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Friday, September 8, 2000
Oregon Duck Oregon was in the driver's seat just long enough to win five of the first six points in its match with the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
soup for Wahine
UH makes right adjustments
as Kahumoku, Lima and
Nikolic lead 3-game sweepBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinBut the 4,194 fans who came to see the opening of the Aston Imua Wahine Volleyball Challenge could just about hear the tires squealing as Hawaii (4-0) suddenly jumped the brakes and turned it around on the Ducks, 15-6, 15-4, 15-2.
"Oregon's offense and defense is something I'd never even seen before," said sophomore left-side hitter Lily Kahumoku, who led the Wahine with 18 kills and eight digs while hitting .421.
"It took us a while to figure out their offense," said Hawaii head coach Dave Shoji.
"They have a pretty unconventional offense and we got lost a few times early. But once we identified who the hitters were and what the assignments were, we did a nice job."
Kristin Ferris and Sydney Chute scored service aces in a 5-1 opening run for the Ducks. But the Wahine reeled off 10 straight points to take a lead they'd never relinquish in the 85-minute match.
Junior middle hitter Veronica Lima posted her ninth career double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs while hitting .474.
Freshman middle hitter Maja Gustin had nine kills, three services aces and was in on six blocks.
Hawaii outblocked Oregon, 9-4.
But it was the performance of junior Tanja Nikolic (eight kills, two digs and four block assists), filling in for injured freshman starter Kim Willoughby, that really made Shoji smile.
"She certainly gave us a lift offensively and we knew she could do that," said Shoji.
"She's the first off the bench in a number of positions, so Tanja will be very valuable to us, even when Kim comes back."
Kahumoku also praised the Croatian, who transferred to Hawaii from Oregon after her freshman season.
"Tanja's very experienced and she's played at very high levels around the world," said Kahumoku. "It's great to have someone like that come off the bench."
Nikolic was MVP of the European Junior Championships in Turkey in 1995, and a member of the Croatian Junior National Team that finished sixth in the European Championships in 1996.
Gustin, who combined with Nikolic on three roofs during the match, said she enjoyed playing with a fellow European.
"It was the Slovenian-Croatian roof," said Gustin with a laugh.
Shoji is hoping Willoughby, who has a sprained ankle and a mild concussion, can convince doctors she's OK to play in tonight's 7 p.m. match against Creighton.
In last night's early match, Creighton beat Northwestern, 15-13, 14-16, 15-5, 15-10.
Hawaii def. Oregon, 15-6, 15-4, 15-2
Bruins (4-1 overall, 0-1 IWC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Gerlach 3 4 4 12 .000 1 1 5 Banducci 3 7 4 24 .125 1 0 7 Ferris 3 1 2 6 -.167 0 0 11 Murphy 3 4 3 13 .077 0 0 10 Mazza 3 4 2 20 .100 1 1 3 Chute 3 3 2 14 .071 0 0 4 Scott 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Porter 3 5 2 9 .333 0 0 0 Stevens 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Allen 3 3 3 4 .500 0 0 0 Blank 2 0 0 1 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 31 20 103 .107 3 2 41
Wahine (4-0 overall, 1-0 IWC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Nikolic 3 8 1 16 .438 0 4 2 Carey 3 2 0 2 1.000 1 1 8 Sudduth 3 4 1 19 .158 0 0 6 Kahumoku 3 18 2 38 .421 1 1 8 Lima 3 10 1 19 .474 0 1 12 Gustin 3 9 3 16 .375 1 5 1 Vakasausau 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 2 Cravens 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Gomez-Tukuafu 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Lee 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Duggins 2 0 3 3 -1.000 0 0 2 Villaroman 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 52 11 114 .360 3 12 44 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--UO (5): Chute 3, Ferris, Murphy. UH (6): Gustin 3, Carey, Sudduth, Lima.
Assists--UO (31): Chute 16, Gerlach 11, Murphy 2, Ferris, Mazza. UH (45): Carey 33, Vakasausau 7, Duggins 2, Sudduth 2, Gustin.
T-1:25. Officials: Wayne Lee, Denice Hanson.
Creighton def. Northwestern, 15-13, 14-16, 15-5, 15-10
Kill leaders-Creighton: Melissa Walsh 24, Erin Swanson 18. Northwstn: Carmen Burbach 18, Erika Lange 12, Lindsay Pavlik 11.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii