Thursday, October 22, 1998
Wahine cruise
past Spartans
Hawaii records its 10th
By Cindy Luis
consecutive victory over
struggling San Jose State
Star-BulletinHome, sweet home. But Hawaii had a funny way of showing it.
After not having played a match in the Stan Sheriff Center since Oct. 4, one would think the UH women's volleyball team would take its time and enjoy its first home match in 18 days. Instead, the ninth-ranked Wahine decided short would be sweet, needing just 78 minutes to sweep Western Athletic Conference opponent San Jose State last night, 15-8, 15-6, 15-2.
"It seemed like we were on the road forever," sophomore hitter Jessica Sudduth said following a solid performance (11 kills and 10 digs). "I thought we did a pretty good job of coming in off the road trip with a lot of energy. Our communication was good, the energy was there.
"We need to work on a few things, like blocking and doing a better job of adjusting to hitters. But I think we're ready to go again."
Hawaii (15-2 overall, 6-1 WAC) hosts Fresno State (15-3, 4-2) tonight.
"Fresno is a lot like us," Spartan coach Craig Choate said. "They may end up playing a better match than we did, but they're in trouble coming here. Just like we were in trouble coming here."Not that I would tell Fresno anything that would help them, but one of the things you have to do against Hawaii is serve them tough enough so that Heather Bown doesn't get to do whatever she wants. And if you block a little bit better than we blocked tonight, I think that you're in the game."
The Spartans (14-6, 3-3) were in the match early on. Hawaii led, 8-7, in Game 1 when Bown ran a quick set in the middle that had Choate calling timeout before the ball even hit the floor.
Great defense and solid blocking sent the Wahine on a 7-1 run to close out the game.
San Jose State also hung tough in Game 2, closing to 10-6 on a solo block by Melissa Myers. But Hawaii combined three blocks, a hitting error and an ace by Veronica Lima to finish it off.
Bown, playing with a strained stomach muscle, pretty much had her way with the smaller Spartan block. She had 12 kills with no errors in hitting .522.
"I think the one spot I'm healthy is in my shoulder," said Bown, sporting ice packs on her right knee (tendinitis) and left ankle (slight sprain). "I'm happy how we played. It feels so good to get in here and play. It felt like we were gone forever. It was like a whirlwind, getting back Tuesday, having one day back before we played again. It's so nice to get back with our crowd, playing in a familiar arena. I just love playing here."
The announced crowd of 5,740 (tickets issued) is more than San Jose State's combined total for the season (4,767). That added to the nervousness felt by Spartan senior hitter Tanya Kamau."But we played a really good game, at least in the first and second sets," the Waiakea High product said. "Our last two matches (losses at BYU and Utah), we didn't play as well as we should. This game, we stepped it up. You saw that in the beginning.
"Hawaii did about what we expected. We needed to take one more step up. They're a real good blocking team."
The Wahine had the blocking edge, 11-5, in beating the Spartans for the 10th consecutive time. Sophomore Joslynn Gallop had the most success against the Hawaii block, putting down a team-high 11 kills for San Jose State.
It was the third consecutive loss for the Spartans, whose tailspin began last Friday at BYU. They scored a total of 14 points against the Cougars, two less than they scored against the Wahine last night.
"I think it was a pretty good match for us," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "San Jose played real well for a while and then we just kind of wore them down.
"I'm not concerned about Fresno per se. I am concerned if we don't play well. If we play like we did tonight, we'll beat a lot of teams."
Heidi Ilustre added 11 kills for the Wahine. Hawaii outhit San Jose State, .357-.122.
Wahine volleyball
Tonight: Fresno State (15-3, 4-2 WAC) at No. 9 Hawaii (15-2, 6-1), 7:05 p.m.
Spartans (14-6 overall, 3-3 WAC)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Kamau 3 5 1 12 .333 0 1 4 Myers 3 9 5 21 .190 1 1 0 Sarkees 3 0 0 2 .000 1 0 7 Hintz 3 5 5 18 .000 0 0 2 Gallop 3 11 3 28 .286 1 1 6 Walker 3 7 5 24 .083 0 1 4 Blair 2 1 4 7 -.429 0 0 1 Fernandez 2 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Smith 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Burningham 1 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 1 Totals 3 38 24 115 .122 3 4 30Wahine (15-2 overall, 6-1 WAC)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Karratti 3 3 2 11 .091 0 3 5 Sudduth 3 11 1 21 .476 0 1 10 Bown 3 12 0 23 .522 1 6 5 Hubbert 3 1 0 4 .250 0 3 5 Lima 3 4 3 11 .091 0 4 5 Ilustre 3 11 2 23 .391 0 2 4 Bradley 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Miyashiro 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Roberts 3 2 1 5 .200 0 1 0 Kim 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 44 9 98 .357 1 20 41Aces--UH (6): Sudduth 3, Karratti 1, Hubbert 1, Lima 1. SJS (2): Sarkees 1, Gallop 1. Assists--UH (42): Hubbert 37, Karratti 2, Lima 2, Sudduth 1. SJS (36): Sarkees 34, Kamau 1, Myers 1.A--5,740 tickets (4,136 turnstile). T--1:18. Officials: John Martin, Denice Hanson.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
