By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Nikki Hubbert and Jennifer Roberts put up
a big block against Rice last night at the SEA.
Wahine
make mincemeat
out of Rice
Hawaii runs WAC winning streak
By Cindy Luis
to 41 with thrashing of Owls
Star-BulletinIt has been 23 months, 13 days and countless minutes since Lori Garber blocked a ball that mattered. Last night, the University of Hawaii redshirt sophomore was in the front row for the first time since Nov. 3, 1995, her cold feet warmed by the reception from the Wahine volleyball faithful at the Special Events Arena. Eighteen matches into the season, Garber finally got to touch a ball. Four times, actually, all for points.
Garber had a career-high four block assists in the final five minutes as No. 16 Hawaii made mochi out of Rice, pounding out a 15-8, 15-4, 15-5 Western Athletic Conference victory.
It took just 65 minutes for the Wahine -- 14-4 overall and 6-0 in the WAC this season -- to run their winning streak to eight and their conference string to 41.
"I was a little anxious out there, but the crowd made me feel really welcome," said Garber, who is recuperating from mononucleosis. "I'm still a month behind everyone else. I'm more worried about my quickness, not my endurance. But it was pretty nice being back out there."
It was the first time Hawaii coach Dave Shoji used all 14 of his players in a match this season. For Rice coach Julio Morales, it was the third time his Owls were at full strength.
"With two of our starters out until this week, we've had to do a lot of juggling," Morales said after his team fell to 4-15 and 1-5. "This is only the second week that we've been able to say, 'OK, this is who is in the starting lineup.' We've been concentrating more on our side of the net, not so concerned about who's on the other side.
"Our goal tonight was not to come apart at the seams. We did that for a while in the beginning, but we were playing a very disciplined team. What I like about (Hawaii) is no matter who they play, a good team or a bad team, they play them the same. And that's a sign of a good team."
After taking a 6-0 lead in Game 1, Hawaii's discipline disappeared. So did the Wahine's lead as the Owls rallied to tie at 7.
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Heidi Ilustre pounds the ball past a Rice
defender during the Wahine's WAC victory last night.
"Whenever we think we're playing pretty good, we stop working hard," Shoji said. "I reminded them during the timeout that we have to work hard all the time."It's the same thing with our next match (tomorrow against Tulsa). It's not one that we'll try to fire up the team for, but one where we'll urge each individual to work on the things they need to improve."
Tomorrow's 7 p.m. match with the Golden Hurricane is the last home match until Nov. 6. Last night, Tulsa (4-20, 0-6) lost its 13th in a row -- 15-8, 15-1, 15-12 at San Diego State.
"We're still trying to get our skills down and quit making mistakes so we'll be ready by the WAC (tournament)," Garber said. "This was a team that we should have been able to beat fairly easily, but we had trouble in that first game. We're young but getting a lot of experience out there. Every game, we're pulling a little more together."
The glue continues to be Hawaii's senior co-captains. Cia Goods hit .769 (10 kills in 13 swings with no errors) and added five blocks, and Therese Crawford had 10 kills while playing the first two games. Sophomore Heidi Ilustre added eight kills in 12 attempts in two games.
"It was nice to get everyone in," Shoji said. "Mainly, we're just building up a head of steam and building up confidence. For someone like Heidi, who's been struggling, it's good for the team to have her contributing again.
"And if Garber can come in, give us a couple of blocks and a couple of kills, that will help the team, too."
Garber and Leah Karratti teamed to score four of UH's final five points on blocks in Game 3.
"Lori puts up a big block," said Karratti, who redshirted with Garber last season. "When she closes in on the block like she does, it's hard to get it past her."
Lisa Sweeney led Rice with eight kills while hitting .333. Karolina Zelinka also had eight kills, but hit .069 as the Owls were in negative hitting percentage the last two games.
Rice plays three-time defending NAIA champion Brigham Young-Hawaii at 7:30 tonight at Cannon Activities Center.
At Special Events Arena Box Score
Hawaii def. Rice, 15-8, 15-4, 15-5
Owls (4-15 overall, 1-5 WAC)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Thon 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Zelinka 1 0 1 1 -1.00 0 0 0 Sweeney 3 8 2 18 .333 0 1 2 Carrethers 3 1 4 13 -.231 0 1 2 Sarnecki 3 2 4 12 -.167 0 0 3 Moore 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Zelinka 3 8 6 29 .069 0 1 2 Kalagoglu 3 0 1 1 -1.00 0 1 4 Smith 3 5 5 20 .000 0 0 7 Totals 3 24 23 94 .011 0 4 24
g k e at pct. bs ba d Crawford 2 10 1 18 .500 0 0 3 Karratti 2 3 4 8 -.125 0 5 1 Goods 3 10 0 13 .769 1 4 1 Cordray 1 2 1 9 .111 0 1 3 Sudduth 2 1 2 5 -.200 0 0 5 Nihipali 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Elkington 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Hubbert 3 0 0 1 .000 0 2 4 Stevens 1 4 0 7 .571 0 0 1 Garber 1 0 0 2 .000 0 4 0 Miyashiro 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 11 Roberts 2 2 2 5 .000 0 1 0 Lee 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Ilustre 2 8 1 12 .583 1 1 1 Totals 3 40 11 80 .363 2 18 32Aces--RU (1): Zelinka 1. UH (3): Suddoth 1, Hubbert 1, Lee 1. Assists--RU (21): Kalagoglu 15, Sarnecki 4, Carrethers 1, Zelinka 1. UH (37): Hubbert 32, Nihipali 3, Suddoth 1, Miyashiro 1.A--4,533. T--1:05. Officials: Desmond Navares and Denice Hanson.
1997 UH Wahine Volleyball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
