Blue Hawaii: U-M at Asics Hawaiian Classic -- Day 4
8/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Friday, August 24 :: Season Opener vs. No. 10 Hawaii
US AGAINST THE 50TH STATE
Game day arrives with dark clouds and rain. The island of Oahu has decided to wake the Wolverines with black clouds blowing off the mountains and persistent showers. The team's walk to breakfast is a dreary one bereft of umbrellas. The skies look ominous and some (okay, maybe only your correspondent) wonder if the island gods have awakened for the Rainbow Wahine season opener and decided to make U-M's walk slightly less pleasant.
A mentality of "Us Against Hawaii" is tougher to foster than, say, "Us Against Ohio State" or "Us Against Lansing." Columbus offers suggestions from fans as to what Ann Arbor's profession is (hint: some say it's the oldest profession in the world) and Lansing is full of green, which clashes dreadfully with blue and maize. Hawaii, on the other hand, is hard to hate.
"Traffic is terrible," one Wolverine says, when asked what she doesn't like about Hawaii. "Some of the beaches are crowded," adds another. "I got a few bug bites today," says Lyndsay Miller.
Veronica Rood seems to be the only one with a real beef against the 50th state.
"Some parts of the street smell bad," says Rood, over lunch, as her teammates laugh at and with her.
"All of Ann Arbor's streets smell like lilacs," a witty media relations person interjects into Rood's rant. "Fresh lilacs," adds Beth Karpiak, extending her streak of consecutive quotes in a U-M volleyball blog to four.
Rood goes on to detail her experiences shopping in Hawaii -- in particular, a lengthy description of trying to buy one bracelet, not two. The table is riveted. It is clear that Rood will have no trouble embracing the "Us Against Hawaii" sentiment.
The rest of the team might have trouble rousing the necessary animosity to make this a rivalry match. Like close friends Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson in the 1988 NBA Finals (where the two shared a memorable kiss before tipoff of game one) or the Williams sisters competing against each other in tennis, Michigan and Hawaii may have trouble rousing their animosity for one another. Peyton and Eli Manning. Bill and Martin Grammatica. The Average Joes vs. Team Blitzkrieg. These are contests in which each team fights to win, but there is plenty of love all around.
The team gets a chance to work on its orneriness when the preceding match between Colorado State and Oregon State goes five games, delaying the Wolverines' debut. Witty comments from members of the Hawaii band, seated right next to the tunnel in which the Wolverines are warming up, help stoke the fires a little more. Finally, after an hour and a half delay warming up in a dimly lit, spartan tunnel, the Wolverines are ready to roar.
The team frolics to a 30-14 victory in game one. For non-volleyball fans, that is a huge margin of winningness. Michigan takes the second game as well and the Hawaiian fans line up in droves to buy as many super nachos as they can from the concession stands to drown their disappointment.
Hawaii rebounds to win the next two games and send it to a fifth and final game, pushing the match well beyond the two-hour mark. Michigan is pushed to the brink but fights back and finally defeats the No. 10 Rainbow Wahine on their home court, 18-16 in the fifth.
Within 10 minutes, most of the 7,000-plus fans have already filed out, and one by one the Michigan fans cheer their daughters or nieces as they emerge from the locker room.
A pizza celebration ensued in the lobby with the coaches and staff at one table and the players at others. Conversation picked up between slices.
"My dad and my uncle listened to the match in the basement until five in the morning," said assistant coach Gregg Whitis. "My mom went down and told them that they were making too much noise and they told her that we had just won the first game 30-14 and that she had to leave."
E-mails and text messages trickled into in-boxes with congratulations and kind words.
"We just beat the No. 10 team in the country on the road in front of almost 8,000 people," added Whitis between bites of pizza. The smirk on his face said it all.
It can only be imagined that on the other side of the hotel lobby, Rood shared a similar smile. Her five kills in game five belied just a desire to win. It was almost like it was personal. Almost like she didn't like how a certain state's streets smelled in certain areas.
Rood is cold as ice and the Wolverines are 1-0 to begin the season.
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