Friday, November 9, 2001
Wahine far too much It wasn't even close to the same fight.
for Spartans
Expected to be a close match, it
was a blowout from Game 1By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comOne of the last teams that had a chance to challenge Hawaii in Western Athletic Conference play hardly even made the Wahine sweat.
Hawaii swept San Jose State 30-13, 30-21, 30-11 in front of a crowd of 4,383 at the Stan Sheriff Center last night.
"We just frustrated them," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "When we're ready to play and the other team isn't, then it will be like that."
Averaging 17 digs a game, Hawaii (22-4, 12-0) didn't need to play much back-row defense with the blocking taking over in Game 1. The Wahine stuffed eight balls, with Nohea Tano and Lauren Duggins each posting four blocks. UH hit an astounding .467 with 14 kills and no errors in the first game. The Spartans (19-6, 8-4) hit .000.
The situation worsened for the Spartans in Game 2 when starting setter Savannah Smith crumpled to the floor six points into the game with a sprained right ankle.
Defensive specialist Melissa Villaroman got the offense rolling with a kill out of the back row in Game 3. From there, Hawaii cruised behind the hitting of Willoughby, who finished with 19 kills. Maja Gustin added 15.
"We just got our heads handed to us," San Jose State coach Craig Choate said.
Despite being similar in size to Hawaii, San Jose State was mismatched at the net. The few times that Spartan guns Brianna Blair and Kimberly Noble did hit past the block, defensive specialist Hedder Ilustre was there to pop up the ball. She dug Noble six times in Game 2 and finished with 11 digs. Both hitters finished the night hitting negative.
It hardly seemed possible that San Jose State was the team that almost upset Hawaii three weeks ago. The Spartans, one of the top serving teams in the country, didn't put any pressure on the Wahine's passing.
Tano admitted to being disappointed that it wasn't a more competitive match.
"We played an errorless game," Tano said. "We watched a lot of tape and we knew what they were going to do."
The Wahine play Fresno State today at 7 p.m. following the alumnae match. Senior Tanja Nikolic will be honored in Hawaii's final regular season home match.
The alumnae match features Nena Gusman, Heidi Ilustre, Paula Jenkins, Aven Lee, Terry Malterre, Diana McKibbin, Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano, Marci Nowack, and Bobbie Perry on the Green team.
Mahina Eleneki, Lani Elliazar, Linda Fernandez, Cherly Grimm, Karolyn James, Joyce Ka'apuni, Shelly Kim, Sista Palakiko-Beazley and Lee Satele are on the White team.
UH Athletics