Where does Hawaii football go from here?
The simple answer is home.
“Just go back to work, try to get better,” coach Norm Chow said Saturday after a 55-0 loss at Boise State.
The hard part for the Rainbow Warriors (2-3, 1-0 Mountain West) will be finding ways to muster offense. Hawaii already has been shutout three times this season, something that hasn’t happened since 1966.
There was hope that lopsided road losses at Ohio State and Wisconsin would at least better prepare Hawaii for conference play, but Saturday’s drubbing in which it was outgained 554-170 and trailed 49-0 at halftime was the fifth-worst league setback in program history.
“It’s just one loss, it’s just one game,” Chow said. “That’s what I told the kids, it’s just one game. You hope to come through healthy, and we’ll have to check that out.”
When asked if Boise State was the best team he’d faced this season, Chow shrugged. “That’s a good football team, and we’ve played some other pretty good teams this year too.”
Chow added that he didn’t think any team in the Mountain West would offer the challenge the Broncos did.
Hawaii returns home Saturday night to face San Diego State at Aloha Stadium, the Rainbow Warriors only home contest in a five-week stretch. The Aztecs are also 2-3 and coming off a 21-7 victory against Fresno State in their home opener.
“Regroup, keep fighting,” Chow said. “I thought some guys stepped up, played pretty good, (defensive back) Dejaun Butler in particular. We knew this was going to be tough, you guys knew that, but it’s still tough. We need to play better, which we’ll do.”
Volleyball
As expected, the No. 10 Rainbow Wahine (14-1, 4-0) cruised past a pair of teams it has never lost against.
The downside was the injury bug in Southern California.
Sophomore outside hitter Kalei Greeley went down in the Game 2 of a 25-17, 25-15, 25-5 victory Saturday against UC Riverside and did not return. Setter Tayler Higgins missed her first start in 43 matches as she sat out because of an injury suffered Friday at Cal State Fullerton.
Junior opposite hitter Nikki Taylor saw her streak of finishing with double-digit kills end at Fullerton, but she posted a match-high 14 kills on .448 hitting against Riverside. Hilo native Tai Manu-Olevao finished with nine kills and 11 digs for the Wahine, who’s Game 3 rout tied the program’s largest victory in a set.
Olivia Magill, Manu-Olevao and Greeley each smacked eight kills in the 25-11, 25-16, 25-13 win against Fullerton.
Soccer
Caitlyn Kreutz and Elise Krieghoff each scored twice Sunday night as Cal Poly overpowered Hawaii 7-2 at Waipio Peninsula Soccer Complex on Oahu.
Tiana Fujimoto and Keala Parker-Lee netted goals for the Rainbow Wahine (3-9-1, 0-2 Big West).
Cal Poly (5-3-5, 1-1) was outshot 16-11 but put 10 shots on frame.
