RAINBOW WAHINE VOLLEYBALL
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Victoria Prince, left, and Jamie Houston blocked a Fresno State kill attempt during last night's match.
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UH slams Fresno State
The Rainbow Wahine need just 89 minutes to sweep the Bulldogs and improve to 4-0 in conference play
NEXT UP
vs. Nevada tonight
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The euphoria of winning its first conference match wore off quickly for Fresno State last night.
It took about 11 minutes -- mirroring the ranking of No. 11 Hawaii -- for the Rainbow Wahine to bring the Bulldogs back down to earth ... hard.
The thud was as loud as one of the match-high 13 kills Sarah Mason pounded down onto the Stan Sheriff Center court. After spotting Fresno State a 6-0 lead in Game 1, Hawaii roared back to sweep the Bulldogs 30-23, 30-17, 30-17 in a Western Athletic Conference volleyball match.
It took just 89 minutes for the Wahine to improve to 10-6 overall, 4-0 in WAC play, setting up tonight's showdown between the conference's two unbeatens. Hawaii takes on Nevada (10-5, 5-0), winner of its last nine, at 7 p.m.
A crowd of 5,007 (6,828 tickets) watched the Wahine defeat the Bulldogs (3-12, 1-4) for the 36th consecutive time in winning their 95th straight WAC match. Fresno State has never taken a game off Hawaii in 18 matches in Honolulu.
Wahine coach Dave Shoji got all three things he had hoped for: a quick victory, a chance to rest his starters and a chance to use a lot of players. He cleared his bench in Game 3, with the only remaining starter setter Kanoe Kamana'o, using the entire roster of 16.
Every Wahine who played in the front row had at least one kill, including freshman Nickie Thomas. She tied her career high with three kills and was in on a career-high four blocks.
"It was exciting to get in to play," said Thomas, playing in her 10th match. "Everyone was happy to get in. Since we don't normally get in, we came out fired up.
"I'm sure it is hard on (the opponent) because they know it's the B team and they're still getting beat."
Fresno State came in after handing Utah State its first conference loss on Wednesday. The Bulldogs opened up with their A game "and then it faded," said first-year coach Ruben Nieves. "We got on them early. The problem is we didn't sustain it.
"I don't know why it wasn't the same tonight as Utah State. It looked like it early, thought we'd be the same type of team. But Hawaii is good and when they get going, get confident, then ... "
It didn't take long for Hawaii to pull it together. The Wahine needed 11 minutes before gaining their first lead at 13-12. The score was tied three times before Hawaii broke away for good at 19-18 on a kill by Tara Hittle and a hitting error by Alisha McKee, the first Bulldog hitting error in 29 attempts.
Fresno State had a hard time stopping the 6-foot-3 Mason, who had two kills as Hawaii finished off Game 1 with an 11-5 run. Mason, playing in the first two games, was the only player on either side in double figures.
Kasie Spencer and Alison Pitton led the Bulldogs with nine kills each. Libero Cassie Gilford -- who had 32 digs in the five-game win over Utah State -- kept her team in the match with 19 digs.
The taller Wahine won the blocking war 13-2, holding the Bulldogs to negative hitting percentage in the last two games. Kamana'o led Hawaii in blocks (five assists) and digs (12).
"I didn't think we needed to be so emotional tonight," Shoji said. "We definitely will need to be energized (tonight). I'm not sure why we started slowly again.
"We can't afford to do that against Nevada. It will be harder to make up a big deficit."
"Anyone who's been watching us knows we tend to get off to a slow start," Thomas added. "Against Nevada, we need to come out tough, play our game and make sure everything's crisp."
Hawaii leads the series with Nevada 21-1, the only Wolf Pack victory coming in Reno in five in 1992. In last year's meeting here, Nevada won the first two games before losing in five.
Note: Kamana'o had 39 assists last night, bringing her total to 4,033. She is the fourth Wahine to break the 4,000-assist mark, moving into No. 4 on the career list, trailing Martina Cincerova (4,637), Robyn Ah Mow (4,313) and Cheri Boyer (4,304.).
Hawaii def. Fresno State
30-23, 30-17, 30-17
BULLDOGS (3-12, 1-4 wac)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Keune |
3 |
5 |
1 |
12 |
.333 |
1 |
0 |
9
|
McKee |
2 |
3 |
5 |
15 |
-.133 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Sam Fong |
3 |
1 |
4 |
13 |
-.231 |
0 |
0 |
2
|
Selenak |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
8
|
Spencer |
3 |
9 |
4 |
27 |
.185 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Rempel |
3 |
3 |
3 |
18 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Mori |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
7
|
Peterson |
2 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
.167 |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Pitton |
3 |
9 |
7 |
32 |
.062 |
0 |
0 |
3
|
Wiggins |
2 |
2 |
3 |
11 |
-.091 |
0 |
1 |
1
|
Gifford |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
19
|
Totals |
3 |
34 |
28 |
135 |
.044 |
1 |
2 |
49 |
RAINBOW WAHINE (10-6, 4-0 WAC)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Sanders |
2 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
.273 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
|
Boogaard |
2 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
.500 |
0 |
1 |
3
|
Hittle |
3 |
6 |
1 |
15 |
.333 |
0 |
0 |
11
|
Kamana'o |
3 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
.400 |
0 |
5 |
12
|
Prince |
2 |
7 |
1 |
13 |
.462 |
0 |
3 |
1
|
Mason |
2 |
13 |
3 |
30 |
.333 |
0 |
0 |
5
|
Gregory |
1 |
4 |
2 |
9 |
.222 |
0 |
3 |
0
|
Blood |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
2
|
Keefe |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
.500 |
1 |
1 |
0
|
Arnott |
1 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
.333 |
0 |
1 |
5
|
Houston |
2 |
5 |
1 |
15 |
.267 |
0 |
4 |
0
|
Thomas |
1 |
3 |
1 |
10 |
.200 |
0 |
4 |
0
|
Watanabe |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
4
|
Thurlby |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
7
|
Ong |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
Woolford |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
3
|
Totals |
3 |
51 |
12 |
120 |
.325 |
1 |
24 |
56 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- FSU (3): McKee 2, Keune. Hawaii (4): Prince 2, Watanabe, Thurlby. Assists -- FSU (34): Keune 27, Selenak 2, Pitton 2, Sam Fong, Spencer, Gifford. Hawaii (49): Kamana'o 39, Boogaard 6, Mason 2, Hittle, Keefe.
T -- 1:29. Officials -- Kent Kitade, Denice Hansen. A -- 5,007.