Friday, November 6, 1998
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii's Heather Bown pounds the ball between
BYU's Maria Burningham Carpenter (14) and Melissa Layton.
Hawaii almost gives away its match
By Cindy Luis
against BYU but snatches it back at the end
Star-BulletinTalk about schizophrenic.
The Hawaii women's volleyball team couldn't decide if it wanted to blow out Brigham Young or just plain blow it last night.
The Wahine let huge leads in Games 1, 2 and 5 slip away in the critical match-up between the WAC Pacific Division leaders. But when it mattered, at 14-14 in rally scoring and backed by the largest crowd of the year (8,824), Hawaii refused to fold.
Heather Bown's serve dropped right in on BYU's strongest passers for the match-ending ace as the No. 9 Wahine prevailed against the No. 4 Cougars, 13-15, 13-15, 15-2, 15-5, 16-14, at the Stan Sheriff Center. The victory lifted Hawaii ahead of BYU in the standings by a game going into tonight's 7 p.m. match with unranked Utah.
"Everyone thought my serve was out," Bown said. "It felt so good to see it land in. I felt so lucky that it did.
"It would have been so bad to lose to them, to give it all away, everything we had worked so hard on. I think this says a lot. It puts ahead in the WAC and it gives the confidence to know that we can play at that level."
What else does it mean?
Barring a stumble by either Hawaii or BYU during the rest of the conference season, the teams will finish tied for the division lead. A coin toss will decide who is the top seed in the Nov. 25-28 WAC Tournament in Las Vegas and who will be seeded second, with a tougher path to the championship.
"This should help Hawaii in the poll," BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said. "It may mean (the loss of) the opportunity to host a regional, too. The top four teams will host the regionals and I'm not sure if either one of us will be there (in the top four) at the end."
That point may be moot. Hawaii officials have put in a bid to host the first and second-round matches of the NCAA Tournament but, because of a conflict with men's and women's basketball, did not put in a bid for the regional.
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Hawaii coach Dave Shoji and assistant Charlie
Wade sweat out the win over BYU.
The Wahine's biggest concern now is to avoid a letdown against Utah tonight. The Utes went four with Hawaii last month in Salt Lake City, with the Wahine winning, 15-10, 15-11, 7-15, 15-4."I think we'll be up for it," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "We don't want to throw away what we did tonight by losing to Utah.
"We needed this win the worst way. If we go three and out, it would have been demoralizing. We knew we should have won both Games 1 and 2. It would have been devastating. It was huge that we came back like we did."
The Wahine could not hang onto a lead in Games 1 and 2, instead hanging themselves with poor passing and porous blocking. They led 9-3 in Game 1, 9-2 in Game 2; after 66 minutes, BYU had a 2-0 lead in games.
"We had them and let them back in," said Wahine hitter Heidi Ilustre, who finished with a team-high 17 kills. "It was pretty ridiculous. In Game 3, we said we can't let them do that again.
"When I hit three balls out (in Game 5), it was like, 'Oh, Lord, help me.' "
Hawaii's prayers were answered after its 13-9 lead turned into a 14-14 tie. Caroline Bower hit long to put Bown on the service line for aloha ball at 15-14; her serve dropped between BYU's Korie Rogers and Wendy Midgley to end the match.
"The last serve ... let's not go there," Rogers said. "That was the biggest choke known to man. I stepped out of the way. I feel awful.
"I don't know what to think about the game. We usually can pass well. They took advantage of our weaknesses and served us off the court. We couldn't run what we like to run, like our plays in the middle. That was our biggest problem and the biggest difference from the last time we played them. They served really tough."
And when it had to be, the Wahine's block was just as tough. Freshman Veronica Lima was in on eight blocks and had 11 kills, putting on one of her best overall performances of the season.
"It was so much fun," said Lima, whose mother, Rita Maria, is visiting from Brazil for the week. "I think we did a great job. We were killing them in Games 1 and 2 and then we let up.
"We were expecting a tight game all the time but when we got 7-8 points ahead, we let up. Then they started coming back and we got tense. I think in the end, we won it with our desire. We said, 'We WILL win this game.' Against Utah, we will be tired but, after a win like this, nothing is going to stop us."
Hawaii again had trouble stopping BYU's quick attack. Mari Carpenter (17 kills), Rogers (16) and Nina Puikkonen (14) all were in double-digit kill figures but only Rogers hit better than .150.
Puikkonen had come in as the WAC's top blocker, averaging 2.14 a game. She had one solo block for the match.
Bown finished with 14 kills and four blocks. She was hitting negative until the beginning of Game 3 but she put down 10 kills with just two errors in her final 20 swings.
WAC women
Pacific Division
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Hawaii 10 1 .909 -- 20 2 .909 Brigham Young 8 1 .889 1 21 2 .913 San Jose St 5 3 .525 3-1/2 17 6 .739 Fresno St 4 4 .500 4-1/2 15 6 .714 Utah 4 4 .500 4-1/2 14 7 .667 Texas-El Paso 2 7 .222 7 10 10 .500 San Diego St 2 8 .200 7-1/2 5 18 .217 New Mexico 1 8 .111 8 7 14 .333
Conference Overall W L Pct. GB W L Pct. Colorado St 8 1 .889 -- 19 5 .791 Wyoming 7 2 .778 1 12 11 .522 Nev-Las Vegas 6 2 .750 1-1/2 17 6 .739 Rice 6 3 .667 2 18 7 .720 So. Methodist 4 4 .500 3-1/2 13 11 .542 Air Force 1 7 .125 6-1/2 8 12 .400 Texas Christian 1 7 .125 6-1/2 4 19 .174 Tulsa 1 8 .111 7 9 12 .429n TonightUtah (14-7, 4-4) at No. 9 Hawaii (20-2, 10-1), 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center. Broadcasts: Live on KFVE-TV (Channel 5) and KCCN (1420-AM).
Hawaii def. Brigham Young, 13-15, 13-15, 15-2, 15-5, 16-14
No. 4 Cougars (21-2 overall, 8-1 WAC)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Smith 5 1 4 12 -.250 1 1 4 Rogers 5 16 6 33 .303 1 3 15 Bower 5 2 3 6 -.167 0 0 10 Puikkonen 5 14 10 35 .114 1 0 9 Petrilli 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Hjorth 5 6 6 31 .000 0 1 13 Layton 5 9 3 16 .375 1 7 0 Carpenter 5 17 11 41 .146 1 2 3 Midgley 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Totals 5 65 43 174 .126 5 14 57No. 9 Wahine (20-2 overall, 10-1 WAC)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Sudduth 5 8 9 33 -.030 0 2 11 Bown 5 14 7 36 .194 2 2 1 Hubbert 5 3 1 9 .222 1 2 4 Lima 5 11 4 23 .304 1 7 8 Roberts 3 9 3 18 .333 0 1 1 Ilustre 5 17 5 43 .279 0 0 14 Karratti 5 8 0 11 .727 0 4 9 Miyashiro 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Kim 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 5 70 29 173 .237 4 18 51Aces--UH (5): Hubbert 2, Bown 1, Lima 1, Ilustre 1. BYU (4): Bower 1, Puikkonen 1, Layton 1, Midgley 1. Assists--UH (66): Hubbert 57, Lima 3, Karratti 3, Sudduth 1, Bown 1, Miyashiro 1. BYU (61): Smith 56, Rogers 2, Puikkonen 2, Carpenter 1. A--8,824 tickets (7,843 turnstile). T--2:23. Officials: Rusty Wellman, Denice Hanson.
1998 UH Wahine Volleyball Schedule
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
