WAC play was
right tonic for UH

Sweep Fresno State in three games

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

Its own version of the high school "No Pass, No Play 2.0 Rule" seems to working just fine for the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team. It's become more like "Pass Well, Play Well" as the No. 19 Wahine improved to 2-0 in the Western Athletic Conference by beating Fresno State.

"Our passing was really, really good," said freshman Jameka Stevens, who put down six kills during the final 24 minutes of Saturday's 15-8, 15-10, 15-5 victory. "When our passing is on, Nikki (setter Hubbert), has the options of setting everything and we are able to run more of our play options.

"What I think we're learning is that we are a good team. As long as we play like a team, we'll be competitive nationally. Being a freshman, I go in expecting everyone to be exceptional. It's college ball and everyone is good."

But not, it seems, when Hawaii gets into league play. The Wahine (8-4, 2-0) have conference calls on speed dial, running their WAC winning streak to 18 with the latest win over the Bulldogs (10-6, 0-2).

Hawaii's string of conference victories is 37, including Big West play. The last time the Wahine dropped a league match was to UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 10, 1994.

The biggest threat to that success will come this week when Hawaii faces San Diego State (6-4, 2-0) Saturday. The Wahine also play Nevada-Las Vegas of the Mountain Division Friday. That one will not count in league standings.

"By far, San Diego State will be the best team we'll face in the WAC before we get to the (conference) tournament," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji, whose first career win in 1975 came against the Aztecs. "Our biggest concern right now is still consistency. But we're beginning not to make unforced errors, playing the kind of ball you have to play to win.

"I don't know if the competition has allowed us to play our type of game but (against Fresno State) we blocked well, ran the transition and served pretty tough. We're starting to do the things that good teams do."

To be fair, Fresno State is a team in transition after having lost its leading middle blocker for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Junior Kara McKeown went down during a win over Cornell Sept. 20; the Bulldogs have since lost three in a row.

"Hawaii is so multi-talented and we're very limited right now to an outside attack," Fresno State coach Lindy Vivas said. "It's very hard for our two left-side hitters (Shanus Bennett and Diana Nalbandian) to be effective because everyone in the WAC knows who we're going to set.

"We had to serve tough to have a chance and I thought Hawaii passed well. That made it hard to score points. They had some great ups (digs), balls that might have gone down against any other team. I think some of the things our coaches say in practice were reinforced by this match because our players saw what the Hawaii players were doing, particularly the mechanics of their blocking and the effort on defense."

Even though senior co-captain Therese Crawford didn't start (late coming to Saturday's practice), good things happened all night for the Wahine. Junior Kelli Cordray, starting in place of Crawford, tied her career high of seven kills in Game 1; she finished with 11.

"We're communicating better," said sophomore Heidi Ilustre. "We moved our feet and passed the ball. I think Fresno's outside hitters were stronger (than San Jose State) but our block and defense was there."

WAC women

Pacific Division

		Conference		       Overall
Team		W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L	Pct.
Texas Christian	2	0	1.000	--	11	4	.733
Hawaii  	2	0	1.000	--	8	4	.667
So. Methodist  	2	0	1.000	--	11	6	.647
San Diego St  	2	0	1.000	--	6	4	.600
Fresno St  	0	2	.000	2	10	6	.625
San Jose St 	0	2	.000	2	6	5	.545
Tulsa   	0	2	.000	2	4	13	.235
Rice	   	0	2	.000	2	3	11	.214

Mountain Division

		Conference		       Overall
Team		W	L	Pct.	GB	W	L	Pct.
Colorado St 	2	0	1.000	--	12	2	.857
Utah	   	2	0	1.000	--	11	3	.785
Brigham Young  	2	0	1.000	--	10	4	.714
Wyoming  	2	0	1.000	--	9	6	.600
Texas-El Paso  	0	2	.000	2	9	3	.750
Nev-Las Vegas  	0	2	.000	2	7	6	.538
New Mexico  	0	2	.000	2	6	8	.428
Air Force  	0	2	.000	2	4	12	.250

Saturday's results

Hawaii def. Fresno State, 3-0
Utah def. Texas-El Paso, 3-0
Colorado State def. Air Force, 3-0
Wyoming def. Nevada-Las Vegas, 3-0
Texas Christian def. Rice, 3-0
Southern Methodist def. Tulsa, 3-0
Brigham Young def. New Mexico, 3-0

At Special Events Arena

Hawaii def. Fresno State, 15-8, 15-10, 15-5

Bulldogs (10-6 overall, 0-2 WAC)

		g	k	e	at	pct.	bs	ba	d
Aufdermaur  	3	1	0	8	.125	0	1	7
Bennett  	3	9	9	29	.000	1	3	15
Satele  	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Thoreson 	2	0	0	1	.000	0	0	3
Buckelew 	3	9	2	19	.368	1	1	4
Sankey  	3	10	3	22	.318	0	4	3
Nalbandian  	3	10	14	40	-.100	0	0	8
Malu 	 	3	3	2	10	.100	0	2	6
Totals  	3	42	30	129	.093	2	11	39

Wahine (8-4 overall, 2-0 WAC)

		g	k	e	at	pct.	bs	ba	d
Crawford 	2	5	2	14	.214	0	1	5
Karratti 	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Goods 	 	3	12	2	24	.417	1	7	5
Cordray  	2	11	5	23	.261	0	1	4
Sudduth  	2	1	2	10	-.100	0	0	2
Nihipali 	1	0	0	0	.000	0	1	2
Elkington  	2	1	0	1	1.000	0	0	0
Hubbert  	3	0	1	3	-.333	0	3	3
Stevens  	1	6	1	13	.385	1	0	6
Miyashiro  	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	5
Roberts  	3	4	3	9	.111	0	7	1
Lee	  	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	7
Ilustre  	3	8	2	20	.300	0	8	6
Totals  	3	48	18	117	.256	2	28	47

Key: g-games. k-kills. e-hitting errors. at-attempts. pct.-hitting percentage. bs-block solos. ba-block assists. d-digs.

Aces--UH (4): Goods 1, Sudduth 1, Miyashiro 1, Ilustre 1. FSU (3): Aufdermaur 2, Thoreson 1. Assists--UH (45): Hubbert 45, Nihipali 4, Ilustre 1. FSU (39): Aufdermaur 36, Bennett 1, Sankey 1, Malu 1. A--7,462. T--1:27. Officials: Patsy Malta, Dan Hironaka.

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1997 UH Wahine Volleyball Schedule

http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu