Nearly midway through her season season, 0-13 is hardly how Kristal Tsukano hoped 2009 would start for her San Jose State volleyball team.

But Tsukano, the starting libero, is still excited for the second half of the season and hopeful for a turnaround as the Spartans visit Hawai'i for a Western Athletic Conference match Saturday. UH plays Nevada Friday. Both matches are at 7 p.m.

"We know that we're very young, but it can't be an excuse, we need to work on being cohesive as a team," said Tsukano, a 2005 Kamehameha graduate from Honolulu. "It is frustrating to play as hard as we do and lose, but we've been in a lot of matches and played some tough teams early."

On Sept. 26 the Spartans fell in five sets to Boise State, two nights after dropping their WAC opener in four to Idaho. SJSU has already played nationally ranked teams Washington, Stanford, UC Irvine and took California to four sets.

"That shows us what we need to work on, but that we can hang with teams that are very good," Tsukano said.

SJSU's youth is evident as 10 of its 16 players are freshmen or sophomores. That has thrust Tsukano — one of just two seniors — into a leadership role.

"I've definitely had to help on focusing to develop our defensive players," said Tsukano, a three-year starter. "I'm comfortable with leading by example on the court, not so much vocal, but it has been coming out more because this is my last season."

Among the new faces on the team are freshmen Alex Akana and Caitlin Andrade, 2009 Kamehameha graduates from Kailua.

"I think both of them have done a great job, being freshmen and coming in and playing," Tsukano said.

Another local product for SJSU is junior outside hitter and 2006 Moanalua graduate Brianna Amian.

"I think we share a little bit of that aloha spirit here, especially with the parents (of other players) that we meet. We call them 'aunty' and 'uncle' and give them a kiss," Tsukano said. "And, of course, we share all the local snacks we always have from back home ... a lot of my teammates actually like li hing mui."

For Tsukano, playing the sport she loves at the Division I level was the plan all along.

"It was something that I always wanted to do and it's been a really good experience," said Tsukano, who has recorded 1,192 digs in her career. "I always knew I would go away (to the Mainland) for school, but being able to come back and play at Hawai'i every year is always exciting."

Tsukano, who is majoring in biology, said she will return to SJSU to get her degree after her eligibility runs out after this season.

"I think it'll be a nice change," Tsukano said of life after volleyball. "I'll finally have some free time."

Tsukano, along with fellow senior Thao Pham, write a weekly blog about their season at www.sjsuspartans.com.

"It's been fun, especially to kind of write about what we've been doing as a team," said Tsukano, who wrote about coming home to Hawai'i for the last time with the team in this week's entry.

"I'm very excited to come home," Tsukano said. "But, I don't think I'll feel any different before the match ... maybe after it's done, it'll be a different feeling."

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