By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Cia Goods and Jessica Sudduth put up a block against
Loyola Marymount but the Wahine had to
settle for a weekend split.
Wahine welcome
By Cindy Luis
start of WACplay
Star-BulletinThey didn't get what they wanted Saturday night against Loyola Marymount yet, maybe, they got what they needed. And that doesn't just mean looking at the next five weeks without seeing a Top-25 team on the schedule. The University of Hawaii women's volleyball team heads into conference play this week with its worst pre-Western Athletic Conference record since 1993. The Wahine (6-4) are ready for a break after losing to another ranked team, 15-11, 15-10, 13-15, 6-15, 19-17.
It was a moral victory of sorts against the No. 16 Lions for the 18th-ranked Wahine. Two points away from being swept in straight sets, Hawaii rallied to force Game 5 and served for the win three times.
Little things that had plagued them all match -- the inability to get a key block, a kill with authority, a critical dig, a crisp pass off a tough serve -- came back to haunt Hawaii in the final two minutes as the Lions scored the last two points. The Wahine are mad about letting it get away and want to get even.
And get even better.
"It was disappointing because we were ahead (in Game 5), 14-13, 15-14, 16-15, 17-16," said Wahine setter Nikki Hubbert after UH split the series with the Lions. "And we just lost it. We hadn't come back from being down, 2-0, all season and we kept fighting."
"It was our little errors, our little mistakes that lost it for us," said freshman hitter Jessica Sudduth, who led Hawaii with a career-high 17 kills. "I think we saw that Loyola Marymount didn't care at the end what the score was, they kept coming at us. We have to remember that whether we're ahead 2-0 or behind 2-0, whatever the score is, we have to play our game.
"We showed a lot of camaraderie out there at the end. Everyone stayed together and believed. We should have won that match."
The Lions scored an opponent record 16 points on service aces, including the match-ender.
"That's 16 points we gave to them," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji. "That's an entire game. Our passing was horrendous. They served tough and I think they felt that was the only way to beat us. And it was. Every one of their kids stepped back and just bombed.
"We showed some fight at the end, played well after being down 2-0. Our kids fought hard when faced with adversity. That was encouraging. But we should have won the match. "
Hawaii had its chances. Three times the Wahine served for the match -- the last at 16-15 -- only to have the Lions tie it each time.
LMU took the lead at 17-16 on Sarah Noriega's 33rd kill of the match but Hawaii blocked the senior All-American candidate to knot it at 17-all.
Cindy Weglarz, hitting negative all night, squeezed her seventh kill of the match through the Wahine block. She then dive-bombed her second ace into the middle of Hawaii's defense to end it after 2 hours and 40 minutes.
"Our forte is serving and passing and I think that was our advantage in Game 5," said Lions coach Steve Stratos, whose team improved to 9-3. "The bombs were blasting tonight."
The Wahine host WAC teams San Jose State (6-4) Friday and San Diego State (5-3) Saturday. The next time Hawaii faces a ranked team will be Nov. 1, at former Big West rival Long Beach State.
WAC Women
Pacific Division
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. San Diego St 1 0 1.000 -- 5 3 .625 Fresno St 0 0 .000 1/2 10 4 .714 Texas Christ. 0 0 .000 1/2 9 4 .692 So. Methodist 0 0 .000 1/2 9 6 .600 Hawaii 0 0 .000 1/2 6 4 .600 Tulsa 0 0 .000 1/2 4 10 .400 Rice 0 0 .000 1/2 2 9 .182 San Jose St 0 1 .000 1 6 4 .600Mountain Division
Conference Overall Team W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Texas-El Paso 0 0 .000 -- 9 1 .900 Colorado St 0 0 .000 -- 10 2 .833 Utah 0 0 .000 -- 9 3 .750 Brigham Young 0 0 .000 -- 8 4 .667 Nev-Las Vegas 0 0 .000 -- 7 4 .636 Wyoming 0 0 .000 -- 7 5 .583 New Mexico 0 0 .000 -- 6 5 .545 Air Force 0 0 .000 -- 4 10 .286Tonight's matches
San Diego State at Pepperdine
Wyoming at Weber State
Tulsa at SW Missouri State
Sam Houston at Rice
Brigham Young at Texas-El Paso
Fresno State at San Diego State
Nevada-Las Vegas at Colorado State
Utah at New Mexico
San Jose State at Hawaii, 7 p.m.
Air Force at Wyoming
Brigham Young at New Mexico
Rice at Southern Methodist
Tulsa at Texas Christian
Fresno State at Hawaii, 7 p.m.
Utah at Texas-El Paso
Air Force at Colorado State
Nevada-Las Vegas at Wyoming
Rice at Texas Christian
San Jose State at San Diego State
Tulsa at Southern Methodist
At Special Events Arena Box Score
Loyola Marymount def. Hawaii, 15-11, 15-10, 13-15, 6-15, 19-17
g k e at pct. bs ba d Hecker 4 0 6 7 -.857 0 0 5 Olivier 1 2 0 2 1.000 0 0 0 Day 5 10 5 21 .238 0 5 1 Vinck 5 14 8 31 .194 0 1 12 Holman 5 2 2 5 .000 0 1 3 C. Weglarz 5 7 10 29 -.103 0 1 26 Gustorf 5 13 1 29 .414 0 1 15 Noriega 5 33 13 79 .253 0 4 10 N. Weglarz 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Totals 5 81 45 204 .176 0 13 74
g k e at pct. bs ba d Crawford 5 16 8 53 .151 0 2 10 Karratti 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 2 Goods 5 6 1 22 .227 1 13 2 Cordray 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Sudduth 5 17 5 45 .267 1 3 6 Elkington 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Hubbert 5 4 2 7 .286 0 6 13 Stevens 1 2 1 10 .100 0 1 2 Miyashiro 5 1 0 1 .000 0 0 6 Roberts 5 5 2 15 .200 1 5 1 Lee 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Ilustre 5 12 5 29 .241 0 7 11 Totals 5 64 24 183 .219 3 37 61Key: g-games. k-kills. e-hitting errors. at-attempts. pct.-hitting percentage. bs-block solos. ba-block assists. d-digs.Aces--LMU (16): Noriega 5, Vinck 4, Holman 3, C. Weglarz 2, Gustorf 2. UH (2): Karratti 1, Ilustre 1. Assists--LMU (70): Holman 64, C. Weglarz 2, Hecker 1, Gustorf 1, Noriega 1, N. Weglarz 1. UH (61): Hubbert 55, Ilustre 3, Crawford 1, Cordray 1, Sudduth 1. A--7,011. T--2:40. Officials: Ho, Lee.
1997 UH Wahine Volleyball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
