Wednesday, November 24, 1999
Wahine fight
past San Jose
After dropping Game 1 to
By Cindy Luis
the Spartans, Hawaii polishes off
another undefeated WAC season
to send its seniors out in style
Star-BulletinNothing was going to spoil Senior Night.
Certainly not a team that had won in Honolulu just once in 17 previous matches. And certainly not a piece of paper that announced the WAC women's volleyball Player of the Year trophy would be shared by Hawaii senior blocker Heather Bown and San Jose State junior blocker Joslynn Gallop.
Both Bown and Gallop came into last night's match with impressive statistics. Bown leads the country in blocks, Gallop is third nationally in kill average and eighth in hitting percentage.
After 2 hours and 14 minutes, the only piece of paper that mattered was the box score. The third-ranked Wahine finished regular-season conference play undefeated for the third time in four years, stopping the Spartans, 11-15, 15-5, 15-10, 15-6, at the Stan Sheriff Center.
It was Hawaii's 13th consecutive win over San Jose State, dating back to 1993. The Wahine (25-1, 14-0) have lost just once to the Spartans (25-6, 11-3) in Honolulu, back in 1986.
"We were not going to lose to San Jose State, not on Senior Night, or any night for that matter," said Bown, finishing with a season-high 24 kills. "We can't afford to lose to anyone at this point of the season. We have to play hard every night if we're going to finish undefeated this year."
To do that, Hawaii would have to run the table for another eight matches. That road starts in Tucson with the Arizona Thanksgiving Invitational.
The Wahine face No. 20 Arizona Friday and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Saturday to close out the regular season. The NCAA Tournament pairings will be announced Sunday, about three hours after Hawaii is scheduled to return home. The Wahine are hoping they will host through the Dec. 16-18 final four."Hopefully, this will be our last road trip," said Heidi Ilustre, honored last night along with seniors Bown, Jennifer Roberts and Shelly Kim.
The Wahine played as if they were in a hurry to get on with the senior sendoff. In reality, the team had a midnight plane to catch out of Honolulu International.
"After they won Game 1, I was a little concerned about losing the match as well as missing our flight," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji.
The Wahine didn't miss their boarding call but the Spartans did delay the senior tribute. Gallop had six kills on nine swings with no errors in Game 1 as San Jose State became the first WAC team to take a game off Hawaii at home this season.
Bown responded with a perfect game of her own, putting down all nine of her attempts in Game 2 to help Hawaii even the match. The 6-foot-3 blocker went from a negative .357 hitting percentage in Game 1 to .462 for the match.
"After Game 1, we asked Heather to be patient and wait for the sets she wanted," said Shoji. "She got on track in the second game and really carried us."
The Spartans, who lead the WAC in aces, had nine to the Wahine's six. The biggest disparity, however, was in blocks, where Hawaii led, 19-5, with Veronica Lima in on 10 stuffs, Roberts nine and Bown eight.
The Wahine dominated for most of Game 3, jumping out to a 12-4 lead as all-WAC second-team picks Veronica Lima and Roberts teamed for three consecutive blocks on Brianna Blair. The Spartans closed to 13-10, helped by three of Darcy Walker's 14 kills. But a back-row attack by Bown and a kill by Jessica Sudduth closed it out.
Game 4 was just a formality, with the crowd of 5,754 starting to open bags of leis. Bown also sent Gallop a little message, acing the Spartan twice then stuffing her twice - once for match-point, the second time with Jennifer Carey to end it.
Also in double kill figures for the Wahine were WAC Freshman of the Year Lily Kahumoku (14) and Sudduth (10).
Eight of the 14 all-WAC selections were on the court last night, including the entire Wahine starting lineup. First-team picks were Bown, Kahumoku and Sudduth, along with San Jose's Gallop and senior setter Michelle Sarkees from San Jose State. Three Wahine were named to the second team: Roberts, Lima and freshman setter Carey.
Spartans (25-6, 11-3 WAC) Hawaii def. San Jose St.,
11-15, 15-5, 15-10, 15-6
g k e att pct. bs ba d Blair 4 11 10 36 .028 0 3 3 Pascucci 4 13 4 34 .265 1 1 3 Lukens 4 4 2 18 .111 0 0 13 Sarkees 4 1 2 6 -.167 0 1 6 Gallop 4 21 8 52 .250 0 3 5 Walker 4 14 7 42 .167 0 0 12 Powers 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Smith 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Troxell 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Fernandez 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Totals 4 64 33 188 .165 1 8 53Rainbow Wahine (25-1, 14-0 WAC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 4 2 1 3 .333 0 0 7 Carey 4 3 0 9 .333 0 6 9 Sudduth 4 10 6 34 .118 1 1 16 Bown 4 24 6 39 .462 1 7 7 Lima 4 7 2 21 .238 0 10 10 Roberts 4 7 0 13 .538 0 9 3 Kahumoku 4 14 4 31 .323 0 1 10 Lee 4 0 0 1 .000 0 0 4 Kim 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Ilustre 4 2 1 5 .200 0 0 10 Totals 4 69 20 156 .314 2 34 76Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.Aces--San Jose St. (9): Lukens 3, Gallop 2, Walker 2, Blair 1, Pascucci 1; Hawaii (6): Bown 2, Carey 2, Lima 1, Sudduth 1. Assists--San Jose St. (60): Sarkees 54, Smith 3, Blair 2, Gallop 1; Hawaii (63): Carey 54, Ilustre 2, Lee 2, Lima 2, Roberts 2, Kahumoku 1.
T--2:14. Officials--Verna Klubnikin, Dan Hironaka.
