[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]

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Hawaii speeds
by Santa Clara

The Rainbow Wahine improve
to 5-0 with a win over the Broncos

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Speed kills.

Hawaii's quick offense continues to give opponents problems, the latest casualty being No. 17 Santa Clara. The Rainbow Wahine used a balanced attack to subdue the Broncos in front of 4,717 last night at the Stan Sheriff Center, 30-27, 28-30, 30-27, 30-28 in 2 hours and 30 minutes.

The victory kept Hawaii (5-0) unbeaten in the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Challenge and set up a true championship match tonight with the tournament's other undefeated team, No. 3 UCLA (6-0). In last night's first match, the Bruins worked through some inconsistent play to sweep Southwest Missouri State in 84 minutes, 30-11, 30-24, 30-24.

The Broncos (3-2) and Bears (5-2) will meet in the third-place match at 5 p.m. The Bruins and Wahine will take the court in the second match in what will be their 61st meeting.

"How fast they're running the offense is pretty surprising," said UCLA coach Andy Banachowski, his team trailing in the series with UH 32-28. "Yeah, they're young, but they've got a great setter (sophomore Kanoe Kamana'o) who's delivering the ball well.

"They've changed the tempo of their game. It's a really fast pace and it will be a challenge to stay with them."

The Broncos hung for quite a while against the diversified Wahine offense which had five players with 11 kills or more, led by career highs from junior Victoria Prince (20) and freshman Tara Hittle (17). Alicia Arnott and Susie Boogaard had 13 each, and Kari Gregory 11.

"I think our team really sticks together, especially when times are tough," Hittle said. "We're able to come out with wins like this because we come together like a real team.

"We have a lot of really good players. We play well, but sometimes we don't realize we have to keep pushing the whole game. I know I didn't want it to go five. I'm glad we stuck in there."

It had Wahine coach Dave Shoji shaking his head.

"They didn't look like the same team we scouted Thursday," he said. "Maybe it's us who make people look good.

"I don't' know how we're doing it. We're just kind of hanging in there. But we're going to have to play a lot better to even be in the match with UCLA. They're so experienced."

The teams swapped near mirror-image victories in the first two games, with each winner jumping out to a quick advantage then fending off a late challenge.

In Game 1, it was Hawaii enjoying big leads at 11-3, 19-11 and 26-19. Santa Clara pulled to 28-25 and then held off two game points to close to 29-27 before Arnott slammed down her seventh kill to end it.

The Broncos turned the tables in Game 2, taking the lead for good at 18-17. Trailing 29-26, the Wahine held off two game points to close to 29-27; Boogaard served long for the anticlimatic finish.

It was another case of trading sides and momentum in Game 3. Hawaii used an early 5-0 run to break away from a 7-7 tie into a 12-7 lead.

It didn't last. The Broncos went on a 12-5 run to go ahead at 19-17.

It stayed close the rest of the way with the Wahine finally taking control at 28-25, helped by two smart shots by Boogaard. Kamana'o's dump gave UH game point and, after being called for a lift, Prince ended it with her 14th kill.

Santa Clara would not go quietly. Game 4 was another seesaw battle with Broncos falling behind at 16-13 only to catch the Wahine at 20.

A couple of Santa Clara errors kept UH alive, putting the Wahine ahead at 26-25. Annalisa Muratore tied it at 26. A kill by Hittle and a hitting error by Cassie Perret gave the Wahine some breathing room at 28-26 and, following a Perret kill, Hawaii earned its first match point when Gregory blocked Anna Cmaylo.

Perret's kill made it 29-28, but Boogaard ended a great rally, finishing off the match with her 13th kill.

"Both teams are young, and the goofy things are going to stay around for a while," said Santa Clara coach Jon Wallace. "Hawaii has some scrambling kids. They earned this.

"Hittle caught fire, Prince got hot and it was hard not to trust Boogaard after her great night (Thursday with 23 kills)."

The Broncos were led by Kim McGiven's 18 kills. Annalisa Muratore added 13, sister Toni Muratore 10 and Perret 10.

Santa Clara outblocked Hawaii 11-7.

UCLA 3, SMS 0: The Bruins played steady when ahead and when needing to come from behind against the Bears.

UCLA used a dominating block advantage (8.5-1) to blow out SMS in Game 1, then had to dig deep after falling behind 7-0 in Game 2. Brittany Ringel's ace highlighted a 4-0 run as the Bruins crawled back to a 13-13 tie and UCLA took the lead for good with a 4-0 run that put the team ahead at 19-15.

Ringel was the only player in double-figure kills with 10. Nana Meriwether was in on 14 blocks, a UCLA record for the rally scoring era, and Chrissie Zartman had 23 of the team's 48 digs.

Sabrina Apker, Katie Kreimer and Sarah Lansing all had seven kills apiece for the Bears, losing their second straight.

Notes: Watching last night's matches were former Wahine All-Americans and U.S. Olympic teammates Robyn Ah Mow-Santos and Heather Bown ... The tournament features two Hawaii connections. Santa Clara junior setter Kristen Luxton was raised in Honolulu, attending Maryknoll through her junior year before transferring to a California school to better her college recruiting chances.

UCLA senior blocker Brynn Murphy attended the same San Diego high school (Francis Parker) as UH men's setter Kimo Tuyay. Murphy's mother, Bonnie King Murphy, was born in Honolulu and graduated from Punahou School.

Hawaii def. Santa Clara

30-27, 28-30, 30-27, 30-28

BRONCOS (3-2, 0-2 MLC)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Heler	4	7	0	24	.292	0	2	19
McGiven	4	18	4	45	.311	3	1	0
Perret	4	10	8	31	.065	0	1	14
Luxton	4	0	1	1	-1.000	0	0	12
Cmaylo	4	6	3	18	.167	0	1	1
Muratore, T.	4	10	8	38	.053	4	0	4
Walters	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	20
Muratore, A.	4	13	3	26	.385	0	3	1
Matich	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	8
Totals	4	64	27	183	.202	7	8	79

RAINBOW WAHINE (5-0, 2-0 MLC)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Boogaard	4	13	9	51	.078	0	0	11
Hittle	4	17	7	39	.256	0	3	10
Gregory	4	11	4	27	.259	2	4	2
Arnott	4	13	7	36	.167	0	0	11
Kamana'o	4	4	0	5	.800	0	2	11
Prince	4	20	4	39	.410	0	1	2
Eckmier	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Watanabe	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	23
Fotu	4	0	0	1	.000	0	0	3
Thurlby	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Woolford	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	4	78	31	198	.237	2	10	73

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.

Aces -- SCU (2): Muratore, T., Matich. Hawaii (5): Arnott 3, Boogaard 1, Prince 1. Assists -- SCU (60): Matich 30,Luxton 25, Heler 4, Muratore, A. 1. Hawaii (72): Kamana'o 64, Watanabe 3, Thurlby 2, Gregory 1, Arnott 1, Fotu 1.

T -- 2:30. Officials -- Wayne Lee, Ernest Ho. A -- 4,717.