RAINBOW WAHINE VOLLEYBALL
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
The Rainbow Wahine celebrated a point during last night's victory over Boise State at the Stan Sheriff Center.
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Wahine blank Broncos
NCAA player of the week Jamie Houston slams 18 kills as No. 11 Hawaii rolls over Boise State
The scary part?
She's only going to get better.
"Jamie Houston Day" turned into "Jamie Houston Night" as the Hawaii sophomore celebrated her national and conference recognition with match-high kill honors against Boise State. The left-side hitter put down 18 kills and the 11th-ranked Rainbow Wahine picked up their 113th consecutive Western Athletic Conference victory via a 30-22, 30-16, 30-25 sweep of the Broncos in 83 minutes.
HAWAII - 3
BOISE ST. - 0
NEXT UP at LaTech, tomorrow
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A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,958 (6,180 tickets) also saw Hawaii (12-4, 6-0) torch Boise State (8-10, 2-4) for 11 aces, four by senior hitter Sarah Mason. Mason and junior middle Juliana Sanders each had 11 kills on a night where Wahine coach Dave Shoji used all 14 of his available players.
"I don't think there was a real sense of urgency tonight," Shoji said. "We had focused so much on Nevada (Sunday) that this was a natural letdown. We weren't ever in trouble but there were too many loose plays.
"We weren't sharp but no
glaring things. We just don't want to take a step backwards in these kind of games."
Not with the tough travel schedule this week. Hawaii leaves tonight and is expected to arrive tomorrow at Louisiana Tech around 2 p.m. The Wahine will play the Lady Techsters 5 hours later.
"We have to stay mentally tough," said junior middle Kari Gregory, who added nine kills, hitting .533, and had an 8-0 serving run that helped put Game 2 away.
"We do have an intense week of travel," said senior Cayley Thurlby, who set Game 3. We know there will be a tough crowd at New Mexico State (Friday). But we're not doing the driving, we're not flying the plane. We're just along for the ride and we need to stay mentally focused. You never know what the NCAA might do to us.
"This is good preparation. We go to Boise, then Idaho, then the WAC tournament (at the end of November). Then who knows where the NCAA might send us."
The somewhat-ragged effort sends Hawaii off on the road trip with a seven-match winning streak.
Causing Boise State the most problems were the Wahine serves, leading to an inability to get the ball to senior kill-leader Cameron Flunder. Flunder, who averages 3.48 kills per game, had only five for the night, three coming in Game 3.
Sophomore hitter Jeanette Jenkins led the Broncos with 13 kills.
"I was excited about the runs we made, but not happy with the ends of games," BSU first-year coach Robin Davis said.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Sarah Mason blocked a kill attempt by Boise State's Cameron Flunder during last night's match. Mason finished with two block assists, four aces and 11 kills in the match.
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The Wahine held firm at the end of all three games. In Game 3, the Broncos pulled to 26-23 and 28-25, only to have Hawaii answer both times.
Coming up big at the very end was junior middle Caroline Blood, the last UH reserve to come off the bench. She doubled her season kill total with the final two kills of the match.
Notes: Davis was fated to make a trip to Hawaii this season. Had he not taken the job with the Broncos, he would have been coming out with Notre Dame next week as the Irish's associate head coach. ... Houston is the fourth Wahine to earn AVCA national player of the week honors and the first since Lily Kahumoku in 2002. Kim Willoughby earned the award three times, twice in 2001 and once in 2002, while Heather Bown was chosen in 1999. ... Hawaii moved up four spots to 11th in yesterday's CSTV/AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll. The top nine teams remained the same, led by the three remaining unbeatens: No. 1 Nebraska (15-0), No. 2 Penn State ((17-0) and No. 3 UCLA (19-0). After a week's absence, New Mexico State returned to the rankings at No. 25.
WAC standings
|
Conference |
Overall |
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
W |
L |
Hawaii |
6 |
0 |
1.000 |
12 |
4 |
Idaho |
4 |
1 |
.800 |
5 |
11 |
New Mexico State |
4 |
1 |
.800 |
19 |
1 |
Nevada |
4 |
1 |
.800 |
10 |
7 |
Utah State |
3 |
3 |
.500 |
10 |
10 |
Boise State |
2 |
4 |
.333 |
8 |
10 |
San Jose State |
1 |
4 |
.200 |
10 |
8 |
Fresno State |
0 |
5 |
.000 |
2 |
14 |
LaTech |
0 |
5 |
.000 |
5 |
16 |
Yesterday
Hawaii def. Boise State, 30-22, 30-16, 30-25
Tomorrow
Hawaii at Louisiana Tech
Hawaii def. Boise St. 30-22, 30-16, 30-25
BRONCOS (8-10, 2-4 WAC)
|
G |
K |
E |
ATT |
PCT. |
BS |
BA |
D |
Klein |
3 |
3 |
0 |
7 |
.429 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
Starring |
3 |
6 |
4 |
21 |
.095 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
Ardron |
3 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
-.200 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Flunder |
3 |
5 |
2 |
14 |
.214 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
Claussen |
3 |
8 |
2 |
22 |
.273 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Jenkins |
3 |
13 |
3 |
27 |
.370 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Rose |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Stroud |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
Totals |
3 |
36 |
14 |
101 |
.218 |
3 |
4 |
34 |
RAINBOW WAHINE (12-4, 6-0 WAC)
|
G |
K |
E |
ATT |
PCT. |
BS |
BA |
D |
Sanders |
3 |
11 |
3 |
17 |
.471 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
Gregory |
3 |
9 |
1 |
15 |
.533 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
Houston |
3 |
18 |
8 |
39 |
.256 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
Kamana'o |
2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
Woolford |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Mason |
3 |
11 |
1 |
22 |
.455 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
Kaufman |
1 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
.400 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Blood |
1 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
1.000 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
Keefe |
2 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
-.250 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Kitaguchi |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Thurlby |
3 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
-.333 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Ong |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
Duggins |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
Lee |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Totals |
3 |
55 |
17 |
111 |
.342 |
0 |
11 |
45 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Boise St. (5): Stroud 3, Claussen, Starring. Hawaii (11): Mason 4, Houston 2, Woolford 2, Kaufman. Assists -- Boise St. (33): Klein 28, Claussen 3, Starring 2. Hawaii (50): Kamana'o 29, Thurlby 18, Houston, Lee, Mason.
T -- 1:23. Officials -- Tom Given, Wayne Lee. A -- 3,598.