Wahine ready to hit the beach

Hawaii runs over Oregon to earn a meeting with LBSU

LONG BEACH, Calif. » Momentum and motivation. That's what Hawaii carries into tonight's NCAA second-round match with host Long Beach State at the Pyramid.

Hawaii     Oregon 3 0 Next Up vs. LBSU today

On the line is a trip back home, the season continuing at the Stan Sheriff Center in a regional semifinal on Friday against USC (27-4), which swept BYU last night.

The Rainbow Wahine (27-5) can only hope they're saving the best for last ... because they'll need it when facing their former conference nemeses, the 49ers, who ended Hawaii's season five times between 1989 and 1994. The Beach (26-5) ran their home record in the NCAA tournament to 28-1 when topping Pepperdine 30-22, 30-27, 25-30, 30-26 in last night's second match, which lasted 2 hours.

In the opener, Hawaii, with its tournament seeding (12) matching its rank, needed just 85 minutes to sweep Oregon out of the postseason with the Ducks' eighth straight loss. The Wahine got 15 kills from sophomore hitter Jamie Houston and a school-record 13 block assists by junior middle Kari Gregory in a convincing 30-17, 30-17, 30-18 win.

"Long Beach looks the same as they did 10 years ago," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "The only difference is they don't have a terminator. But they're hitting for a high percentage.

"We knew whoever we saw would be a tough match. Long Beach has home-court advantage, but we have big motivation to get back home."

The same thing was said in 1989 when Hawaii hosted the final four. The 49ers upset the Wahine in five en route to winning their first NCAA championship at the Blaisdell Arena.

This edition of The Beach isn't as smooth as the Tara Cross-led team of 17 years ago, but the 49ers are just as athletic. Big West player of the year Alexis Crimes had 16 kills and Quincy Verdin and Michaela Hasalikova each had 11 to thwart Pepperdine (16-12), touted as the tallest team in the country.

Hasalikova was in on eight blocks and Crimes added seven as the 49ers outblocked the Waves 15-12.

It wasn't near as impressive as the Wahine's block margin of 21-3, something not sive as the Wahine's block margin of 21-3, something not lost on 49ers coach Brian Gimmillaro.

"Hawaii looked pretty darn good, and every time I looked up, they were blocking a ball," he said. "It was like a pitcher not needing his outfielders, just wanting to strike the guy out."

Coming up with the biggest KOs was Houston, who had a career-high nine blocks, three solo, to go with her 15 kills. In the zone, much like the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant was Thursday, Houston continually soared over the Oregon blockers.

The Ducks not only had trouble stopping Houston but passing Hawaii's serves. The Wahine had 10 aces for the night, with no serving errors in Game 3, led by freshman libero Jayme Lee's career-high four aces.

"We just stuck to the game plan, hit our targets (when serving)," said Lee, who added a match-high 12 digs. "I was really nervous coming into this game. It's a loser-out. But my team gave me a lot of encouragement to uplift me."

Encouraging to Shoji was how his players followed the blocking plan to near perfection. He was also very pleased with the passing, which has been a problem this year.

"No doubt that this was our best match of the year, in every phase," Shoji said. "Our passing was on and we managed to stave off their really tough serves. I was concerned about our freshmen (Lee and right side Amber Kaufman) but they came through when we needed them.

This is Hawaii's 25th appearance in 26 NCAA tournaments. This was Oregon's fourth, and first since 1989.

"Part of the difference is their tradition," Ducks coach Jim Moore said of the Wahine. "They came out hard, knowing the pace of the tournament. For us, as soon as (the referee) blew the whistle quick, it was like, 'Wow, this is fast.'"

The Ducks (17-12) quickly found themselves behind in every game.

In a Game 1 that wasn't as close as the score, Hawaii took control early and never let up. Serving runs by Sarah Mason (4-0, ace) and Lee (5-0, 2 aces) gave the Wahine a 24-12 lead.

Hawaii finished the opening 25 minutes hitting .333 -- with just three hitting errors -- to Oregon's .000. The Ducks' best weapon was the Wahine's serve, which accounted for four UO points; their worst enemy was Hawaii's block, which stuffed the Ducks six times.

Hawaii continued its domination at the net, ending with a 6-0 block advantage in Game 2, as Oregon again hit .000. The Ducks played better in Game 3 but statistically hit worse, ending with a negative .028, thanks to nine blocks by Hawaii.

Four of the blocks came during Lee's 5-0 serving run, with Houston in on three straight with a solo block and then teaming with Gregory, for an 8-4 lead. The Wahine continued to string points together, the last one finishing the match. Mason served for the final three points, including her third ace, the team's 10th.

Sonja Newcombe and Mira Djuric had seven apiece for Oregon.

The Waves (16-12), which had won eight of their last nine, were led by Julie Rubenstein's 17 kills. Senior libero Kekai Crabbe (Kamehameha) ended her career with a team-high 14 digs, giving her 1,246, third-best in school history.

Notes: Oregon is 1-6 in the first round after last night. The Ducks' only victory came against two-time defending champion Hawaii in 1984 in Eugene, coincidentally on Dec. 1 ... The Wahine's only other first-round loss was in 1997, to Loyola Marymount, here at the Pyramid. Hawaii is 2-5 here but 1-4 in NCAA tournament matches. The Wahine have never beaten the 49ers in this arena in three matches. Hawaii's only other win here was over Cal Poly in the LBS Thanksgiving Tournament of 2000.

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