RAINBOW WAHINE VOLLEYBALL
Rainbow Wahine cruise past FSU
Hawaii plays San Jose State in today's semis; NMSU looms
RENO, Nev. » It was short enough to be very impressive, long enough to see there are things that still need to be worked upon.
Top-seeded Hawaii needed just 65 minutes to break the Western Athletic Conference tournament record for the shortest match as well as end Fresno State's season last night at the Lawlor Events Center. Led by Jamie Houston's match-high 16 kills, 15 by Sarah Mason, and a block that came up huge in Game 3, the Rainbow Wahine swept their way into tonight's semifinals via a 30-16, 30-17, 30-25 victory.
No. 12 Hawaii (24-5) faces No. 5 San Jose State in today's second semifinal (5:30 p.m. Hawaii time). The Spartans (19-11) pulled off the tournament's only upset when handing fourth-seeded Nevada (15-15) its first quarterfinal loss in six appearances, 25-30, 30-27, 30-18, 30-28.
In yesterday's first quarterfinal, No. 21 New Mexico State eliminated Boise State 28-30, 30-15, 31-29, 30-18. The second-seeded Aggies will face third seed Idaho in today's first semifinal (3 p.m. Hawaii time).
The Vandals ended Utah State's season with a 30-20, 30-16, 28-30, 31-29 victory.
Hawaii's victory was the only sweep of the opening day. It broke the record for swiftness that was set in 1998 when Utah defeated TCU in 71 minutes.
"We needed to play well tonight," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "We've been struggling and it was important to play well, play spirited. All of that was going on in the first two games.
"I thought Fresno played better in Game 3. We didn't have a lot of motivation. I told our team (when trailing 23-20) that we'd better get going, better finish strong."
The Wahine used a 10-2 blitz to close out the match, helped by a 7-0 serving run by Kari Gregory and five kills by Houston.
Houston had half of her 16 kills in Game 3 and the Wahine had five of their 14 blocks to win in straight sets for the 14th time this year. Gregory was in on nine of the stuffs, with Juliana Sanders, Amber Kaufman and Kanoe Kamana'o all in on four.
On a collision course to see New Mexico State tomor
row for the WAC title, Gregory said it was hard not to look past the Spartans.
"Although we take it game by game, it's in the back of our minds," she said. "We want to face them. They won at home, we beat them at home. It will be nice to see who plays the best on equal ground."
Fresno State (6-23) was led by Angela Wiggins' 14 kills. The Bulldogs didn't get out of negative hitting percentage until hitting .152 in Game 3, finishing .021 on the night.
Mason had her 15th double-double with 15 digs.
"The first question every WAC team has when they're on the court against Hawaii is can they win," Bulldogs coach Ruben Nieves said. "I told my team that there's a reason (Hawaii) is 15-1. Let's see if they're good enough to win 16. We wanted them to have to play well to beat us."
The Wahine did for most of 65 minutes.
San Jose State 3, Nevada 1
Jennifer Senftleben put down 24 kills and the Spartans will see the Wahine for the fifth time in seven WAC tournaments. Colleen Burke added 21 kills for SJSU, which was outblocked 12-3.
Even if his team loses, Spartan coach Craig Choate feels it should be in the NCAA tournament.
"Beating Hawaii is a long shot," Choate said. "But we've met a lot of the criteria (for NCAA selection). We've finished strong, won four of the last five.
"We've had goals all season. The goal tonight was to win. We don't have a goal for tomorrow except to play well and see what happens."
"We were the underdog tonight," added Spartan middle Burke, who added 21 kills and was in all three of the team's blocks. "We will be the underdogs against Hawaii. We never stopped fighting tonight and we need to have that same idea tomorrow."
New Mexico State 3, Boise State 1
Alice Borden put down 21 kills and the Aggies (32-2) came up with 93 digs in surviving against the tougher-than-expected Broncos (13-17).
Cameron Flunder led Boise State with 13. The Broncos outblocked the Aggies 14-13, with Flunder in on six.
Idaho 3, Utah State 1
Amanda Bowman, Saxony Brown and Haley Larsen each had 12 kills to lead the balanced attack of the Vandals (12-17). Erin Curtis added 12 block assists. The Aggies (13-19) got a match-high 14 kills from Beth Hodge.
Fresno State 3, Louisiana Tech 1
The Bulldogs ended the Lady Techsters' dismal season in the play-in match.
LaTech (6-28) was led by Samantha Crowders' 14 kills.
Angela Wiggins and Alisha McKee both had 16 kills for the Bulldogs, whose "prize" was a match with top-seeded Hawaii 7 hours later.
Hawaii def. Fresno State 30-16, 30-17, 30-25
BULLDOGS (6-24)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Temperino |
3 |
1 |
3 |
8 |
-.250 |
0 |
2 |
1
|
Leonardo |
3 |
1 |
3 |
9 |
-.222 |
0 |
3 |
0
|
McKee |
3 |
6 |
11 |
30 |
-.167 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Gera, Lisa |
3 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
8
|
Wiggins |
3 |
14 |
8 |
36 |
.167 |
0 |
3 |
7
|
Hayes |
3 |
3 |
1 |
17 |
.118 |
0 |
2 |
0
|
Hess |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
4
|
Pitton |
3 |
2 |
4 |
15 |
-.133 |
0 |
0 |
7
|
Gera, Lacey |
3 |
8 |
2 |
23 |
.261 |
0 |
1 |
1
|
Sandino |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Gilford |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
18 |
|
Totals |
3 |
35 |
32 |
140 |
.021 |
0 |
11 |
46
|
RAINBOW WAHINE (24-5)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Sanders |
3 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
.273 |
0 |
4 |
2
|
Gregory |
3 |
7 |
1 |
16 |
.375 |
2 |
7 |
4
|
Houston |
3 |
16 |
7 |
37 |
.243 |
0 |
0 |
7
|
Kamana'o |
3 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
.250 |
1 |
3 |
10
|
Duggins |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
10
|
Mason |
3 |
15 |
2 |
30 |
.433 |
0 |
1 |
14
|
Kaufman |
2 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
.250 |
0 |
4 |
0
|
Blood |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
.500 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Kitaguchi |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
Thurlby |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
.000 |
0 |
3 |
0
|
Woolford |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Lee |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
9
|
Totals |
3 |
49 |
14 |
110 |
.318 |
3 |
22 |
57
|
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Fresno State(5): Temperino 2, Wiggins 2, Gilford. Hawaii (2): Mason, Kamana'o. Assists -- Fresno State (35): Hess 15, Lisa Gera 13, Hayes 2, Lacey Gera 2, Gilford 2. Hawaii (45): Kamana'o 39, Lee 5, Sanders.
T -- 1:05. Officials -- Michael Yoshikawa, Margie Ray. A -- N/A.