[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Lily Kahumoku hit one over Nevada's Kellie Burton last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Kahumoku had 10 kills.
Wahine
sweep
Wolf Pack
Domination is the norm. Winning is all but a given.
The challenge for No. 2 Hawaii is to stay challenged when taking the court against a Western Athletic Conference volleyball foe. The motivations are many for the Rainbow Wahine, from keeping their WAC winning streak alive to keeping their players rising on the school and national career lists.
They did that last night when sweeping Nevada 30-20, 30-18, 30-25 in front of 6,985 at the Stan Sheriff Center. About the only glitch of the match came when the crowd had to stand for six "aloha-ball" serves before the Wolf Pack's Tristin Adams served wide to end it after 90 minutes.
Hawaii (15-1, 3-0 WAC) won its 14th consecutive match of the year by topping the young and injury-depleted Wolf Pack (8-9, 2-2). The Wahine ran their regular-season conference streak to 68 and saw Kim Willoughby move into 20th on the NCAA career kill chart with 2,191 after putting down a match-high 17 kills.
Lily Kahumoku added 10 kills, passing Suzanne Eagye for No. 4 on the school's all-time kill list. She needs 15 to tie Angelica Ljungquist for third (1,570).
Those milestones went mostly unnoticed last night, but not the one achieved by Maja Gustin. Heading into Game 3, the senior middle needed just one kill to reach the 1,000-kill mark. The team was aware of it and so were some of the fans.
"It was the plan that after I got the one kill, that Karin (senior middle Lundqvist) would come in," said Gustin. "I wanted Karin to play, to enjoy that part of the match."
To chants of "Maja, Maja," Gustin put down her second swing of Game 3. She left after giving Hawaii a 6-5 lead with her sixth kill of the match.
The Wahine needed just 20 minutes to finish off the Wolf Pack.
"I'd give us a 'C' tonight," said Willoughby, who added that she is being treated for mononucleosis-like symptoms. "You've got to respect everyone you play, go hard the whole time.
"What's unacceptable to me is when we play their style of volleyball. We should be dominating everyone we play instead of letting other teams think they can play with us."
Nevada coach Devin Scruggs said she was pleased with how her team hung in there despite a patchwork lineup. There were times when the former Pacific player shook her head and laughed at the mismatch, including the time the 6-foot Willoughby went way over the block of the Pack's freshman setter.
"We did a lot of things we were hoping to do," Scruggs said. "We passed well, but we didn't have the offense we wanted. I thought we stayed pretty tough in some rotations, but it's hard when the people you rely on to put the balls away aren't on the court."
Injuries forced junior middle Kellie Burton to move to the outside for the first time. She led the team with seven kills, but hit .000 after committing seven errors.
Sophomore hitter Christine Harms, who came in averaging 3.11 kills per game, had four for the match. Last year's WAC Freshman of the Year Salaia Salavea was held to six kills, hitting .077.
"I think this is one of the best Hawaii teams I've ever seen," said Scruggs, who played against the Wahine from 1987-90.
"When I heard Kanoe (freshman setter Kamana'o) would be playing for them, I knew they'd be a better team than last year."
Kamana'o had 33 assists and a career-high 16 digs.
Hawaii leaves Wednesday for its second road trip of the year. The Wahine are at Boise State Thursday and UTEP Saturday.
Notes: In last night's alumnae match, Green defeated White 25-23, 25-23. No statistics were taken, but Tanja Nikolic (1999-2001) served for match point against the White, which had 10 players on the court for the last play. ... The Hawaii-Nevada match was to be rebroadcast on CSTV today at noon as part of the Sunday Night Spike (DirecTV Channel 610). It is the second consecutive Sunday the Wahine are on the national broadcast; last week's win at Santa Clara was also televised by CSTV ... Sophomore hitter Susie Boogaard missed last night's match with a sprained right ankle.
Hawaii def. Nevada
30-20, 30-18, 30-25
Wolf pack (8-9, 2-2 WAC)
WAHINE (15-1, 3-0 WAC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Salavea 3 6 4 26 .077 0 1 7 Adams, T. 3 2 0 7 .286 1 0 9 Burton 3 7 7 30 .000 0 2 4 Brush 3 3 0 8 .375 0 1 0 Harms 3 4 4 16 .000 0 0 6 Adams, K. 6 6 4 23 .087 0 0 2 Capurro 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Donaldson 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Holda 3 2 0 3 .667 0 0 11 Totals 3 30 19 113 .097 1 4 40
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
g k e att pct. bs ba d Willoughby 3 17 3 32 .438 0 1 3 Tano 2 5 0 7 .714 0 1 5 Kahumoku 3 10 4 27 .222 0 0 6 Kamana'o 3 2 1 5 .200 0 0 16 Gustin 3 6 2 12 .333 0 1 3 Duggins 3 9 5 19 .211 0 1 4 Lundqvist 1 1 0 5 .200 0 0 1 Arnott 1 0 0 3 .000 0 0 2 Eckmier 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 0 Watanabe 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Thurlby 1 0 0 2 .000 0 0 1 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 12 Totals 3 51 15 113 .319 0 4 53
Aces -- Wolf Pack (4): Burton 2, Adams, T., Harms. Hawaii (8): Kahumoku 2, Kamana'o 2, Arnott, Gustin, Lundqvist, Willoughby. Assists -- Wolf Pack (25): Adams, T. 19, Holda 3, Adams, K. 2, Harms 1. Hawaii (45): Kamana'o 33, Tano 4, Villaroman 3, Thurlby 2, Willoughby 2, Kahumoku 1.
T -- 1:30. Officials -- Verna Klubnikin, Wayne Lee. A -- 6,985.
