Monday, September 7, 1998
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Heather Bown, left, and Jessica Sudduth
go up for a block against Florida in the final match
of the Wahine Classic.
Wahine win title,
but lose match
Florida gets the best
By Cindy Luis
of Hawaii in the final match
of the Wahine Classic
Star-BulletinChomp.
The Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic championship trophy that will remain in Hawaii has a big piece missing. That's because the Florida Gators took a huge bite out of the Wahine's prize last night.
For the first time in the 11-year history of the round-robin volleyball tournament, three teams finished with 2-1 records. But based on won-loss percentage in games, host Hawaii earned its fifth championship.
But it was a hollow victory, one as empty as the koa bowl awarded last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
No. 14th-ranked Hawaii (2-1) might have won the battle, but No. 6 Florida (2-1) won the war with a 16-14, 15-7, 11-15, 15-10 victory in the final match of the tournament.
"The win is everything to us," said Florida junior hitter Jenny Manz, the tournament MVP. "The trophy went to them, they deserve it. It's a bummer, but we got the win and that's what matters."
Hawaii lost control of the match in Game 1. The Wahine served for the game six times, but couldn't close it out as the Gators scored five unanswered points.
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
UH's Nikki Hubbert, left, and Veronica Lima
fail in their block attempt.
Manz served for the last four, including an ace and the game-winner on a spike out of the back row. It set the tone for the match, in which Hawaii had no answer for Manz, who finished with 35 kills while hitting .431."I'd like to start over from 14-11," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said of his Game 1 lead. "We were playing very well. That obviously turned the match.
"We came out really flat (in Game 2), got way behind and couldn't recover. We had a bunch of games last year like this where we folded. We didn't quit tonight. We have a much better attitude than last year."
And a lot more weapons. Hawaii newcomers Heather Bown (26 kills) and Veronica Lima (19), both all-tournament picks, have already raised the level of play around them.
"I think what we learned from this weekend is we can compete at the top level in the country," Bown said. "We're pretty new to each other and we did really well playing as a team."
>By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Veronica Lima, right, records a kill against
Florida's Heather Wright yesterday.
"I think we did a good job as a whole," sophomore hitter Jessica Sudduth (16 kills, 13 digs, three solo blocks) said. "We could have rolled over and died. We didn't. The more we play together, the better we'll be."That's what Florida coach Mary Wise is afraid of.
"I don't want to see any part of this Hawaii team in December," said Wise, who didn't endear herself to the partisan crowd of 5,336 with her late -- but legal -- substitutions and other stall tactics. "Hawaii gives us a lot of matchup problems. I just didn't want to walk out of here losing 3-0. We came in and caught them at the right time -- early."
UH has little turnaround time before hitting the arena again. It hosts the Aston's Imua Challenge -- with Bradley, Baylor and Arizona State -- beginning Thursday.
OHIO STATE 3, UCLA 2: Ohio State coach Jim Stone came into the tourney thinking his team was the worst in the field. His Buckeyes proved him wrong, sending the Bruins home with an 0-3 record, their worst start in school history.
Rosie Snow had 27 kills and setter-turned-hitter Jen Flynn added 10 for No. 13 Ohio State (3-1) in the 1-15, 15-3, 11-15, 15-8, 15-11 victory. Both were named to the all-tournament team, as was UCLA hitter Ashley Bowles (21 kills).
Box Score
Florida def. Hawaii, 16-14, 15-7, 11-15, 15-10
Gators (2-1 overall)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Jones 4 11 3 24 .333 0 6 12 Reboucas 4 9 3 22 .273 1 1 13 Wright 4 13 3 27 .370 1 5 1 Keene 4 16 7 46 .196 1 5 12 Manz 4 35 7 65 .431 0 2 8 Sanchez 4 8 1 13 .538 1 3 17 Bova 4 0 0 1 .000 0 0 13 Hattendorf 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Hartley 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 McCray 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Valentzas 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Totals 4 92 24 198 .343 4 22 80Wahine (2-1 overall)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Sudduth 4 16 3 38 .342 3 0 13 Bown 4 26 6 56 .357 0 6 5 Hubbert 4 2 1 8 .125 0 5 9 Lima 4 19 5 49 .286 0 1 8 Roberts 4 10 5 22 .227 1 1 3 Ilustre 4 3 2 12 .083 1 0 9 Karratti 4 7 8 23 -.043 0 1 11 Miyashiro 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 13 Bradley 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 4 83 30 208 .255 5 14 72Aces--UH (7): Sudduth 3, Ilustre 2, Bown 1, Hubbert 1. UF (8): Jones 3, Manz 2, Reboucas 1, Keene 1, Sanchez 1. Assists--UH (78): Hubbert 73, Sudduth 2, Roberts 2, Miyashiro 1. UF (86): Sanchez 74, Manz 7, Reboucas 3, Hattendorf 2.A--5,336 turnstile (6,826 tickets). T--2:41. Officials: Dan Hironbaka, Wayne Lee.
Statistical leaders
Kills--OSU (66): Snow 27, Flynn 14, Abbring 10. UCLA (55): Bowles 21. Blocks--OSU (0 solo/14 assist): Stearns 0/4, Spiers 0/3. UCLA (3 solo/8 assist): Selso 2/1. Digs--OSU (43): Flynn 16. UCLA (49): Quon 10. Assists--OSU (59): Cavanaugh 44. UCLA (52): Selsor 46. Aces--OSU (9): Spiers 4. UCLA (5): Five players with 1.
Hawaii: Veronica Lima, Heather Bown. Florida: Jennifer Sanchez. Ohio State: Rosie Snow, Jen Flynn. UCLA: Ashley Bowles.
MVP: Jenny Manz, Florida.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
