WAHINE VOLLEYBALL
RIOHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Juliana Sanders watched as the ball dropped between Louisville's Lecia Brown, left, and Samantha Dabbs yesterday at the Stan Sheriff Center.
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Here come the Bruins
Hawaii slugs Louisville in 4
STORY SUMMARY »
It has been THE rivalry since the program's inaugural season.
Hawaii |
31 |
30 |
28 |
30 |
Louisville |
29 |
28 |
30 |
24 |
NEXT UP
vs. UCLA today
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The first time Hawaii faced UCLA was for the 1974 AIAW national championship. The Bruins won that one, as well as the title rematch the following year.
It took until their 31st meeting before the Rainbow Wahine finally took the lead in the series at 16-15. It came early during their 1983 NCAA championship run.
Twenty-four years later, No. 16 Hawaii still holds the series edge 34-30. Fifth-ranked UCLA has won the last two meetings, including the one that ended the Wahine's season in the regional here last December.
This evening, for the 15th time in the 20 years of the Hawaiian Airlines Classic, the two rivals meet with the HAL championship on the line. The 5 p.m. match also pits the only two women's volleyball coaches with more than 900 wins: UCLA's Andy Banachowski (1,040) and Hawaii's Dave Shoji (929).
Both coaches added to their win totals yesterday with victories. The Bruins held off No. 25 Kansas State 30-20, 30-25, 16-30, 30-27 and the Wahine turned back Louisville 31-29, 30-28, 28-30, 30-24.
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Louisville coach Leonid Yelin summed up succinctly what No. 16 Hawaii needs to do to have a chance against No. 5 UCLA today.
Hawaiian Airlines Classic
At the Stan Sheriff Center; today's match live on pay-per-view and KKEA 1420-AM
Yesterday
» UCLA 3, Kansas State 1
» Hawaii 3, Louisville 1
Today
» UCLA vs. Hawaii, 5 p.m.
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"Ball control," Yelin said. "Hawaii needs a big step up in ball control. If they do that, it could be a good match."
Unfortunately for Yelin and the Cardinals, they won't be around to see the match that will determine the championship of the 20th Hawaiian Airlines Classic. Louisville (3-3) caught a red-eye flight back to the mainland last night after finishing the tournament 0-3.
The Rainbow Wahine handed the Cardinals their third straight loss, needing 2 hours and 29 minutes plus 26 kills by Jamie Houston to earn a 31-29, 30-28, 28-30, 30-24 victory. A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,104 (6,083 tickets) watched as Hawaii (3-2) had three other players reach double-digit kills -- two with double-doubles: Tara Hittle (17 kills, 12 digs); Aneli Cubi-Otineru (13 kills, 11 digs) and Juliana Sanders (11 kills).
The win sets up a showdown between the tournament's two unbeatens: Hawaii and UCLA. The Bruins turned back No. 25 Kansas State 30-20, 30-25, 19-30, 30-27 in 1 hour and 54 minutes in yesterday's first match.
"UCLA is a really good team and they're steady," Houston said. "If we play at a high level, we'll be right there with them."
For the most part, the Wahine raised their level last night, sticking to a game plan that slowed down the 6-foot-6 Jana Matiasovska. Matiasovska finished with 11 kills, but it was setter Samantha Dabbs whom Hawaii never quite figured out -- she had 13 kills on 26 attempts.
Leading the Cardinals was 6-3 middle Svetlana Dukule (17 kills).
RICHARD WALKER /
RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Aneli Cubi-Otineru was one of four Rainbow Wahine with double-figure kills in last night's victory over Louisville.
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Hawaii set the tone for the night by rallying in Game 1. Down 29-27, the Wahine held off two game points while scoring four straight to take the win.
The seesaw Game 2 finally went Hawaii's way when the Wahine broke a 28-28 tie on two consecutive kills by Hittle.
Hawaii's rally in Game 3 was too little, too late ... but still impressive. Trailing 29-25, the Wahine held off three game points in closing to 29-28 but couldn't stop the 6-foot-3 Dukule from putting down one of her 17 kills.
Game 4 could have gone either way but didn't "because we wanted it more," Houston said. "We didn't want it to go five."
UH saw a 24-21 lead narrowed to 24-23, forcing Wahine coach Dave Shoji to call a timeout.
"I told them we needed a burst of energy, that if we got a sideout and then served for a point, the match was ours," he said. "That's exactly what happened. We closed it out."
The Wahine outscored the Cardinals 6-1 in the final minutes, including a 4-0 finishing run in which Houston had three kills and Stephanie Brandt an ace.
Having a career night was Wahine libero Elizabeth Ka'aihue, who had 31 of the 85 UH digs, nine in the deciding Game 4. The last time Hawaii had a 30-plus dig performance was in 2004, when setter Kanoe Kamana'o had 30 against Pepperdine on Sept. 25.
Louisville libero Lindsey Mango finished with 26 of her team's 70 digs.
UCLA 3, Kansas State 1
The Bruins were on cruise control in the first two games then shifted into reverse as the Wildcats sped away in Game 3. UCLA needed a late rally in Game 4 -- scoring four unanswered points to gain match point -- to put away K-State.
Rachell Johnson led the Bruins with 14 kills and Emily Clements added 13.
For the Wildcats, Natalya Korobkova had 22 kills to go with four of the team's eight aces. Rita Liliom added 18 kills.
Hawaii def. Louisville
31-29, 30-28, 28-30, 30-24
Cardinals (3-3)
|
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Brown |
4 |
6 |
6 |
23 |
.000 |
0 |
6 |
1
|
Dabbs |
4 |
13 |
5 |
26 |
.308 |
0 |
5 |
5
|
Kolesnikova |
4 |
9 |
3 |
32 |
.188 |
0 |
1 |
5
|
Dukule |
4 |
17 |
4 |
48 |
.271 |
0 |
6 |
2
|
Matiasovska |
4 |
11 |
7 |
40 |
.100 |
0 |
2 |
6
|
Pilnikova |
4 |
9 |
5 |
23 |
.174 |
0 |
3 |
10
|
Liu |
3 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
.000 |
0 |
2 |
8
|
Wetterer |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
7
|
Mango |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
26
|
Totals |
4 |
66 |
31 |
196 |
.179 |
0 |
25 |
70
|
Rainbow Wahine (3-2)
|
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
Sanders |
4 |
11 |
4 |
24 |
.292 |
0 |
4 |
0
|
Hittle |
4 |
17 |
9 |
49 |
.163 |
0 |
3 |
12
|
Gregory |
4 |
6 |
1 |
16 |
.312 |
0 |
4 |
7
|
Houston |
4 |
26 |
7 |
57 |
.333 |
2 |
1 |
17
|
Brandt |
4 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
-.250 |
0 |
1 |
4
|
Cubi-Otineru |
4 |
13 |
2 |
31 |
.355 |
1 |
2 |
11
|
Kaufman |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Keefe |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
Kaaihue |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
31
|
Mafua |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
Woolford |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
Lee |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
2
|
Totals |
4 |
75 |
25 |
183 |
.273 |
3 |
16 |
85 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Louisville (1): Mango. Hawaii (6): Cubi-Otineru 3, Hittle, Gregory, Brandt. Assists -- Louisville (59): Dabbs 47, Pilnikova 4, Mango 4, Dukule 2, Brown, Liu. Hawaii (72): Brandt 64, Mafua 5, Hittle, Cubi-Otineru, Kaaihue.
T -- 2:29. Officials --Wayne Lee, Ernest Ho. A -- 4,104.