitution didn’t seem to do much for UCLA, at first, then I suppose Jagd got warmed up and started to fire up the UCLA team to get the first UCLA lead since game 1. Service errors still popped up, but not as frequently as in the first half and UH began to commit service errors themselves. Jagd, on his fresh legs and killer arm, led UCLA to win game 4 and force a game 5, UCLA 24-30.

But UH gained the lead in game 5 with a halfway score of 8-4. UCLA brought out Darwin Edwards who had played briefly in game 4, but Edwards didn’t add much to slow UH down. Muagututia and Jagd brought UCLA back to life with several definitive kills, tying the score at 11, taking the score at 12, UH came back at 13. I think it was another UCLA service error that made it 14-13 UH. It’s match point for UH, Scates calls a timeout, Grgas is up to serve for UH. Grgas isn’t a consistent or tough server. UCLA has the advantage in 5-game matches, so the match isn’t necessarily over for them. Grgas taps the serve over…the ball goes to Jagd for the kill…and Jagd doesn’t get the ball over! UH wins 15-13 and takes the match!
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Overall it was a great match [detailed match stats]. Looking at the stats, it looks like UCLA won every statistic. I think UH won it with stable play and great blocks. To see so many service errors and illegal back row attacks and missed hits by UCLA was strange, it was not their normal game. I think a lot of it is missing what Ker brings to their game. Ker is a great libero who shows up out of nowhere to pick up their opponents’ attacks and direct the ball to their setter. O’Malley, Muagututia, Diefenbach, Wade, they’re all experienced game players, very good players, but I think that they missed having Ker out there.


Speaking of libero, UH’s Cervantes played a great match! 16 digs on the night, he was undaunted by the hard-hitting attacks of UCLA. He popped them up easily, sending the passes directly to Carney, made a great effort by standing in the way of an attack, letting it ultimately knock him off his feet. Cervantes’ play was akin to the Great Podlewski. Well, almost.

And Carney, the Warriors’ outright MVP of the match. 48 assists, 10 digs, 2 kills, 2 block assists and 2 service aces [I thought he had 3 aces, but the stats say 2]. Last night’s match showed why he was in contention for the starting setter position the last 2 years that had ultimately been kept and held by All-American Brian Beckwith.

Let me be girly and talk about Carney’s new ‘do for a second…in the past, Carney had consistently sported a long curly hairdo held back by a sweatband. He stepped onto the court tonight with a short almost-military ‘do. The big deal with Carney’s new look is that with the short hair and a similar height and build to that of Clar, it was difficult to tell Carney from Clar. Even for Leahey and Lisa Strand-Ma‘a, who were there to broadcast the game, they had a difficult time. There were a lot of long pauses as they checked the replay to say whether it was Clar or Carney with the kill or the block or the dig…all night long!

Another bright side for UH is Walker. He made some good plays, got some kills to the floor. However, he is a freshman and still needs to get his game legs under him. He was a little inconsistent, missed several serves, but I think he’s developing into a good player. He’ll have time to work those things out and improve.

As an aside, I mentioned that UCLA has a player named Darwin Edwards. Um, just hafta wonder about parents who would name their kid ‘Darwin’. I don’t know his parents, they’re probably very good people, maybe they named him after a relative and not after Charles Darwin… I guess it just stands out to me because I am a Christian, I don’t know. I’ve taken a course on evolution and read up on the topic, but that’s not for this entry.

And, you might recall two seasons ago when Warrior Jake Schkud sported an oddly shaven head…I didn’t think I’d see that again. He had kept the sides and balded the top in honor, or mockery, I don’t know, of the great Al Scates. The ‘do came back last night, this time manifesting on the head of Sam Morehouse. Um, I don’t have much more to say about it than it didn’t look as strange on Schkud for some reason, he looks kinda kolohe and maybe like it’s something he would do…um, okay…

So, tonight, REMATCH! Can UCLA find their serve and swerve? Can UH keep the same lineup and win two in a row from the powerhouse? Incidentally, UH didn’t substitute any players last night for more than a serve here and there. They didn’t really rest anyone from game 4 or game 5, a good sign. I’m sorry, scratch that, Frank was replaced by Rawson sometime in game 2 I think and he stayed through to the end.

This is where I say, ‘Tune in next time when we find out who will win the REMATCH!’ or something like that.

Mahalo for reading in!
[Pictures and short stats by Honolulu Advertiser].

Gotta Keep Movin’

Well, nothing ever seems very important when one’s in mourning but life continues for me and so move I must.

I’ve got a lot to catch up on, especially… UH WARRIOR VOLLEYBALL! I’ve so wanted to write about it and things happened, I’ve already talked about those goings on in previous entries.

Let’s see, season started off with the Outrigger Invitational here in Hawai‘i. Three nights, UH went up against Penn State at the top of the EIVA, Ball State- currently tied for third with IPFW in the MIVA Feb, and UCLA- currently third in the MPSF. UH started the pre-season at eighth I believe and are now currently 13th in the MPSF. Not to despair, the MPSF is the toughest conference in men’s collegiate volleyball; there are no guarantees. There is no counting someone out.

I can’t really report on the Outrigger because I was barely conscious, read And the Tooth Has Set Me Free. I’ve got the matches on tape, but just haven’t gotten to watch them yet and don’t know that I’ll ever have time to go back to them. I did watch the match against UCLA but I was at about 75%. We lost to Penn and UCLA but won against Ball, so not too bad.

When I caught the UCLA match, I couldn’t get over how I could recognize the UCLA players more readily than the UH players. Last season, UH graduated Beckwith, Dante, Hakala and Kalima, all starters so that’s about half the starting lineup. Then at the beginning of this season, UH fans were dealt a blow when it was announced that Vanzant would not be playing this season, I didn’t come across a reason why, I just hope that he’s doing alright in his life. I was really looking forward to seeing Vanzant develop more this season into one of the kill leaders for UH. So that is now 5 of 7 starters out from last season. That left Rawson at middle and Cervantes at libero. It had been announced early that Klinger, MB from the 2005/2006 season, would not be playing at all this season. Maybe I missed him but I didn’t see Vidinha who had seen some play time last season. Of all seasons for about the last fifteen years, this is undoubtedly a rebuilding year for UH. Not an excuse for losing games, but winning won’t be easy by any means.

Hawaii’s trying to build upon Sean Carney, who backed up Beckwith at setter the last two years and is almost as good, but could also help out on the left side if needed. Wilton’s already tested Carney at hitter this season and he’s good. Carney’s other positives is that he’s got a real good serve; he was #1 serving specialist while backing up Beckwith and racked up a lot of aces. His serve is tough and he rarely makes a service error.

Co-captain with Carney is Schkud, the lone senior on the team. He’s seen very little play in previous seasons, somewhat of a utility player, having been tried on the left, the middle and as a serving specialist. Back in 2003, Beckwith and Schkud led their high school team to an undefeated season, a CIF title and the Volleyball magazine’s high school championship [Starbulletin article on Beckwith and Schkud]. And so he is very capable of contributing great things for this team and is already proving so in this early part of the season.

I’m also excited to see what Jim Clar will do this season. Clar filled in when Hakala was hurt last season. So that is Cervantes, Clar, Schkud, and Carney, with Rawson. Oh, Rawson, I didn’t recognize him. Last season, he had long curly hair. This season, cut very short. Leahey said, ‘Rawson with the block’ or something like that and I thought, where? Rawson and Cervantes, the only returning starters from last season. The others had seen limited play but are stepping up to lead this season. The rest of the depth chart for Hawai‘i, I’m still trying to familiarize myself with their names and faces pretty much.

Contrast that to UCLA who has incredible Tony Ker at libero, his younger brother Kevin fighting Matt Wade for setter, hitters O’Malley, Muagututia [spelling?], and Ratelle, with ‘quick hitter’ [as Scates calls his middles] Diefenbach. I often get confused on who are the returning starters because UCLA’s bench is always deep with Scates not afraid to switch people out. But those are the players, whether on court or on the sidelines, that I can readily recognize and name. I’m even familiar with former players Wenger and Klosterman who are now assistant coaches for UCLA.
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After Outrigger, Hawai‘i fought Long Beach and UC San Diego. I watched the matches against LBSU, but I can’t recall details at this moment except that they swept us the first night and then took it in four the second night, LBSU that is. Otherwise, I think we played pretty well against them, not enough to win, but good. We won the matches with UCSD. UCSD put up a good fight and it was expected. They always play well with no scholarship players, they proved that when they beat UC Irvine the previous week in convincing fashion, that’s hardly said in the MPSF but they did. I passed up watching the second match in order to have dinner with Mirrorman, my nickname for Chris A. He cooked, so I had to put him above the volleyball but don’t count on that happening too much. I’m kidding, sort of. And we watched ‘Miracle’ which I hadn’t seen yet but have been wanting to. I love sports movies.

Anyways, moving on. UH is on the road at UC Santa Barbara this week. We lost last night in five. I listened to tonight’s match over the radio and it was ESCRUCIATING! Is that the word? FOUR GAMES, ALL WENT INTO EXTRA PLAY!!! Why am I typing loudly? BECAUSE I MUST! And because the UH Warrior Basketball team had a home game tonight, KKEA 1420AM cut to the basketball game in the middle of the fourth game for volleyball! So then I had to follow on game tracker on cstv.com. It was so painful. If you don’t know what I’m saying right now, you don’t understand volleyball. The score was 30-32, 32-30, 34-36, 34-36. I have never seen a score like that. College VB is first to 30, win by 2, best 3 of 5 games takes the match. Now digest those scores.
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Next week is the alumni game with the rematches with UCLA the following week. I’m gonna make an effort to be at these matches, it’s always good fun. Gotta make some phone calls and rally the troops to come with me. I also wanna go when Loyola-Chicago and Irvine come down so I’m saving up for that. I wish I could see them play USC too but that’s an away game this season.

What more can I say about UH VB…? Oh, and it is so strange for me to see UH’s Frank wearing the number 10. I’ve been following Beckwith the last four seasons in that number 10 jersey. I can’t even remember who was the person before Beckwith to wear 10 and so I think Beckwith may be my 10 for years to come. It’s like Curt Vaughan in 8, Clay Stanley in 16, Miladinovic in 1, Ching in 15… and so on. After you see those guys play in those numbers, it takes a good while to get used to seeing that number on another player. Shoot, wait, now I remember; Bren10 [Brenton] Davis was 10 and then I think it was Beckwith next, but there were 2 seasons between them, I think. It’s gonna take getting used to Matic in 8 [Hakala] and Komar in 19 [Dante, completely different physique]. I still think of 9 as Carere and so I often forget that Cervantes is 9 now. That's terrible of me.

Anyways, Frank in 10 right after Beckwith is gonna take some getting used to. It looks like he fills it out a little more, at least on TV it looks like it. But I’m in Beckwith withdrawal anyways ‘cuz he was exciting to watch. I'm still in Hakala-/ Carere-/ Bender-/ etc. withdrawals also. Besides being great players, Hakala had that fierce wild look in the eyes after a good kill, Bender had that smile, and I could go on but I won't. My goodness, get over it.
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So that’s a lot of volleyball but not really. Definite rebuilding year but don’t give up on the Warriors. By the way, I have no idea why we call the women ‘Wahine’ and don’t call the men ‘Kane.’ Hmmm...

SuperBowl XLII is tomorrow, Patriots vs. Giants. I don’t make predictions about anything very often and so who knows how accurate I am. I’d like to see the Giants win. Has nothing to do with the win streak, I just like the way the Giants have been playing lately. And then it would be a Manning-Manning back-to-back Superbowls.

And I couldn’t believe the outcome of the Sugarbowl! It’s not like I was completely expecting UH to win, but I thought they would’ve done better than that. Brennan didn’t look good or bad in the senior bowl, then he looked real good in the drill competitions today.

I don’t feel either way about June Jones’ departure. I’m a ‘Bows fan, period. But since Jones has moved on, can we go back to being the Rainbows? Or Rainbow Warriors? There’s a real good story behind the Rainbow mascot; the story is featured in Bob Sigall’s The Companies We Keep 2, I’m pretty sure it’s in the second installment so check that out. There’s a lot of good stories in there about Hawai‘i trivia. And can we go back to the green uniforms? Even if it’s without the rainbow motif, after all, green is UH’s color. It’s such a good pride feeling when I see fans at sports events all wearing the team color, it’s amazing. I’d like to see Hawai‘i fans do that. As it is, it seems that UH Football fans at the moment are divided, not knowing whether to wear green or black.

I’ll end here. That’s enough sports and I’m going overlong.

Mahalo for reading in!

Run By Me

I know, I am inconsistent with how often I write an entry. With working on a thesis, I have an irregular schedule and thesis will always trump this blog. So here are a few things that's been on my mind:

Good Friends:
I got word back in September that my two good friends Shay and Tony are gonna be parents! Wow, I am so happy for them. They're gonna be amazing parents and this kid will be so lucky to be born to these two fine people. It's crazy to me because I have known both of them mostly separately for...more than a decade each, then they got married, and now they're having a baby. It's wonderful!

Thesis:
Good news! After some tough years and rough starts, the Big D [for Doctorate of Architecture, D. Arch.] has been resuscitated! I just had a committee meeting Thursday night and amazingly I was able to keep everyone on board. It was a good meeting, a lot of good comments and discussion, and so I've still got a lot of work to do. Overall, I feel less stressed and concerned, I'm excited about this project, that has never changed, so we'll see. I know a lot of you keep wondering when I'm gonna finish. Hopefully it'll be Spring. Don't worry, when it's done, EVERYONE WILL KNOW!!!

UH Wahine Volleyball:
Um, well, they beat Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA. Then they lost to Middle Tennessee in the second round, so... I don't know. I definitely thought they were going to the semis. I know, they don't have Kamana'o, but they were playing like a team by the second half of the season. They were really playing well and on fire. *sigh*

I can't wait for next season!

UH Warrior Volleyball:
Preseason has them at 8th. They usually start in the top 5, but last season, they graduated Beckwith at setter, Dante at middle, Hakala at right, and Kalima at libero/outside, key positions and star players. This season, Schkud is the only true senior leading a few juniors, a few freshmen, and a bunch of sophomores. Schkud has not been a starter, but the papers say he's settled in the right-side position nicely. I'm excited to see what he can do.

I tend to write about the Warrior VB a lot because I'm more familiar with it and their competition. Anyone up for going to a game with me?

UH Football:
Let me just get it out...WOOHOO!!! WAC CHAMPIONS! WE'RE GOING TO THE SUGAR BOWL! AHHHHH!!!

Okay, now that that's done...

The Heisman will be announced Saturday 3:00 p.m. Hawaii time, so, hours from now. I know it sounds like Tebow's the favorite, but I do believe that it should be Colt. I watch shows like Around the Horn and stuff and they've mentioned things like leadership, how many games did the team lose, what conference they play in, etc.

The three other finalists have all lost a few games. UH is undefeated. Mariotti [ATH] thinks that Hawaii couldn't win in the SEC, but how does he know? He doesn't, there's no way of proving this team couldn't beat the SEC. Colt's got crazy numbers. The other finalists have good numbers too, but Colt's also got records, NCAA records! Not just Hawaii records, WAC records, NCAA records. I'm missing the reason I should be impressed with Tebow's rushing TDs, I don't know. Well, Colt got injured and missed a couple games. Actually, Colt got injured and missed one full game and a couple quarters in a couple games or so; Hawaii still won.

So they could say, well, Colt missed some play time and the team still won so they don't need Colt that much. I say, who does the team play for? Sure, Hawaii's got great players and they can win without Colt, but they play for Colt. I like Graunke, I look forward to seeing how he leads next year, but if Colt had gone NFL last year, this season would've been different, whether HI went undefeated or not. They play heart 'cause Colt came back.

And leadership, Colt's got that in spades. I've written in earlier entries about how respectful and humble he is, everyone in HI knows that, it's evident just by watching his interviews. He came back for this team. And when he did get injured, yes he played hard, but most importantly, when he had the concussion, I'm sure he said he could play, but he listened to doctors and coaches and did what was best for the team. He wasn't being the hero, he had confidence that his team could go on and they beat Nevada. He was a leader from the sidelines.

Obviously, I could go on. My last thoughts on the Heisman, I hope Colt gets it, but if he comes in fourth, it'll be an injustice. He should win it or be second. Let's see what happens.

What a Season!

Quickly, the conference champions:
MIVA: Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW)
EIVA: Penn State
MPSF: UC Irvine (UCI)

Yes, that's right, UCI beat out heavy favorite Pepperdine in a full-drive close-cut 5-game match. They tested each other's limits down to the wire. The deciding 5th game went into extra play, 16-14 Irvine.

What a season it has been. With 12 very good teams in the MPSF, 10 that tend to be ranked nationally every week, it's unusual that any team would dominate a single season. Pepperdine started the preseason at 5, then climbed their way to #1, holding that top spot mid-Feb to the end of the season. UCI dominated as well, starting at #1, dropping to #2 at the end of Jan, tying for third one week in Feb, then holding at 2 for the next 7 weeks, dropping to 3rd only at the end of the season. BYU has been a rather solid #3.

Preseason, I had a feeling that UCI would be in the NCAA playoffs. I still full-heartedly cheered on my team, the early-season-ailing Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, but there was no denying that UCI has a good team.

Hey, they beat my Warriors in the MPSF Playoffs, but man, did we make sure they earned it. For a second, with the Warriors clearly taking the 1st 2 games, it looked like UH would be on their way to a national title again. I would say, it's not so bad when we took the now-MPSF champs to 5-games in the playoffs.

Warriors started preseason at 4, and really during this tough season for them, I thought of any team, this team could pull off an upset and take the national title, and done it better than the crazy tirade UCLA went on late last year for the title.

Losing 5 great seniors last year, we had solid leadership at all key positions in this year's seniors: Beckwith (setting), Dante (blocking), Kalima (passing/digs), and Hakala (kills). Even the untested freshmen, especially in the second half of the season, made incredible strides, greatly contributing in their positions to the blocking (Rawson), the hitting (Vanzant), and at passing and digging (Cervantes).

Next year, I can see Carney picking up the setting smoothly, he's already had some good experience, though the coaches say they might use him at outside hitter. Clar could definitely fill in at opposite (Hakala's vacated spot). Rawson needs to work on being patient at the net, not over-reaching. If Vanzant can improve on hitting accuracy, he'll be that more effective. Everyone needs to practice their serving and passing, that's important every year, all the time. Also important is being able to read the other team, see the blocks, see if the opponent had a good approach for the swing, etc. I'm looking forward to seeing how Schkud improves so that he gets a permanent starting spot; I don't think we've seen all he's capable of yet. We're gonna have the youngest team we've had in a while, but it's gonna be worth watching the next two seasons.

Next Up: The NCAA semis onto the finals. 2nd seeded UCI vs. 3rd seeded Penn State, 1st seed Pepperdine vs. 4th seed IPFW.

Congratulations to UCI for their first MPSF title, how do they get seeded 2nd under Pepperdine?

And a huge aloha-filled mahalo to the 2007 Warriors for another exciting season!

And Dante Wins the Prize!

[continuation from previous post]

Warriors won and are play-off bound! Next up, Irvine @ Irvine...

JayLee and I at senior night Warrior volleyball (we also witnessed Fri's game). We got there about a 1/2 hour before first serve, the earliest I've ever been to a game. We got the team photo from the Stan Sheriff crew since we were so early (first 2,000 fans). Got to see some players change from their practice shirts to their game jerseys; the Card's Ceran's in good shape and that's all I'll say. I'm there for the volleyball...

I usually sit in the super-rooter section, near the "Aunties", a bunch of drunk-by-half-time college kids, and other loyal fans. I could see the flags this time and the Sheriff Center's got a clock, I didn't know that before. JayLee and I got tickets at the lower level this time, across from the benches, in the mix of the Beckwith, Schkud, and Kalima Ohana. If I had known earlier how much fun those families are, especially the Beckwiths, I would've sat there every time! Too bad he's graduating now and I'll hafta scope out for another fun ohana. I saw Johnny Matt Bender, former #13 UH Warrior and one of five seniors last year, in the stands with his girlfriend watching the current Warriors.

And Kalima fans all around. Shouts for Kalima came from the Ohana, from the left, from the right, from the top, from across the way... They've been cheering him on from his redshirt year 5 yrs. ago. "Put Eric in! We wanna see Kalima!" Well, they saw him this year! Propelling himself towards the ball no matter where it is, like a magnet, as only Kalima can!

The Beckwith crew were waving ti leaves, holding up clever signs, one dressed up as a Warrior with some boys in tow. They led cheers, also yelling out "unleash the dragon!" for Matt "Dragon" Rawson. We sat right in front of the "ICU @ UCI" and "Killer B (for Brian Beckwith)" signs. A few times, the exuberant ti leaf waving brushed my hair. The boys were heckling the Cards, a lady with them tried to get them to just cheer on the Warriors explaining that Hawai'i fans are respectful of all players.

Someone asked about Manoa, seeing it everywhere (it's the place name, campus name, like CS Fullerton, CS Northridge). Another person asked about why we cheer with "Let's go BOWS!" (a 3-count cheer) instead of their "Let's go Hawai-i" (in 4-counts)(The rainbow used to be the mascot of UH, recently changed to "Warriors" by football coach Jones, some call us "RainBOW Warriors"). "Let's go BOWS" is still my favorite. [I mention the Q's 'cuz I like it when people care to know].

JayLee and I indulged ourselves in the ever-ono garlic fries and Italian ices. Those ices are...*sigh* They taste just like the fruit their flavors say they are. Yeah, I could've just eaten a real fruit, but SO?!! Come on, I-TA-LI-AN.

Across the way, an elder lady sat in the stands, wearing a UH t-shirt... under a red sweater. The Cards colors are red and white. It's okay to be a local and root for the other team when there's a local boy on that team. If I knew him I would've just been bold like other Shoji fans and just wear all red. There was a man in our section who was wearing red, but held up a sign for the Warriors, I forget what it said.

Commentator Chris McLachlin said that Costas was the hardest hitting Warrior ever. Could be. My opinion is for Hakala. No argument that Costas was a great player with fear-inspiring, hard-hitting, tough-serving, consistent play and a mean bull-stare, but I do think Hakala hits harder. I have no proof or stats, but I've watched both play. When Hakala goes in for the kill, you see him lift-off, then you hear the *BOOM*, next thing you know Hakala's got the kill. Between Hakala's contact and the floor, or sometimes an unwilling opponent's face, the ball disappears. Even in slo-mo replay you can't see the ball. Both Costas and Hakala were great to watch, but I like Hakala's style. He might be a more intelligent player and he's definitely a physical player. He changes up his play more than I believe Costas did, making him more unpredictable. Those few games that he was injured and didn't play were a plus as he cheered on his team and was as involved as he could be. I would've liked to see him play here another year.

And okay, outside of volleyball that I love, I also like a man of languages. I would've liked to become an ambassador or a diplomat or just a translator for the government if I had the skills, but I guess other interests overrided those ideas also. I'm in my 4th year of trying to learn Russian on my own and I'm still at (in English spelling) "pazhalsta," "spaseeba," and "gdye vodka?" (please, thank you, and where is the vodka?). BKR's in CA for his doctorate and so once again, I have no one to practice Espanol with; I'm getting very rusty where the list of words/phrases I'm sure of is getting shorter and shorter. I need to live in CA for a few years again. Here's "por favor," "gracias," and "dos cervezas mas!" (please, thank you, and two beers more!). I really don't drink much at all, honest, just ask my friends. I have another favorite phase I was taught that starts with "quitate" but I won't say the whole thing here. Long and winding way to saying I admire (and am a little jealous of) Hakala for his ability to learn several different languages. Sometimes I'm thinking in English but spelling in Spanish, like "camara" instead of "camera".

Senior Festivities: Besides consistently being a good team, with good facilities, and great coaches, we could recruit just by our senior night celebrations. That did it for former Warrior Matt Carere several years ago; he caught senior night on TV in Canada by chance and thought it was something great. I bet some players from other teams check their schedules to see if they get to come to play in Hawai'i on our senior night; we also acknowledge their seniors and they usually have a good time too.

Hakala had a Finnish flag; they could've gotten a Hawaiian flag for Kalima and Dante and CA's flag for Brian. It would've been reminiscent of the four-flagged seniors from 2003, when there was a Greek flag for Costas, an Israel flag for Eyal, a Hawaiian flag for Tony "Tigah" Ching, and a WI flag for Brian Nordberg.

It's great to see the families of other teammates representing missing family members when that happens. Sean Carney's dad filled in honor for Hakala, and of course many others gave him lei also.

All 4 seniors got buried in lei. In introducing the Beckwith clan, so many of them were present that the announcer could only call out Brian's parents, his two brothers, and "almost the entire Beckwith Ohana!" Brian disappeared in the mountain of lei. Imagine if he had gone to a Hawai'i school and at his graduation...

And there was a collective "aww" from the female Dante fans when his girlfriend was introduced. Dante's got a good smile, I wasn't a part of that crowd, but I know a few who were...

NO DANCING this year!!! Boo! For their senior video, Brian, Dante, Kalima, and Hakala sang kah-rah-oh-kay (karaoke, hard "r" almost like an "l") to Lionel Richie's "All Night Long". It was great! Dante wins the prize as he got into character as a lounge singer. Gotta appreciate that!

[Images from Honolulu Advertiser and the Star Bulletin]

#10 UH vs. Stanford: Woohoo!!!

The numbers say it all.

Those are the stats [Courtesy of the Honolulu Advertiser] from last night's senior match between the UH Rainbow Warriors and the Stanford Cardinals.

Here's how the Warriors got there: People will say that the turnaround for the Warriors mid-season was the sweep of Cal State Northridge [CSUN]. I say it was the second match against Pepperdine[Pepp] who was and is still #1; the Warriors took the 1st game in a 4-game match loss to Pepp where they were breathing down Pepp's neck during games 3 and 4. It was then that the Warriors resembled the winning team we're used to seeing each year: tenacity, patience, and fun at every moment whether they're up or down.

Then the Warriors began a 6-match win streak all in sweeps (3-game wins) over CSUN, Lewis, and UCSD. The big test would come at the Walter Pyramid, home of the Long Beach 49ers where the then 13th Warriors took the 1st match against 9th LBSU in 5-games, having to win the 5th in extra-play, 19-17 (5th game is win-by-2, 1st to 15). For the 2nd match against LBSU, the Warriors improved by taking down the Beach in 4 games.

Then the Warriors came home to face the Cardinals, being led by the versatile local boy, son of Wahine Volleyball Coach Dave Shoji, the Freshman Kawika Shoji. The Warriors swept the Cardinals on Friday night, 30-22, 30-23, 30-22. The big section of Cardinal fans (a lot of locals out to see Shoji, understandable) weren't as loud as I was expecting them to be, and Shoji didn't bring the A-game that Stanford articles have been talking about. Who did give us trouble was the Card's #5, 6'6" (F) Evan Romero with 17 kills and no service errors.

On to last night's match, senior night for the Rainbow Warriors. I was in attendance with friend JayLee. It was...amazing! The Cardinals did their homework and came back with determination. The entire night was one big noise as 3,000+ fans cheered at practically every play during many long rallies with whole-hearted dives and saves by both teams. Up-official Ernie Ho took a "beating" himself as at least 3 of the Card's errant passes hit him; a dive over the Card bench by (I think it was) #5 Romero almost took out a laptop (being used by one of the asst. coaches); veteran Sportscaster Jim Leahey rescued Card's #11 Brian Lindberg from what could've been a fatal or career-ending dive over PressRow (there's a Senior showing the team how to do it, Kalima can appreciate). That's just from the Cards!

On the Warriors side, Carney brought in his steady serving with 4 in a row to help us on to closing game 1; one was a service ace. He came in for setting duties half-way through game 2 and did an excellent job of running the plays. There's practically no difference between Beckwith and Carney in terms of quality; it'll be exciting to see what Carney does next year. Vanzant got in on the action with 15 kills on the night with great sprinting to chase down the ball and bring it back into play; Dante up-front helped Vanzant from going under the net after a flight from the back row for a kill. Dante himself got 14 kills, 3 of them by being quick to swallow up over-passes by the Cards. Kalima hit a solid .231 and worked hard at the net with 1 solo block and 5 block assists. He even took a ball in the head on a valiant effort to pop-up it up Kalima-style, a scary moment for UH fans as it looked like his head had hit the floor instead of the ball.

Hakala unloaded the cannon on the Cards with 21 kills on the night, 2 aces, while also working his defense skills with 10 digs and 2 blocks. Hakala's mana got out-of-control on a couple long hits and serves, but I believe I heard some sighs of relief by the Cards who didn't want an extra bruising from having to dig another Hakala fireball. Maybe a few Somebodies woke up this morning with black and blue arms, screaming before realizing "oh, that's right, we played Hakala last night" [I'm joking, that's if it had been me, the Cards are tougher than that].

And what about Beckwith? How about giving his team a .356 kill %age, all of them hitting positive, 3 of them in double-digit kills (see Vanzant, Dante, and Hakala above) with Rawson just under at 9 kills. How about across-the-board action with 3 kills, 47 assists, 8 digs, 6 block assists and a tough jump-serve. How about chasing down a ball and bringing it back into play from outside the antenna for a Rawson kill to end game 1. And, with senior-night greed which he admitted to later, he closed out the match with a no-look dump-shot to remind everyone that not only does he put the ball up, he can knock it down too.

[to be continued]

Volleyball: Still Not Worried

Okay, now it's coming down the stretch to the MPSF playoffs. The Rainbow Warriors have yet to win a match since playing USC on February 16. They're currently in 10th place in the MPSF and 14th nationally. And this past weekend, they battled another #1 team: Pepperdine.

Sounds like a death sentence right?

Far from it. As I said earlier, the MPSF is the toughest conference in collegiate volleyball with the top 4 teams shifting places constantly. That UH had taken its place among the top 4 constantly if not consistently in the past...I don't know how many years, and is now at its lowest ranking ever, I'm still not worried about our team.

It seems that everyone in the MPSF are stepping up their game and loading up on talent this year. It's anyone's guess, even more so this year, as to who will be MPSF champs, or the NCAA champs.

But back to my team: back in Jan., we started the season playing UC Irvine who were #1 at the time. I have to say that UCI was very impressive last year and I was one who expected them to hold #1, maybe #2 throughout the season, even in the very volatile MPSF.* We lost both matches.

After the win against USC, the 'Bows [forgive me, my favorite cheer is still "let's go 'BOWS!"] were on the road to play two matches against the #4 BYU, who had been #1 just the previous week. We lost both matches [it was difficult to listen to that over the radio].

Then they came home to play the Alumni match. Mom and I were in attendance as Coach Wilton rested his seniors (Beckwith, Hakala, Kalima, Dante). It was different and still very fun! Usually I get tickets in the Student Rooter section (near the band), but since the Alumni match was reduced price, Mom and I sat in the lower section, almost in line with the net. I have 20/20 vision still, so the players' faces weren't any clearer for me. The upper official blocked my view of the net though, so I couldn't see any blocks happen.

However, the crowd was small and quiet compared to a near-capacity crowd, so I could hear the players talking on the court. Eyal and Costas were electric as teammates again; Costas even let out an "Oh, YEAH!" as he bumped a perfect set. Tory Tukuafu entertained the crowd; whenever the ball came over to the alumni side, he'd yell out "SET ME! SET ME!" Kai Kahele lost his shoe and Leoni, without his old trademark lion's mane but with the trademark headband, fired things up from the service line. The night was complete with a rotation error by the alumni and someone in the crowd shouting, "Let them play!" but both sides battled it out.

And then back to MPSF matches and to current #1 Pepperdine.

Pepperdine swept on Thurs. night, winning 30-28, 30-18, 30-28. I watched from home, cheering loudly at the TV screen, probably to the annoyance of neighbors. I watched as Beckwith pointed to the camera before tossing up the first serve of the night. I watched him use a much improved and effective jump serve; Hakala back at Opposite, the position which kept people at the edge of their seats last season; and they came so close and so far to winning games 1 & 2.

Saturday's game was 100% more exciting. Even though Beckwith still had to run around a bit, he fired things up with that jump serve again, an inspiring effort with several delicious sets to the hitters, getting his MB's in the act more often, and, after a dislocated finger early in game 4, served up rockets, still put up amazing sets and hustled more than...I don't know, it was just great to watch!

Freshman Matt Vanzant had a great match with 24 kills, just 8 errors, hitting .364! And now that he's getting rather consistent, you know he's just going to get better every time!

On the injury list with wana stuck in his foot, Dante played as if he was just a kid playing with his buddies: all fun, no work, zero worries. 7 kills, 1 error, .400. Kalima, listed as having the flu, must've had some mana on tap; with Cervantes stepping up big time at the L-pos., it left Kalima free to get in some swings at the net. [the full stats are even more impressive]

We lost the match, 30-28, 19-30, 28-30, and 28-30.

So the Rainbow Warriors are primed for making a run on the rest of the season (about a month left) and showing up for the playoffs. If ever there was a season that I wish I could've afforded season tickets, this would be it. Yet, I haven't missed a second of it, and don't plan to, even from home.
________________________________________________

*I'm not just saying that because local boy Brent Asuka (Iolani) is back playing Libero for UCI (2006 MPSF newcomer of the year, first-team all-American, all-MPSF). Even though, like a good local, I am proud of our local people making the national stage, but Mom'll tell you that I don't support every single one JUST because they once lived in Hawaii. Case in point: that guy on AmIdol who lived in Kauai for four years and did a terribly fake tourist hula on his AmIdol video. I didn't vote for anyone yet, but I would've voted for him to be booted if I could've. And UCI, phenomenal so far.

#12 UH vs. #14 USC, 2nd Match

Friday's article in the Honolulu Advertiser said that short-term fans have been dropping out of the season. Early season games don't draw huge crowds. Typically, Wednesday night games aren't a huge draw and this time, it was Valentine's Day. I'm not worried. If I had a boyfriend, it wouldn't have been Valentine's Day if he didn't take me to the volleyball game, but I'm not a short-term fan.

In other housekeeping, if you go to a game, certain rules of respect apply the same in volleyball as in any other sport. DO NOT rant on your opponents NOR cheer for your hometeam when someone is injured on the floor. It was disappointing and embarassing (because they were UH fans) when this happened while Juan Figueroa (USC, OH) was down on the floor for about a minute. It looked like he was seriously hurt. I thought he had landed on his back, could be, but now it looks like he injured his ankle. If I had been sitting behind the idiots making the noise at that time, somebody in the stands would've been hurting also, and it wouldn't be me.

And if you're a real fan, you might make a sign for your favorite player, maybe get some face time on TV, have him autograph it for you after the game, take a picture with him. But you DO NOT try to get his attention when he's at the service line. Most likely he won't hear you because he's concentrating on PLAYING THE GAME, but also, why would you try to distract your own guy on the court?

The garlic fries are still oh so ONO! and another silly thing: Pavlovich and Anderson (USC) are rather good-looking (that's in for "Apple"), but we still have the best looking team!

And what else? WE WON Friday's match in 4! It was exciting! At several points in the game, one wouldn't be sure of who would win, but our guys kept it together and pulled it out! Including an all-out, knock-down, full-drive rally in game 4 with guys on the floor and a sweet Jim Clar (OH) assist to a Beckwith (S) kill from behind the 3-meter line for the point!

Player of the match for UH was Brian Beckwith, whom I think deserves it a lot more times than he gets it. Take note of Dante's stats, He did just what he was supposed to(and maybe a little more), blocking at the net, making a killing at the net, and throw in a few key digs (too bad only 3 counted for the official stats). Also, Jim Clar for that great set to Beckwith, a thrilling block solo stopping Anderson at the net in game 2, and 20 kills.

But the whole team made good improvements and adjustments during the match and are starting to play like the team we're used to watching, serving and passing better. Didn't I say I wasn't worried?

(Picture from Honolulu Advertiser, Sat, Feb 17, 2007)

Volleyball

At this moment, our #12 UH Men's team lost last night to #14 USC. We play them again tomorrow night. If we lose again, we'll drop more spots. As it is, we're at the bottom third of the MPSF.

To put it in perspective, the MPSF is the strongest conference in college men's volleyball. UCSD, who is typically last in the MPSF, made us work for the two match wins last season. They were not going to give up. This is a conference in which the top five teams have been known to jump around and switch places. USC, at #13 in the first 2007 poll, beat #3 UCLA in 3 games; that's a sweep! Last year, UCLA started at #2, fell half-season to #9, and crawled back up the rankings to win the NCAA tournament (finishing #1).

Even though we lost five seniors, we began this season at #4. Following that, we've been #5, #3, #9, and now #12. The five seniors [Alfred Reft (L), Matt Carere (OH), Johnny Matt Bender (OH), Jose Delgado (OH), Mauli'a LaBarre (MB)] were all good players in their positions and it should be tough to fill in those spots. That we started at #4 says a lot about the talent on the team. I have faith in our guys to finish out on top this season.
So don't count Hawaii out just yet. [For more about the team]

Brian Beckwith, setter, SR: Became a freshman starter in '04 when the previous setter was injured; hasn't really given up the position yet. He twists and turns and gives his hitters great opportunities to get us a point. In the match last week against UCSB, Beckwith faked UCSB out by going up as if he was going to go for the kill himself but instead gave a quick set to Dante in the middle for the point. Last match against USC: 32 assists, 2 services aces, no service errors, 5 digs, 2 block solos, 1 block assist, and 1 kill hitting 1000! It was exciting to watch.

Lauri Hakala, hitter, SR: The "Flying Finn" is co-captain this year with local boy Eric Kalima. Injured at the moment, everyone is waiting for him to get back on the court. If you have to ask why, then you have not seen him move in for a kill. When he lifts off, reaches back, and pounds the ball, he hits it so hard that the ball disappears! Even in instant replay slowing down, you will miss it if you blink. Even though he is out for the next few games, he'll be back and meanwhile is doing a good job of being captain, cheering on the team from the sidelines.

Eric Kalima, libero/hitter, SR: The other co-captain, I have to point this guy out because of the dive he took into the stands last year. If that isn't hustle and heart, I don't know what is. I would like to see him get a few kills, but he's doing a great job at libero. I remember a few years back, watching a game, every so often you could hear among the chants, "Put Eric in! Put Kalima in!" I'm glad his family/fans are finally seeing Kalima in.

Dio Dante, middle blocker, SR: The Maui-boy is leading his team where he's supposed to, in blocks. Plus, he also does a nice job of putting the ball to the floor, especially when he gets those quick sets from Beckwith. I suppose it helps being 6'8".

James Clar, hitter, SO: Of the underclassmen, I'm excited to see this guy get time on the court. He's filling in nicely on the right side. He's as explosive and quick as Hakala.

I'm a vb fan, not a players fan, but those are the guys that I'm watching this season. Carney does a good job at setting, I'm assuming they put him in sometimes because after 4 years and with all the ties Beckwith has to coaches and players on the other teams, the others haven't had a chance to study Carney much and won't know his tendencies as much as they know Beckwith's. And usually when he's in for serving, Carney rarely missed last season. I've always liked the quicker system that our team uses with tall blockers and the shorter (6'0-6'2) hitters flying above the net from all areas of the court.

I'm going to the second match against USC. Their game in which they swept UCLA was exciting! But look for me in the green rooting for the 'Bows!

(Picture from Star Bulletin, issue: Feb 15, 2007)