We need some in-state rivals

[warriorfan808]

UH men's volleyball needs some rekindling and fast. We all know that volleyball is huge in Hawaii and if it's going to be a success anywhere, it would have to be here. Our men's team was the talk of the town a few years back, but now are rarely given the time of day.

What we need is a rival. Sure we have UCLA, but they're across an Ocean and no where to be seen. Hawaii needs to get another local school involved in the slowly sinking men's volleyball ship. With one or two added schools to the picture, men's volleyball can grow larger than it has ever had. This is including our championship year.

This is what I think should happen. One of the smaller schools on the island needs to jump ship first, possibly Hawaii Pacific University. They've had found success with women's volleyball, so they could possibly be sold on the men's volleyball idea. They also have a new AD who is searching to find his place in our local community. How better to get into the local scene than have a local school who people would actually come and see.

The type of exposure HPU would recieve from being part of a conference with names such as UCLA, USC, Hawaii and Stanford is more than worth the investment. They would also be averaging the highest attendance in their school's history. If both schools have good years, a sold out crowd will never be out of the question.

Scheduling for them should be easy as well. Hawaii will already be having schools coming to the islands to play in tournaments and for conference games, so they could be seen as a travel partner. If they schedule their games before Hawaii's, think of the amount of fans that would be listening in on HPU volleyball to see how well teams like UCLA do before they get to play Hawaii.

I don't know if I'm wrong here or not. I do remember there being some schools that play Division 1A in some sports and Division 1AA in others. If this works, maybe BYUH and Chaminade will follow suite.

[seasider]

Used to be called Church College of Hawaii, was a force Nationally in volleyball. Had a local AA athlete, who later went on to play in the olympics. Whodaguy?

[warriorfan808]

Used to be called Church College of Hawaii, was a force Nationally in volleyball. Had a local AA athlete, who later went on to play in the olympics. Whodaguy?

Do you know what the criteria would be to allow BYU Hawaii or another small school to have a Division 1A volleyball program? I've been trying to do some research before I actually try and contact the HPU AD with the idea.

[seasider]

Used to be called Church College of Hawaii, was a force Nationally in volleyball. Had a local AA athlete, who later went on to play in the olympics. Whodaguy?

Do you know what the criteria would be to allow BYU Hawaii or another small school to have a Division 1A volleyball program? I've been trying to do some research before I actually try and contact the HPU AD with the idea.

Improved overall academics, i.e. SAT scores. I believe getting into any small college in Hawaii, SAT scores is not relevant. If I'm wrong, maybe some knowledgeable sport fan can clue me in.

That AA from bygone days, was Pete Velasco.