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Friday, December 8, 2000
So long, In a contest nuclear-charged with emotion, the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team exorcised its worst demon last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Long Beach
The Wahine end a 0-5 jinx
in the NCAA tournament by
dumping the 49ers; next up is
UC Santa Barbara in finalBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinBefore 9,384 ti leaf-waving fans, the Wahine took three hours but finally ended their 0-5 NCAA tournament jinx against Long Beach State with an 11-15, 15-13, 15-9, 12-15, 15-6 victory.
"Words can't express what we feel when the crowd gets into it for us," said sophomore left side hitter Lily Kahumoku, her eyes watering a bit. "It's like nothing I ever experienced. That much support, that much fire, that much energy going your way."
The No. 3 Wahine (30-1) move on to meet No. 14 UC-Santa Barbara (26-7) tonight for the NCAA Women's Volleyball West Regional championship.
Hawaii beat UC-Santa Barbara, 5-15, 15-11, 15-6, 15-5, at the Stan Sheriff Center on Sept. 15. That may or may not work in the Wahine's favor because the Gauchos have been on a tear of late.A win tonight will send Hawaii to its first Final Four since 1996.
There were many who were worried about whether or not the Wahine could clear the Long Beach State hurdle.
On Nov. 25, the 49ers had decisively ended the Wahine's 27-match win streak (15-13, 15-8, 13-15, 15-10) before a raucous crowd of about 3,000 at The Pyramid.
The loss came with Hawaii's All-WAC freshman middle blocker Maja Gustin sidelined with an ankle sprain.
Last night Gustin, whose mobility was still hindered, nearly had a triple-double for Hawaii with 12 kills, nine digs and a team-high nine blocks.
Five Wahine had five double-doubles to offset a combined 49-kill performance by 6-foot-7 Tayyiba Haneef and 6-2 middle blocker Cheryl Weaver for Long Beach State.
The biggest of those Hawaii doubles came from junior middle blocker Veronica Lima, who was far below par at Long Beach.
Lima hit only .133 there but led Hawaii with a .414 mark last night while making 16 kills and 17 digs.
"I would not accept not having a good night tonight," said Lima.
"It was our only loss and I hated it. We all hated it. We will not accept any team to come in our house and beat us. They (Long Beach State) are very cocky when they play. ... I don't like that kind of team and I like to beat them."
Weaver finished with 23 kills, 11 blocks and a .327 hitting percentage, but was hampered by cramps in the second game and had difficulty jumping to block, said 49ers head coach Brian Gimmillaro.
Haneef had 26 kills in 70 swings.
Kahumoku led Hawaii with 23 kills in 65 swings, 17 digs and six blocks. Kim Willoughby had 20 kills and 15 digs. Jessica Sudduth had 10 kills and 15 digs. And Jennifer Carey had 72 assists and 12 digs.The Wahine were outblocked, 7-1, in game 1 before coming back to outblock Long Beach State, 4-3, in game 2 and 8-4 in game 3.
"The only way we could've won this match was by blocking physically against their physical specimens, like their 6-7 (Haneef), and Cheryl Weaver is such a great athlete," said Kahumoku. "We had to make adjustments after the first game."
Shoji, who had one of his finest hours as a coach, gaining his 740th win, was typically understated after the match.
"I'm not sure what turned it around except that we served really tough in the fifth game and started blocking the ball," he said. "Kills were not easy to come by, believe me."
Andrea Gomez Tukuafu served two aces in the rally scoring game and had three for the match, as did sophomore setter Carey.
Gimmillaro said after the match that he thought the turning point for his team came in game 2 when Weaver began to cramp. He said that impaired her ability to jump throughout the rest of the contest.
UC-Santa Barbara upset No. 9 Minnesota, 15-12, 7-15, 15-7, 15-10, in the other regional semifinal.
The Gauchos, who lost starting freshman outside hitter Erica Menzel (3.69 kpg) to a broken left hand she suffered before the first round match with Texas-San Antonio, were led by Danielle Bauer (19 kills, 23 digs).
Gauchos head coach Kathy Gregory said she's ready for a rematch with Hawaii and not worried about the crowd.
"If it's 20,000 or 100,000, we'll tune them all out," she said. "We know they (Wahine) have the same style as Minnesota. Big, physical. Great defensive team. Very well balanced.
"The hardest part for us is to come back from the emotion of this high and do it back to back," she added.
That's exactly what Shoji is thinking.
Hawaii def. Long Beach St.,
49ers (24-8)
11-15, 15-13, 15-9, 12-15, 15-6
g k e att pct. bs ba d Marquis 5 1 4 15 -.200 0 3 18 Hochevar 5 17 13 52 .077 0 6 15 Bulquerin 5 0 0 1 .000 0 0 20 Nishimoto 5 0 4 8 -.500 0 2 7 Haneef 5 26 11 70 .214 0 4 5 Weaver 5 23 6 52 .327 4 7 7 Ohta 5 0 1 3 -.333 0 0 15 Weathers 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Thomas 5 14 3 31 .355 2 8 3 Totals 5 81 42 232 .168 6 30 90 Wahine (30-1)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Willoughby 5 20 10 46 .217 0 6 15 Carey 5 5 2 15 .200 0 4 12 Sudduth 5 10 9 46 .022 0 5 15 Kahumoku 5 23 9 65 .215 1 5 17 Lima 5 16 4 29 .414 0 8 17 Gustin 5 12 5 27 .259 0 9 9 Vakasausau 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Nikolic 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Gomez-Tukuafu 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Lee 4 0 0 1 .000 0 0 4 Duggins 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Totals 5 86 39 229 .205 1 37 94 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs. Aces--LBSU (5): Nishimoto 2, Marquis, Hochevar, Ohta. UH (9): Carey 3, Gomez-Tukuafu 3, Kahumoku, Lima, Gustin. Assists--LBSU (74): Nishimoto 71, Marquis 2, Haneef. UH (82): Carey 72, Sudduth 4, Lima 3, Willoughby 2, Kahukmoku. T-2:59. Officials: Marty Prochko, Pati Salvatore A--9,774.
UC Santa Barbara def. Minnesota,
Gauchos (26-7)
15-12, 7-15, 15-7, 15-10
g k e att pct. bs ba d Lampe 4 12 5 38 .184 0 2 1 Rundle 4 3 0 6 .500 0 2 14 Guerra 4 17 5 40 .167 0 0 12 Bauer 4 19 6 45 .300 2 2 23 Kuhn 4 17 5 41 .289 0 2 20 Niles 4 6 4 36 .293 0 0 17 Samson 1 0 0 0 .056 0 0 0 McFarland 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Edmonds 3 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Blackshire 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 74 25 207 .237 2 8 96 Golden Gophers (30-4)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Fair 4 23 4 37 .514 2 8 2 Berg 4 4 1 11 .273 0 3 23 VanOort 4 11 10 43 .023 0 2 16 Aschenbrenner 4 3 1 11 .182 0 4 13 Hagen 4 12 2 36 .278 1 2 5 Branagh 4 19 10 73 .123 0 1 23 Brafford 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Davis 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Wicks 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Axel 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Totals 4 72 28 211 .209 3 20 94 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--UCSB (8): Kuhn 3, Niles 2, Guerra 2, Rundle. UM (4): Berg, VanOort, Aschenbrenner, Axel.
Assists--UCSB (72): Rundle 66, Guerra 2, McFarland 2, Lampe, Bauer. UM (67): Berg 60, Aschenbrenner 4, Hagen 2, Axel. T-2:10. Officials: Eric Asami, Ken Taylor.
Road to the
Final FourWhat: NCAA Women's Volleyball West Regional Final.
UH Athletics