STANFORD, Calif. >> Kate Lang knew Hawaii’s place in the NCAA Tournament was secure when she took a seat with her Rainbow Wahine teammates to watch Sunday’s selection show.
The status of a close friend’s season was in far more doubt.
So she shot Paige Flickinger a text of support as the bracket was revealed.
“I was like, ‘I’m praying for you guys that you make it into the tournament. I can’t wait to see who you’re playing against,’’ Lang recalled on Thursday.
So the Rainbow Wahine setter was thrilled for Flickinger, now a starting outside hitter at LSU, when the Tigers popped up in the bracket.
She then marveled at the turn of events when Hawaii filled the next line.
“I said out loud when we saw LSU on the screen, ‘Oh my gosh I wonder who Paige is going to play.’ And then it was us,” Lang said. “It’s crazy. What are the odds?”
The Big West champion Rainbow Wahine (22-6) were paired with the Tigers (15-13) in a first-round match in the Stanford region, and today’s matchup in Maples Pavilion will serve as a reunion of sorts for Lang and Flickinger, albeit from opposite sides of the net.
They played club volleyball together in Texas throughout their high school careers and attended each other’s signing ceremonies — Lang with UH while Flickinger stayed closer to home in committing to LSU.
“She was my best friend,” Lang said. “Our parents are super close. We spent holidays together. She lived 10 minutes away from me and I carpooled with her every day to practice. It was that type of relationship. … She was my rock the entire time.”
>> RELATED: Elena Oglivie, Stanford want to make things right
Lang, named the Big West Setter of the Year on Wednesday, said they chatted following the selection show, “but once we both got here, we were like, ‘It’s business time, we cant talk to each other any more, we have to start watching film on each other instead.”
Lang and Flickinger played for rival high schools in Texas, so the competitive aspect of their friendship isn’t new. They’ll meet on a far bigger stage today in the first match of a loaded sub-regional.
Host Stanford was awarded the top spot in the region, and will face perhaps the toughest challenge among the four No. 1 national seeds when the Cardinal take on Pepperdine following the UH-LSU match.
“I think it’s the strongest subregional,” Stanford coach Kevin Hambly said. “If you just look at the RPIs, it’s by far the strongest subregional.
“That’ll be a very interesting match,” he said of today’s opener. “LSU is incredibly athletic and Hawaii is really well coached and very organized and very good at playing volleyball.”
The Rainbow Wahine arrived in Northern California on Tuesday, had a full practice at Menlo College on Wednesday and went through their 90-minute session in Maples Pavilion on Thursday to prepare for the Tigers.
“There’s height across the board and there’s athleticism across the board,” UH assistant coach Kaleo Baxter said of scouting LSU. “But we’re excited to play our game: serve and pass, and convert digs into points.”
While defense remains the foundation of UH’s culture, LSU ranked second in the SEC with 15.54 digs per set and had 108 against Mississippi State on Oct. 30.
“Being scrappy is going to be part of the MO (today) and who does a better job of keeping the ball off the floor,” LSU coach Tonya Johnson said.
Today’s winners will meet on Saturday for a spot in next weekend’s regional round. Following is a look at the first-round matchups.
—
Hawaii Rainbow Wahine (22-6, 19-1 Big West)
>> Coach: Robyn Ah Mow (fifth year)
>> Dance Invitation: Automatic, Big West champion
>> NCAA RPI: 36
>> Leaders: MB Amber Igiede (3.79 kps, .439, 1.30 bps); S Kate Lang (10.24 aps); OH Riley Wagoner (3.26 kps, 2.41 dps); L Tayli Ikenaga (3.12 dps); OH Caylen Alexander (2.75 kps, 33 aces).
>> Outlook: Ah Mow had a two-word message to the Wahine this week: “Play free.” Over the course of the season, the Rainbow Wahine have mastered the balance of maintaining a sharp focus without playing tight. “That’s a big theme, to be dialed but also to be loose and to have fun,” senior setter Mylana Byrd said. “It’s the type of girls that are on this team — we know each other well … know what that loose (but) focused vibe is.” After grinding through a 2-5 start in the nonconference schedule, a third consecutive conference title wasn’t without its tense moments. After a loss to Cal Poly on Oct. 15 to fall into a tie for first place, they pulled out two five-set wins while running the table with 12 consecutive victories. Igiede, the Big West Player of the Year, leads UH at the net and has 29 aces against 22 service errors. Wagoner, the floor captain, expanded her array of shots from the left pin and plays a critical role in serve receive and on defense as a six-rotation mainstay.
LSU Tigers (15-3, 9-9 SEC)
>> Coach: Tonya Johnson (first year)
>> Dance Invitation: At Large, SEC seventh
>> NCAA RPI: 48
>> Leaders: OH Sanaa Dotson (3.67 kps, 207, 25 aces); L Ella Larkin (4.41 dps); MB Anita Anwusi (1.13 bps).; S Josie Vondran (6.59 aps), S Maddie Waak (4.38 aps).
>> Outlook: Johnson returned to her alma mater to lead the Tigers back to the tournament for the first time since 2017. While she has the experience of deep NCAA runs as a Texas assistant, the tournament environment might be as unfamiliar for the Tigers as, well, a trip to the West Coast. LSU didn’t venture past the Central Time Zone this season, and entered the selection show on the bubble following two losses to Georgia. After going 13-14 last year, the push over .500 proved enough to earn a spot in the bracket. Dotson, the daughter of former NFL defensive lineman Santana Dotson, is a high-volume attacker with 411 kills in 1,218 attempts. “We’re going to need her to be good in order for us to be able to do the things we want to do,” Johnson said. “At the end of the day, I’m not trying to put pressure on her, but she needs to understand that this team will go as she goes.” Larkin made the transition from setter to libero and led the SEC in digs. The Tigers run a modified 6-2 offense, with Vondran and Waak sharing setting duties. Vondran has four NCAA Tournament appearances at Dayton and Ohio State before joining LSU as a grad transfer.
Stanford Cardinal (24-4, 19-1 Pac-12)
>> Coach: Kevin Hambly (sixth year)
>> Dance Invitation: Automatic, Pac-12 champion
>> NCAA RPI: 5
>> Leaders: OPP Kendall Kipp (4.31 kps, .301); S Kami Miner (11.25 aps); Caitie Baird (3.34 kps); L Elena Oglivie (4.35 dps); MB McKenna Vicini (1.31 bps).
>> Outlook: The Cardinal started 6-4 after being swept at Oregon on Sept. 25 and haven’t lost since. The 18-match run on the way to the Pac-12 title proved enough to edge San Diego, the second seed in the region, for one of the four No. 1 national seeds. “It’s been a really fun group that’s very motivated to try to get Stanford back where Stanford’s been,” Hambly said. Stanford collected the Pac-12 player (Kipp), setter (Miner), libero (Oglivie) and coach of the year awards. Kipp, a 6-5 senior, posted double-digit kills in the last 27 matches, putting away at least 20 six times. Miner runs an attack ranked seventh nationally at .292 while leaning on production from Baird and freshman Elia Rubin (3.16 kps). The production from the pins helped the Cardinal overcome an injury to 6-foot-6 middle Sami Francis (2.09 kps, 1.45 bps). “She’s a great middle and to not have her is a bummer, but we haven’t used that as an excuse,” Hambly said. “We still found ways to win, and we adjusted as a team and reinvented ourselves a little at the end. “We’re pretty fortunate to have three good pins. Those make up for a lot.”
Pepperdine Waves (19-10, 10-8 WCC)
>> Coach: Scott Wong (eighth year)
>> Dance Invitation: At Large, West Coast fourth
>> NCAA RPI: 45
>> Leaders: OH/OPP Grace Chillingworth (2.89 kps, .220, 40 aces); OH Emily Hellmuth (2.90 kps); MB Vanessa Polk (1.21 bps); GR Riley Patterson (4.14 dps); S Isabel Zelaya (10.11 aps)
>> Outlook: The Waves’ offseason preparation included a trip to Manoa for a spring exhibition match with UH. Seven players joined the program since then and three freshmen are in the starting lineup, including Hellmuth, the WCC Freshman of the Year. “We have some youth on the court right now,” Wong said. “Every team does, but we’re needing to grow faster than we have time to.” The Waves’ 7-1 start to the regular season included wins over then-No. 9 Baylor and road wins over Washington and Minnesota. They cooled off in the second half of the WCC season, losing three of their last four, albeit against fellow NCAA qualifiers Loyola Marymount, BYU and San Diego. “Any time you’re on a bubble there is a little bit of stress,” Wong said. “But we felt our body of work for the season gave us plenty of justification to be not only in but to have a decent spot in the tournament, which we didn’t get. So I guess one of those two things is a win. “Our team has been excited about challenges, excited about playing good teams and hasn’t back down to teams on the road. So it’s going to be a fun opportunity to play against a really good team.”
—
NCAA women’s volleyball tournament
At Maples Pavilion; Stanford, Calif.
Today
>> Hawaii (22-6) vs. LSU (15-13), 2:30 p.m.
>> Pepperdine (19-10) vs. Stanford (24-4), 5 p.m.
Saturday
>> First-round winners, 4 p.m.
>> Radio: UH-LSU match on 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
>> Online: ESPN+
>> TV: None
