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GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Susie Boogaard blasted a kill past Loyola Marymount's Heather Hughes during last night's match.

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Lions knock down
Wahine

Loyola Marymount becomes
the first unranked team to beat
UH since 1997

The key was to ride out the storm, figure out the ebb and flow, and then use a late surge to pull away.

LMU 3 HAWAII 2 NEXT UP vs. Loyola Marymount tonight

It's what Loyola Marymount was able to do last night, en route to doing something that no one had been able to do since 1997. The Lions became the first unranked team in 206 matches to topple the Rainbow Wahine, getting a career-high 29 kills from Heather Hughes -- including the match-winner -- to stun No. 9 Hawaii 30-26, 26-30, 31-29, 23-30, 15-13 at the Stan Sheriff Center. A crowd of 4,744 (6,571 tickets) saw the Lions (11-1) win their fourth five-game match heading into tonight's 7 o'clock rematch with the Wahine (6-6).

Sophomore transfer Christianna Reneau, Fresno State's kill leader last season, finished with 14 last night. She also led the Lions in digs with 28, 13 coming in Game 1.

Hawaii finally got a handle on the left-handed Hughes to open Game 5, stuffing her once and slowing her down enough to take a 5-0 lead. But LMU hung tough, with Reneau putting down two kills to help the Lions tie it at 10 and then block Alicia Arnott for a 11-10 lead.

It was tied three more times; the last at 13-13. Dina DeBernardi gave the Lions the only match-point attempt they would need with her 11th kill, and Hughes' 64th swing hit the tape and trickled over to end it.

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GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Jamie Houston blasted a kill past Loyola Marymount's Krista Houseman during last night's match.

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Junior hitter Sarah Mason led Hawaii with a career-high 26 kills. Victoria Prince added 12, Arnott 11 and Susie Boogaard 10 for the Wahine, who are now 0-2 when it goes to five.

Ashley Watanabe had 31 of Hawaii's 97 digs and Prince was in on eight of the team's 15 blocks. Hawaii once again was slow to start in Game 1, falling behind 6-1. The Wahine rallied behind Mason's 10 kills, leading twice, the last at 16-15.

It was tied four times down the stretch, with Hawaii again having trouble closing. LMU broke away for good at 24-24, finishing it off with a 6-2 run.

The outcome of Game 2 traded sides with the teams. This time it was the Wahine who pulled away at 24-24 with a 6-2 run, jump-started by Prince's seventh kill.

Hawaii appeared to have the momentum, leading for most of Game 3. A kill by Arnott gave the Wahine game point at 29-28, but they couldn't hold on. A service error by Kanoe Kamana'o, a kill by Krista Houseman and Hughes' 19th kill gave the Lions a 2-1 lead.

Hawaii came out swinging in Game 4, jumping out to an 18-11 margin behind a 4-0 serving run by Watanabe. LMU closed to 20-17 only to have a 3-0 serving run by Prince help UH jump ahead at 28-18. At 29-21, the Wahine needed three swings to even the match, doing so on Mason's 21st kill.

The last time LMU defeated Hawaii was in the first round of the 1997 NCAA tournament. It was only the second time the Wahine had been eliminated that early, the other being in 1984.