Wahine prep for Aggies by trouncing Nevada
POSTED: Saturday, November 01, 2008
Efficiency showed up last night, dressed as the Hawaii volleyball team.
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The Rainbow Wahine hit an unreal .646 in Set 1 en route to an 81-minute sweep of Nevada. The 25-12, 25-23, 25-16 victory was Hawaii's 31st straight over the Wolf Pack, and it came in front of a festive Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,483 (5,483 tickets).
Much of the damage was done by senior hitter Jamie Houston, who put down 19 kills with just two errors in hitting .607, her best hitting percentage since .632 against Cal State Northridge as a freshman. Houston (1,882) moved passed Teee Williams into second place behind Kim Willoughby (2,598) on UH's career kill list.
Houston's accomplishment was made more impressive considering she hit negative .048 against the Wolf Pack last month in Reno, Nev.
“;I knew I played bad up there,”; Houston said. “;I thought we stuck to the game plan. The second game there was a letdown, but the third game we refocused, did what we needed to do.”;
There were few complaints about No. 8 Hawaii (18-3, 11-1 Western Athletic Conference), which takes a five-match winning streak into tonight's game with Utah State (9-14, 7-5).
Consider that, in Set 1, 22 of Hawaii's 25 points were on kills.
“;We didn't touch many balls,”; Nevada coach Devin Scruggs said. “;Jamie played fantastic tonight.”;
Wahine coach Dave Shoji agreed.
“;There's no stopping her when she's on,”; Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said of Houston. “;Physically, she goes over the block. She touches 10-7, comes in from a high angle. You can't prepare for her if you're another team and she's that on.”;
Houston wasn't the only one. Junior hitter Aneli Cubi-Otineru hit .429, with 12 kills and 10 of the Wahine's 54 digs. Many of her kills came on 1-on-1 situations, some on 1-on-none as her teammates yelled, “;No one,”; meaning there was no block.
Much of that was due to Nevada doubling up the block on Houston, allowing Hawaii's other outsides to be open.
“;It just opens everyone else up,”; sophomore setter Dani Mafua said. “;Jamie can hold the block.”;
Speaking of which, Hawaii was once again outblocked by an opponent, last night 7-4, with Nevada's Lindsay Baldwin in on four.
It's a concern for the Wahine, who will see a fast attack tonight against Utah State.
“;It will be a challenge for us,”; Shoji said. “;Their setter (Chelsea Fowles) is really good.”;
Overall, Shoji was pleased with last night's effort. The exception was the letdown in Set 2, which could have been expected.
“;We started with some errors and gave them some confidence,”; Shoji said.
The Wahine led 23-19 and 24-21 in Set 2 only to have the Wolf Pack (11-11, 6-6) pull to 24-23. Nevada sophomore Kylie Harrington (St. Francis '07) hit wide to give Hawaii the 2-0 lead.
Baldwin led Nevada with eight kills.
“;If we had made a few less hitting errors in Game 2, we could have taken that one,”; Scruggs said. “;After that first game, (Hawaii) came back down to earth. Still ...”;
The Wahine hit .359 for the match to Nevada's .117.
Hawaii def. Nevada
25-12, 25-23, 25-16
| Wolf Pack (11-11, 6-6 WAC) |
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| g | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
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| Hernandez | 3 | 7 | 2 | 29 | .172 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Sei | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1.5 |
| Harrington | 3 | 3 | 2 | 11 | .091 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3.5 |
| Baldwin | 3 | 8 | 2 | 20 | .300 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8.5 |
| Aune | 3 | 1 | 3 | 15 | -.133 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2.5 |
| Staker | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Garvey | 3 | 3 | 1 | 12 | .167 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Kelly | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Link | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Santiago | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Yates | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 3 | 23 | 12 | 94 | .117 | 25 | 1 | 12 | 27
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| Rainbow Wahine (18-3, 11-1 WAC) |
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| g | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts |
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| Kaufman | 3 | 5 | 1 | 10 | .400 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7.5 |
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| Danielson | 3 | 6 | 4 | 16 | .125 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
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| Houston | 3 | 19 | 2 | 28 | .607 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 19 |
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| Thomas | 3 | 4 | 2 | 11 | .182 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
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| Mafua | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .333 | 9 | 0 | 1 | -0.5 |
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| Cubi-Otineru | 3 | 12 | 3 | 21 | .429 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
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| Ferrell | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
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| Hittle | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| Keefe | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | .250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
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| Kaaihue | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
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| Brandt | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| Fowler | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| Lee | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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| Totals | 3 | 53 | 16 | 103 | .359 | 54 | 1 | 6 | 51 |
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Key—g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills + blocks + aces - service errors)
Aces—Nevada: none. Hawaii (4): Kaufman 2, Cubi-Otineru, Hittle. Assists—Nevada (22): Sei 18, Santiago 3, Baldwin. Hawaii (51): Mafua 43, Brandt 3, Kaufman 2, Cubi-Otineru 2, Thomas. T—1:21. Officials—Michael Yoshikawa, Dan Hironaka. A—3,483.
| WAC standings |
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| W | L | Pct. | GB | All |
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| Hawaii | 11 | 1 | .916 | — | 18-3 |
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| New Mexico St. | 10 | 1 | .909 | 1/2 | 16-7 |
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| Idaho | 7 | 4 | .636 | 3 1/2 | 14-8 |
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| Nevada | 6 | 6 | .500 | 5 | 11-11 |
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| Utah State | 7 | 5 | .583 | 4 | 9-14 |
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| San Jose St. | 5 | 6 | .454 | 5 1/2 | 10-13 |
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| Boise St. | 3 | 8 | .272 | 7 1/2 | 7-15 |
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| Fresno St. | 2 | 9 | .181 | 8 1/2 | 5-15 |
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| Louisiana Tech | 0 | 11 | .000 | 10 1/2 | 3-18
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Yesterday
Hawaii def. Nevada 25-12, 25-23, 25-16
Today
Utah State at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
New Mexico State at Boise State
Louisiana Tech at Fresno State
Idaho at San Jose State
