Monday, December 7, 1998
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Veronica Lima puts down a kill in yesterday's Wahine
win over Miami, Ohio.
Florida
awaits
Hawaii
The Wahine roll into the
By Cindy Luis
NCAA regionals in Gainesville
by thumping Miami, Ohio
Star-BulletinIt wasn't just an aloha ball that was served last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. It was more like an aloha send off for the sixth-ranked Hawaii women's volleyball team as it continues to advance in the NCAA Tournament.
Seven times, the Wahine served for the match against Miami of Ohio, giving every starter a chance to enjoy a personal standing ovation. Six times the Redhawks made the crowd of 8,821 sit down.
The seventh time was the charm. Hawaii (31-2) won its 19th consecutive match, taking 87 minutes to eliminate Miami (27-8), 15-4, 15-5, 15-12. The second-round victory sends the Wahine to the East Regional in Gainesville, Fla.
First up is No. 13 Arkansas (27-5) on Thursday. In Thursday's other semifinal, host and fourth-seeded Florida (33-2) faces No. 10 Southern Cal (24-5).
"The name of the game from now on is to advance," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "I don't think we played particularly well. I'm not real pleased with our effort but we're going to Florida and that was the goal.
"I knew this weekend would be tough. We didn't have any fire. Luckily, we didn't really need it. We'll save it for next week."
By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Heather Bown led the Wahine with 13 kills last night.
Miami smoldered like a Waianae brushfire for two games before flaring up in Game 3.The Redhawks trailed, 14-7, when Heidi Ilustre went back to serve for the match.
By the time Ilustre rotated around to serve again, Miami had pulled to within 14-12 and Shoji had called his first timeout of the weekend. Though he said the stunning loss to Michigan State in the 1995 regional final didn't come to mind, there were enough similarities that had the crowd a little nervous.
Three years ago, the Spartans ended the Wahine's perfect season by coming from an 0-2 deficit to win in five games. Michigan State was led by Val Sterk, who was in the arena last night to watch younger sister Julie play for the Redhawks.
It was not deja vu all over again. The last things Hawaii saw before heading to the locker room was Maggie Clark's kill attempt land wide and a sign that read "All we want for Christmas is an NCAA championship."
"It's not that we were bored," Hawaii junior middle Heather Bown said after putting down a match-high 13 kills. "We just weren't as focused as we should have been. We won't have a problem getting fired up from now on. We're just two games away from the final four."
Hawaii is playing well enough to get to get to Madison, Wis., 10 days from now. For most of the weekend, the Wahine dominated their opponents -- Brown Saturday and Miami yesterday.
Senior Nikki Hubbert has set a very balanced and effective attack.Yesterday, the Wahine hit .382 as a team with every hitter at .375 or above with the exception of Leah Karratti (.294).
Miami' s setter Kerry Hardek had to contend with Hawaii1s imposing block. Somewhere in the middle of Game 3, she found success: 23 of the Redhawks1 44 kills came in the final 33 minutes when they hit .391... and still lost.
"We knew they'd be a big blocking team but we wanted to come out hard and see what happened," said Alissia Thompson, the only Miami player in double-kill figures with 12.
"It was nice that we got a good run in that third game."
Without it, the Redhawks would have been looking at their lowest scoring total of the season. Their worst straight-set loss was at Arkansas Sept. 19 when the Lady Hogs held Miami to 20 points.
Arkansas, seeded 12th in the field of 64, advanced to Thursday's match with an 15-8, 15-5, 15-4 win over Indiana last Friday night. Fifteen of the 16 top seeds have advanced to the regionals, with the exception of 14th-seeded Michigan State, a first-round victim of Pepperdine.
"I think Hawaii can go all the way," Miami coach Carolyn Condit said. "It's going to
come down to the belief system they have in each other. They certainly have all the tools and the coaching staff to do it.
"It was a thrill to be tested mentally and physically like we were. We don't get that kind of competition very often. And we're lucky to get 500 fans at home. We knew coming in that Hawaii1s crowd was educated and gracious. I would like to take them back home with us."
Hawaii finished 20-1 at the Sheriff Center this season. The only loss was to Florida on Sept. 6 in the third match of the season, 14-16, 7-15, 15-11, 10-15.
"It1s hard not to look past Arkansas and we won1t take them lightly," Hawaii hitter Jessica Sudduth said. "But we want to see Florida. It was our first loss and we hope it's their last loss."
Hawaii def. Miami (Ohio), 15-4, 15-5,
15-12
At Stan Sheriff Center
RedHawks (27-8 overall)
g k e at pct. bs ba d Hardek 3 1 0 2 .500 0 2 5 Hales 3 1 0 3 .333 0 0 11 Collins 3 5 7 21 -.095 0 0 10 Thompson 3 12 3 28 .321 1 2 3 Moehring 3 9 0 13 .692 0 2 1 Clark 3 9 9 32 .000 0 0 4 Byrnes 2 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Sterk 3 7 1 18 .333 0 2 0 Stone 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 44 20 118 .203 1 8 2Totals34420118.203182
g k e at pct. bs ba d Karratti 3 6 1 17 .294 0 3 9 Sudduth 3 11 2 24 .375 0 3 8 Bown 3 13 3 24 .417 1 2 2 Hubbert 3 4 0 5 .800 0 2 4 Lima 3 12 2 23 .435 0 7 7 Roberts 3 4 0 9 .444 0 1 1 Miyashiro 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Kim 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Ilustre 3 3 3 8 .000 0 1 13 Totals 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0Aces--Miami (2): Collins 1, Clark 1. UH (6): Hubbert 3, Bown 1, Lima 1, Ilustre 1. Assists--Miami(39): Hardek 37, Thompson 1, Moehring 1. UH (50): Hubbert 46, Karratti 1, Bown 1, Lima 1, Ilustre 1.
A--8,821. T--1:27. Officials: Sue Lemaire, Joni Powell.
