Photos by Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Angelica Ljungquist pounds a kill over the UNLVblock last night.
Between the tears and cheers for five senior starters, the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team put together a downpour of its own. The No. 3 Wahine swamped UNLV last night, 15-2, 15-4, 15-2, clinching the Western Athletic Conference's Pacific Division title along the way.
By Kathryn Bender,
Star-Bulletin
Deitre Collins, a
UH women's volleyball
star in the early '80s,
returned as coach of
the Rebels to a long
ovation from
the crowd .
Even first-year UNLV coach Deitre Collins was swept up in the excitement, recalling her senior night in 1983 when the Klum Gym crowd bid aloha to seven Wahine seniors who would bring back a second consecutive NCAA title a few weeks later.
"Senior Night is so perfect an ending for what you go through with your career here," said Collins, a two-time All-American middle blocker during her career at Hawaii (1980-83). "It leaves a mark on you the rest of your life, what the people of Hawaii mean to you. This is the most wonderful thing that anyone could ever experience.
"They (the Wahine) have earned the respect of these people. They've worked hard and people appreciate what they've done to get where they are. That's why all these people are here."
And they didn't want to leave. Only the NCAA knows when - or if - the Wahine will be back home. Hawaii (27-1 overall, 14-0 WAC) finishes the regular season at San Jose State Friday and Fresno State Saturday before heading to the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas, Nov. 26-30.
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
UH Rainbow seniors
Joselyn Robins, Chastity
Nobriga and Angelica
Ljungquist watch a
season-recapping video
presentation on KHNL's
court-side monitors
when audio to the
‘Rainbowtron’ big
screen stopped
working.
Postseason bids will be announced on Dec. 1, during the Wahine's flight back to Honolulu. Hawaii expects to receive a first-round bye and, barring an upset over the next two weeks, should be hosting a second-round match Dec. 8 and a regional Dec. 12-13.
Wahine coach Dave Shoji wasn't ready to think about the future, immediate or distant. Even after seeing 22 other senior classes take a final bow, he was mesmerized by the goings-on that included a video tribute on the scoreboard screen by KHNL and a senior walk that was more of a crawl, slowed by the thousands at courtside who deluged the seniors with flowers, stuffed animals, sweets and balloons.
Last night was to be savored by the seniors.
"This is very overwhelming," said Robins. "I'm having tons of fun but I really didn't expect this."
"I didn't think tonight would happen quite like this," said Nobriga. "This is incredible. People are still here and we're not even playing."
"It's more than I expected," said the soft-spoken Ah Mow, who began the night's poignancy by giving her mother a lei during pregame introductions.
"I'm not sad because it's not my last game," said Yamashita, who transferred after playing for Colorado State for two seasons.
"It definitely was worth coming here."
The longest journey has paid off the most for Hawaii. Ljungquist left Sweden four years ago, hoping she'd be good enough; the three-time All-American is now the leading candidate for player of the year honors.
The UH band paid a special tribute to Ljungquist when it played the Swedish national anthem during the postgame festivities. The crowd rose to its feet in respect, a fitting ovation for one of the Wahine's all-time greats.
The match went by so quickly that Shoji had to really work on getting his seniors subbed out in Game 3 for their respective standing ovations. By the time it was 7-0, the Wahine seniors were on the sidelines, leading the cheers.
Ljungquist and junior Therese Crawford led Hawaii's .500-hitting night with seven kills each, and Ljungquist added seven block assists. The Lady Rebels, hitting a negative .210, got four kills from Kim DeWitt in scoring the fewest points all season.
UNLV fell to 5-19 and 3-11.
Hawaii def. UNLV, 15-2, 15-4, 15-2
UNLV (5-19 overall, 3-11 WAC)g k e at pct. bs ba d Saxton 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 DeWitt 3 4 2 13 .154 0 0 2 Enfield 3 3 7 14 -.286 0 0 1 Gerlach 2 1 4 6 -.500 0 0 0 Ellenwood 3 1 3 7 -.286 0 1 1 Clark 3 0 1 1 -1.00 0 0 5 Goyet 3 1 6 19 -.263 0 1 3 Eves 3 1 1 2 .000 0 0 2 Totals 3 11 24 62 -.210 0 2 15
Wahine (27-1 overall, 14-0 WAC)g k e at pct. bs ba d Crawford 2 7 0 14 .500 0 1 3 Hubbert 1 0 0 0 .000 0 2 0 Goods 3 3 2 5 .200 0 0 1 Cordray 1 2 0 5 .400 0 0 0 Higashida 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Yamashita 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Elkington 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 3 Nobriga 2 2 0 3 .667 0 0 3 Ljungquist 3 7 0 10 .700 0 7 3 Lee 1 2 1 4 .250 0 0 1 Ah Mow 3 0 0 1 .000 0 3 3 Roberts 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 2 0 Robins 3 3 1 6 .333 1 2 5 Ilustre 1 2 0 2 1.000 0 1 0 Totals 3 30 4 52 .500 1 18 24Key: g-games. k-kills. e-hitting errors. at-attempts. pct.-hitting percentage. bs-block solos. ba-block assists. d-digs.
Service Aces-UNLV (3): Enfield 2, Goyet 1. UH (4): Nobriga 2, Robins 1, Yamashita 1.
Assists-UNLV (10): Clark 7, Enfield 1, Goyet 1, Saxton 1. UH (29): Ah Mow 20, Hubbert 7, Crawford 1, Goods 1.
A-9,723. T-0:52. Officials: Tom Given and Wayne Lee.