Saturday, October 31, 1998
Wahine traveling
in the right direction
Hawaii dominates Texas-El Paso
From staff and wire reports
to improve to 2-0 on its current
volleyball road tripEL PASO, Texas -- There were tornado warnings outside Memorial Gym last night. Inside, it was a whirlwind as well.
No. 9 Hawaii needed just 95 minutes to blow past Texas-El Paso, 15-5, 15-5, 15-10, in a Western Athletic Conference women's volleyball match. The Wahine will try to hit a trifecta today when they meet New Mexico in Albuquerque (4 p.m. HST) -- their third road match in four days.
"Obviously, having to travel again is very difficult," Shoji said. "You normally don't want to do it. We could have played Sunday, but that meant we wouldn't have been back until Monday night and would have missed another day of class.
"It would be different if it was two tough teams back to back. New Mexico is much like UTEP. They're struggling to try to get into the WAC Tournament. With only six teams out of the eight in our division getting into the tournament, every match is big for the teams at the bottom."
UTEP fell to 10-8 overall, 2-6 in the WAC.
New Mexico (5-17, 1-7) won its first WAC match of the year last night against San Diego State, 15-7, 15-9, 9-15, 16-14. Stephanie Heiskell had 20 kills and Amber Smith 16 for the Lobos.
Heather Bown led the Wahine (18-2, 8-1) with 18 kills and seven blocks. Finishing with double-doubles were Jessica Sudduth (14 kills, 13 digs) and Heidi Ilustre (14 kills, 11 digs).
Bown, unveiling a jump serve on this road trip, had two aces as Hawaii jumped out to a 10-0 lead in Game 1. UTEP closed to 11-5, but the Wahine closed it out with two blocks, a Miner hitting error and kills by Leah Karratti and Ilustre.
Hawaii spotted UTEP a 4-1 lead in Game 2, then went on a 12-0 run. Doing most of the damage was Veronica Lima. She bruised a rib and elbow when she ran into a table during pregame warm-ups, but finished with three kills and served for four points during the outburst.
The Miners didn't go down without a fight, catching the Wahine at 9-9 in Game 3. Leading the charge was Stacy Zimmerman, who had two of her team-high 11 kills during the rally.
Nikki Hubbert and Bown combined on one of Hawaii's 12 blocks to break the tie. Sudduth served for four points, including one of her three aces, and Bown put down the match-ender.
It was Hawaii's sixth win in a row since its lone WAC loss at BYU three weeks ago. The Wahine host the No. 4 Cougars Thursday. BYU swept Utah, 15-6, 15-4, 15-9, last night.
"It's hard to tell how we're doing because the competition is not what we'll face in the playoffs or even next week," Shoji said. "I think we're getting better, but it's hard to gauge. We haven't seen a block lately like we'll see next week.
"Everyone knows how important it is to keep our record on track, not drop a match we shouldn't, and keep us in position to get back into first place. New Mexico will be the toughest game of the trip in terms of us being tired, not being in our practice routine, being at altitude. A lot of things work against you when you're on the road. You have to overcome them.
"For the most part, we've played really, really well. Our goal is to keep improving."
Box Score
Hawaii def. UTEP, 15-5, 15-5, 15-10
Wahine (18-2 overall, 8-1 WAC)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Karratti 3 6 1 12 .417 0 0 3 Sudduth 3 14 2 31 .387 0 0 13 Bown 3 18 9 31 .290 2 5 6 Hubbert 3 3 0 4 .750 0 1 8 Lima 3 7 2 14 .357 0 2 9 Ilustre 3 14 4 28 .357 2 2 11 Roberts 3 7 2 12 .417 0 4 2 Miyashiro 3 0 0 1 .000 0 0 2 Kim 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Bradley 1 0 2 2 -1.00 1 0 1 Totals 3 69 28 135 .348 5 14 55Miners (10-9 overall, 2-6 WAC)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Porter 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Fahey 3 9 6 26 .115 0 1 3 Polhamus 3 5 3 22 .091 1 2 3 Acosta 3 0 0 5 .000 0 1 10 Gronert 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Zimmerman 3 11 8 29 .103 1 1 9 Marquell 3 1 3 4 -.500 0 0 7 Mosher 3 6 3 19 .158 0 2 1 Nosan 3 8 4 16 .250 3 1 1 Totals 3 40 27 121 .107 5 8 37Aces--UH (7): Sudduth 3, Bown 2, Bradley 1, Lima 1. UTEP (3): Gronert 2, Fahey 1. Assists--UH (62): Hubbert 60, Sudduth 1, Bown 1. UTEP (33): Acosta 32, Hosher 1.A--342. T--1:35. Officials: Charlie Miller, Cedric Allrunner.
WAC women
Conference Overall
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Brigham Young 8 0 1.000 -- 21 1 .954 Hawaii 8 1 .889 1/2 18 2 .900 Fresno St 4 4 .500 4 15 5 .750 San Jose St 4 4 .500 4 17 6 .739 Utah 4 4 .500 4 14 7 .667 Texas-El Paso 2 6 .250 6 10 9 .526 New Mexico 1 7 .125 7 7 13 .350 San Diego St 1 8 .111 7-1/2 4 18 .181
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Colorado St 7 1 .875 -- 17 5 .773 Wyoming 7 1 .875 -- 12 9 .571 Nev-Las Vegas 6 2 .750 1 17 6 .739 Rice 6 3 .667 1-1/2 18 7 .720 So. Methodist 4 4 .500 3 13 11 .542 Tulsa 1 7 .125 6 8 11 .411 Air Force 1 7 .125 6 8 12 .400 Texas Christian 1 7 .125 6 4 19 .174
Hawaii def. UTEP, 3-0
New Mexico def. San Diego State, 3-1
San Jose State def. Fresno State, 3-1
BYU def. Utah, 3-0
UNLV def. Air Force, 3-0
Rice def. Colorado State, 3-1
Wyoming def. Tulsa, 3-2
Hawaii at New Mexico, 4 p.m. HST
San Diego State at UTEP
Wyoming at Rice
Colorado State at Tulsa
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
