By Cindy Luis

compliments of RichKern.com

#1 Penn State def. Purdue 3-1
#5 Illinois (H) def. Iowa 3-0
#6 Stanford def. #19 Arizona 3-2
#7 UCLA def. Oregon State 3-0
#10 Kentucky (H) def. South Carolina 3-0
#11 California def. Arizona State 3-1
#12 Minnesota lost to #14 Michigan 0-3
#13 Florida lost to Tennessee 1-3
#14 Michigan (H) def. #12 Minnesota 3-0
#15 Florida State (H) def. Boston College 3-0
#15 USC def. #18 Oregon 3-0
#17 LSU (H) def. Mississippi State 3-0
#18 Oregon (H) lost to #15 USC 0-3
#19 Arizona (H) lost to #6 Stanford 2-3
#21 Northern Iowa (H) def. Creighton 3-1
#23 Notre Dame def. Seton Hall 3-0

By Jason Kaneshiro

SAN JOSE, Calif. >> One thing the Warriors won’t have to worry about tomorrow is the field conditions.

The last time UH visited Spartan Stadium, heavy rains turned the field into a muddy mess when Colt Brennan and crew escaped with an overtime win. San Jose State installed a FieldTurf playing surface this year.

The Warriors had a chance to get a feel for the field at their walk-through this afternoon.

“I remember being up to my ankles in mud the last time we were here,” UH head coach Greg McMackin said.

>> The status of quarterback Bryant Moniz and receiver Greg Salas remain game-time decisions. Both have been limited in practice due to their injuries. 

>> The Hawaii Chamber of Commerce of Northern California and UH Alumni Association are hosting a series of events in the Bay Area as part of the 11th annual Road Warrior Tailgate.

More than 1,000 fans are expected to attend the events, which included pregame parties in San Francisco on Thursday and San Jose yesterday. There’s a pregame tailgate planned at Spartan Stadium tomorrow as well as a postgame party at the Hukilau San Jose.

The groups have been hosting the events for UH’s visits to Northern California for 11 years.

By Cindy Luis

Nevada, Fresno State and Boise all finish at 7-9. Nevada lost tonight at Utah State, Boise lost at Idaho and Fresno State won at San Jose State. Nevada and Fresno meet Monday with the winner to play Hawaii. Idaho gets to see Boise State for the second time in less than a week. Winner faces New Mexico State.

By Cindy Luis

The only info I have about next week’s exhibitions with Stanford is .. Klum Gym, no charge, but limited bleacher seating. Wednesday 3 p.m., Friday 9 a.m., Saturday at 8 a.m. It’s not listed yet on the Web site under schedule but if you go to the right of the MVB home page, you can click on “Schedule PDF” and the times show up there.

By Cindy Luis

UH has sold out of its allotment for the tournament. From what booster club prez Stanley Ching said, each school had 75, which doesn’t seem like a lot … at least in Hawaii.

Panda Travel also sold out of its package, which included passes It was a pretty good deal around $900 for air, 5 nights hotel and meals.

If you’re going to go, my advice would be to go directly to the Orleans box office and by there. All-session is $45. Single session is $20 the first day, $23 the other two days.

I know I had mentioned it earlier that it was cheaper to buy through UH. i don’t know if it’s cheaper to go through other schools to et tickets than to go to the box office. Either way, likely handling fees and tax.

By Jason Kaneshiro

Slotback Greg Salas and quarterback Bryant Moniz both said they’ll likely practice on Thursday and assess their status for Saturday’s game at San Jose State.
“It’s feeling better from yesterday so if it keeps improving like this then hopefully I’ll be ready to go,” said Salas, who is nursing a sprained foot.
Moniz is dealing with bruised ribs suffered in last week’s win over New Mexico State.
“They might give me tomorrow off, but at least by Thursday I have to get out there and see how it feels,” he said.
In the meantime, Kealoha Pilares took some repetitions at slotback just in case. He’s started the last four games at wide receiver. Shane Austin was first in the rotation at quarterback.

>> Kickoff time for the regular-season finale has been set for 6:30 p.m., ESPN and UH announced today. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

>> Former UH defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville resigned as head coach at Portland State today. The Vikings went 9-24 in his three seasons at Portland State after leaving UH following the 2006 season. He hired former UH slotback and graduate assistant Craig Stutzmann as receivers coach just before the start of fall camp.
Stutzmann said the staff was informed of their release today. As for the next step in his career, Stutzmann indicated he wants to remain in coaching and will “just keep my options open and see what God has next.”

By Cindy Luis

Don’t think it was the entire class Wade wanted … as he says is it ever? …  but he got two good middles … two names that did pop earlier from another blog … one went to BYU, another to UCI …It will be up on the web site in a bit …. Shane Popelka of Chesapeake, VA., and Shan Welch, of Coral Springs, Fla.

Popelka is a 6-8 middle and a really good basketball player, with a GPA of over .4.0

Welch is a 6-9 blocker/OH and is a VB Mag Boys Underclassmen to Watch.

By Cindy Luis

Normal starting lineup with Hewitt starting. Better radio connection tonight. UH up 9-4, on a 5-0 run. TO USU.

UH up 18-12. TO USU. Danielson and Ferrell both with 4 kills.

Kaufman and Mafua with a block to end it. 25-19.

Danielson 8-1-11, Ferrell 4-1-9.

By Jason Kaneshiro

When Greg McMackin arrived for his press conference today, he was still awaiting word on the results of X-rays on Bryant Moniz’s ribs and Greg Salas’ ankle. “(The trainers) think it’s a sprained ankle and a bruised rib, but they’re getting it X-rayed,” McMackin said.
McMackin said both injuries occurred in the first quarter of Saturday’s win over New Mexico State. Salas played the entire game while Moniz pulled himself out early in the fourth quarter.
>> Former UH coach and current San Jose State coach Dick Tomey announced his retirement effective at the end of the season today. The timing of the announcement, the week of the Hawaii game, and the emotional impact it could have on the Spartans wasn’t lost on McMackin. “But the thing is I knew they’d be ready to play anyway,” he said.
“Dick Tomey’s a great coach, great person. I think he’s one of the best coaches in the country.”
>> From the AP account of Tomey’s press conference: “We have a lot of responsibilities left on the mainland, including six grandchildren to visit, but effectively we will be going back to the place we love the most and that’s Hawaii,” Tomey said.
>> The Warriors’ practices Wednesday and Thursday will be closed to the public.

By Cindy Luis

Top 3 doesn’t change. Penn State, Texas, Hawaii.

A little surprised that UW stayed at No. 4 after the loss to USC but then they go and sweep UCLA … which dropped the Bruins a spot.

Get the feeling the poll is a lot like the BCS rankings. once the big name traditional powers get up there, hard to knock them out (can we say USC?) Florida out of the Top 10. Kentucky (25-2) to No. 10.

As for the RPI, don’t know how Hawaii will get out of the lower 20s. All they can do is keep winning and hope someone ahead of them loses. It is a very flawed system but it’s made for interesting discussions on VB.