FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Kari Gregory soared in the air but bobbled the ball due to a bad pass in the second game of UCLA's sweep of the Wahine last night.
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UCLA swats Hawaii in 3
Call it the Manoa Shuffle. Two steps forward, one giant step back.
It's how Dave Shoji described his team's performance in the 20th Hawaiian Airlines Classic. Two consecutive wins had the 16th-ranked Rainbow Wahine feeling confident heading into last night's meeting with No. 5 UCLA.
The Bruins had other ideas, sweeping the Wahine for the third consecutive time. Led by junior setter Nellie Spicer, named the tournament's most outstanding player, UCLA wore down Hawaii 31-29, 30-18, 30-16 in just 96 minutes.
The Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,693 (7,249 tickets) also saw the Bruins win their eighth HAL title, using steady play and a multi-pronged attack to do it. Emily Clements put down a match-high 12 kills -- 11 in the final two games -- for UCLA (4-1).
Hawaii dropped to 3-3 with just tomorrow's practice to get ready for the Waikiki Beach Marriott Challenge, that runs Thursday through Saturday. The focus will be on fixing the breakdowns in passing, communication and mental toughness that have plagued the Wahine at critical times.
"We need to cut down on our mistakes," Wahine junior hitter Tara Hittle said after a team-high 11 kills. "You can't take anything away from UCLA, they're a great team, but our mistakes were so many.
"We're much better than the scores show. We're making progress, are moving forward, regardless of what other people are thinking. Everyone on our team individually has to keep getting better."
And keep pushing.
"Courage, we need courage in the mental things," added sophomore hitter Aneli Cubi-Otineru, who finished with 10 kills. "The physical things are there. UCLA had great ball control. We have the same things ... we just need to put it together."
The Wahine did just that after making an improbable run in Game 1, a comeback that fell short. Down 8-2, 21-16 and 25-21, the Wahine rallied, getting two kills by Hittle and a kill and two blocks by Cubi-Otineru to tie it at 27. It was tied twice more with the Bruins putting down the final two points -- consecutive kills by Kaitlin Sather -- to end it.
It was as if the Wahine had shot their wad, but the Bruins had something to do with it.
"We played well at the start of Game 1 and again at the start of Game 2," UCLA coach Andy Banachowski said. "In Game 2, we never allowed Hawaii a chance to respond, kept pressure on them and adjusted to their hard hitting.
"In Game 1, we didn't lead in any category except the score. After that, (the Wahine) started to play and act like they were losing their confidence. I think we frustrated them with our blocking and defense."
Hawaii led 6-1 in blocks after Game 1 but finished outblocked 10.5 to 8 for the match. The Wahine also had a 23-17 edge in digs after Game 1, but were outdug 55-50 for the night.
"It's hard to take away anything positive from tonight," Shoji said. "I thought we had made some progress. Now I'm not sure which is the real team.
"We had no fight after Game 1. They took all the desire out of us. That shouldn't happen."
Note: The 31 digs by Wahine libero Elizabeth Ka'aihue against Louisville on Sunday not only was a UH record for a four-game match it was a HAL mark as well. The previous record was 29, set by UH's Therese Crawford in a sweep of Texas in 1995. ... Ka'aihue's performance was not the first 30-plus dig outing for UH since 2004. Ashley Watanabe had 31 in 2005 in a five-set match.
UCLA def. Hawaii, 31-29, 30-18, 30-16
Bruins (4-1, 3-0 HAL)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
| Spicer |
3 |
8 |
3 |
13 |
.385 |
0 |
3 |
7
|
| Daley |
3 |
11 |
6 |
39 |
.154 |
0 |
1 |
13
|
| Sather |
3 |
9 |
2 |
23 |
.304 |
0 |
4 |
8
|
| Johnson |
3 |
10 |
1 |
22 |
.409 |
1 |
4 |
1
|
| Schoen |
3 |
4 |
3 |
11 |
.091 |
0 |
5 |
2
|
| Clements |
3 |
12 |
3 |
20 |
.450 |
0 |
2 |
1
|
| McGraw |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
| Je.Machado |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
13
|
| Piggott |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
| Jn.Machado |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
9
|
| Totals |
3 |
54 |
17 |
130 |
.285 |
1 |
19 |
55 |
Rainbow Wahine (3-3, 2-1 HAL)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
| Sanders |
3 |
2 |
2 |
11 |
.000 |
1 |
1 |
1
|
| Hittle |
3 |
11 |
9 |
35 |
.057 |
0 |
0 |
5
|
| Gregory |
3 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
.250 |
0 |
4 |
5
|
| Houston |
3 |
8 |
9 |
37 |
-.027 |
1 |
3 |
7
|
| Brandt |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
10
|
| Cubi-Otineru |
3 |
10 |
5 |
25 |
.200 |
0 |
3 |
4
|
| Kaufman |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
.667 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
| Blood |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Keefe |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
| Kaaihue |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
9
|
| Mafua |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
2
|
| Kitaguchi |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Simmons |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
| Woolford |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
| Lee |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
6
|
| Totals |
3 |
35 |
25 |
121 |
.083 |
2 |
12 |
50 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- UCLA (3): Johnson, Jn. Machado, Sather. Hawaii (2): Gregory, Lee. Assists -- UCLA (49): Spicer 38, Daley 3, Je. Machado 2, Clements, Johnson, McGraw, Jn. Machado, Sather, Schoen. Hawaii (35): Brandt 23, Mafua 7, Gregory 2, Houston, Kaaihue, Lee.
T -- 1:36. Officials --Ernest Ho, Wayne Lee. A -- 7,249.
All-tournament team
Natalya Korobkova, Kansas State; Jana Matiasovska, Louisville; Jamie Houston and Elizabeth Ka'aihue, Hawaii; Rachell Johnson and Ali Daley, UCLA. MVP: Nellie Spicer, UCLA.
