Saturday, September 4, 1999
Wahine golden
No. 4 ranked Hawaii sweeps
By Cindy Luis
Minnesota; stays on course for
showdown with No. 10 UCLA
Star-BulletinOverture. Hit the lights.
And, as expected, the two ranked teams didn't blink under the glare of opening night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Host Hawaii, ranked No. 4, and 10th-ranked UCLA appear headed for another classic showdown in their storied rivalry in Monday's finale of the 12th Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic.
Last night, the Wahine shook off an early bout of malaise to finish off the Minnesota Golden Gophers in 78 minutes, 15-13, 15-4, 15-6. The Bruins needed even less time (69 minutes) to dispel the ghost of an 0-3 start here last season with a 15-2, 15-5, 15-8 rout of Pittsburgh.
"We had good chemistry tonight," said Wahine senior hitter Jennifer Roberts. "Even when Minnesota stepped it up a little in Game 1, I didn't doubt us. We stepped up even more to the challenge."
The Wahine led, 11-4, but the Gophers mounted a rally to close to 14-13. Roberts put down the game-ending kill and Minnesota never recovered.
The loss spoiled the homecoming of Gophers sophomore setter Lindsey Berg. The Punahou alumna declined interview requests following the match.
WAHINE CLASSIC
Today: Pittsburgh (1-1) vs. Minnesota (1-1), 2 p.m.
"Lindsey wanted to play well so badly," said Minnesota coach Mike Hebert. "She's very disappointed that she couldn't bring her team here and put on a show.
"This is not the same team that played Wednesday night (in a rout at St. Mary's). Our passing game was downright embarrassing. It was hard to tell how good Hawaii is because we were playing so poorly.
"I hope to play a solid match against Pittsburgh (tonight) and give UCLA a real match Sunday."
One bright spot for the Gophers was junior hitter Nicole Branagh, who had nine of her match-high 15 kills in Game 1.
Wahine freshman setter Jennifer Carey continued to impress in her second collegiate match.
"She did a very nice job again," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji. "It's not pretty, but it is efficient. That's to be expected this early in the season.
"I hope everyone understands that we have a lot of work to do, like getting our outside hitters on track. They've struggled two games now and we need to get them into a rhythm."
The Wahine middles seem to be in tune already. Heather Bown had a team-high 9 kills and was in on 5 blocks while Veronica Lima added 6 kills, hit .500 and had 5 blocks.
UCLA 3, Pitt 0: The Panthers have come a long way in 48 hours, having opened at home Wednesday. Coach Cindy Alvear hopes her team will come just as far on the court today and tomorrow.
"Our athletes just have not competed at this level," Alvear said. "The third game, we finally started to function, but at that point, the hole was awfully deep.
"It's hard to match up physically against UCLA. Maybe Hawaii can, but we did not."
UCLA, which suffered through major growing pains last season, started three sophomores and a freshman last night. The taller Bruins broke a 1-1 tie in Game 1 with eight unanswered points and never looked back.
UCLA's 5-11 sophomore Kristee Porter was the only player in double-figure kills with 12. Two Bruin veterans had impressive nights with no hitting errors - 6-3 senior Tamika Johnson was 7 of 9 and 6-3 junior Elisabeth Bachman was 8 of 13.
Pitt, which hit .080 as a team, got eight kills from Melissa Alpers.
"It's definitely a better start to the season than last year," said UCLA coach Andy Banachowski.
HAWAII DEF. MINNESOTA, 15-13, 15-4, 15-6
Golden Gophers (1-1)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Berg 3 3 0 6 .500 0 0 5 Wichert 2 5 5 14 .000 0 0 4 Aschenbrenner 3 5 3 13 .154 0 2 4 L. Shudlick 3 1 2 6 -.167 0 4 2 Hagen 3 3 4 14 -.071 1 1 1 Branagh 3 15 10 37 .135 0 0 3 Fair 2 2 2 4 .000 0 3 1 Baxter 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 S, Shudlick 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Totals 3 34 26 94 .085 1 10 22Wahine (2-0)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Carey 3 1 0 4 .250 0 3 4 Sudduth 3 7 5 21 .095 0 1 4 Bown 3 9 3 17 .353 1 4 2 Lima 3 6 1 10 .500 1 4 4 Roberts 3 7 1 12 .500 0 3 2 Ilustre 2 4 3 12 .083 0 1 4 Vakasausau 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Nikolic 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Kahumoku 2 0 0 2 .000 0 0 3 Lee 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Totals 3 34 13 78 .269 2 16 25Aces--Minnesota (2): Berg 2; UH (5): Bown 2, Lima 2, Roberts 1. Assists--Minnesota (31: Berg 27, Wichert 2, Aschenbrenner 1, L. Shudlick 1; UH (30): Carey 28, Sudduth 1, Lima 1.A--7,058. T--1:18. Officials--Ernest Ho, Dan Hironaka.
UCLA DEF. PITT, 15-2, 15-5, 15-8
Bruins (1-0)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Bowles 3 9 4 19 .263 0 0 5 Porter 3 12 8 25 .160 0 1 7 Selsor 3 3 0 3 1.000 0 1 5 Johnson 3 7 0 9 .778 0 0 0 Fendrick 2 3 1 4 .500 0 0 3 Quon 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Bachman 3 8 0 13 .615 0 2 0 Millichap 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Peterson 2 1 0 4 .250 0 0 0 Nihipali 1 3 0 6 .500 0 0 0 Totals 3 46 13 83 .398 0 4 28Panthers (1-1)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Meinhart 3 7 2 12 .417 0 0 2 Nickels 3 5 2 14 .214 0 0 0 Renick 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Alpers 3 8 7 28 .036 0 0 5 Boutin 3 5 6 15 -.067 0 0 5 Norris 3 0 3 3 -1.000 0 0 2 Lacenere 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Birkel 3 5 3 15 .133 0 0 1 Thiesen 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Totals 3 30 23 87 .080 0 0 18Aces--UCLA (7): Porter 2, Bowles 1, Selsor 1, Fendrick 1, Quon 1, Peterson 1; Pitt (4): Meinhart 1, Alpers 1, Boutin 1, Norris 1. Assists--UCLA (43): Selsor 37, Porter 2, Millichap 2, Johnson 1, Bachman 1; Pitt (25): Norris 23, Meinhart 2.T--1:09. Officials--Wayne Lee, Denice Hanson.
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