I fell in love with the team this year and felt we could beat Hawaii but the game would be close. In the first set we get up four and all look well. It seemed from then on we were totally out played.
Can some of you who know the game and maybe even played it give your thoughts? Example why does Hardesty hit serves into the net? Is that nerves or lack of concentration?
I really like the Corbellies and happy for them this year but I thought we make it to Des Moines.

Beef,

Thanks for the string. I do hope some of those who are competent in analyzing volleyball, which I am not, will reply with some in depth answers.

One thing that seems obvious in hindsight is that Hawaii was underseeded. They were 7th in the coaches poll, I believe, but their RPI was relatively high - 26th or so. I think they only had one loss, but didn't play a very challenging schedule. Think of Baylor in football!

A couple of posters mentioned that Hawaii hosted several tournaments which had decent teams, but they count as home games for Hawaii, which doesn't necessarily help your RPI. Their conference schedule was apparently not very challenging.

So perhaps at least one part of the explanation is that we drew a very talented team which was undervalued going into the tournament. We were unlucky to catch them when they played well.

RPI is only a weak measurement of a team's strength, thus not a reliable indicator where a team is seeded.