How the Wahine fared last year
POSTED: Thursday, August 20, 2009
Grade
HITTING
Hawaii's hitting was very effective and efficient, ranking in the top five nationally most of the season.
Senior Jamie Houston was one of the national leaders at 4.05 kps and freshman Kanani Danielson impressed at 3.02 kps. Junior middle Amber Kaufman was a big threat on step-outs (.380), hitting .714 in the sweep of USC.
'09 goal: A more balanced attack anticipated. A healthy Aneli Cubi-Otineru will be even more of a weapon and expect more offense from Stephanie Ferrell.
BLOCKING
The block was effective but not overwhelming. Kaufman continued to improve and Danielson surprised many an opponent who didn't realize the 5-foot-10 state high-jump champ had such hops. Nickie Thomas became a presence in her senior year.
'09 goal: Hawaii has added depth and height in the middle. Look for an even better Danielson. Expect a battle between redshirt freshman Brittany Hewitt and sophmore transfer Lex Forsythe for the second MB spot.
SERVING
Serving improved as the season wore on. The highlight was Kaufman's record-setting night with 11 aces against Washington. The aces-to-errors ratio was borderline acceptable (175 aces to 211 errors), slightly skewed by Kaufman's 54 to 38 effort.
'09 goal: More consistency, especially from starters Dani Mafua and Elizabeth Ka'aihue. Serving weapons to bring in off the bench include Stephanie Brandt, Jayme Lee and junior transfer Alex Griffiths.
PASSING
Passing is critical to Hawaii's quick attack. The better the passes, the more options the setter has. Danielson helped solidify this area last season and Tara Hittle embraced her libero role.
'09 goal: Ka'aihue is expected to again start at libero, and Cubi-Otineru and Danielson are solid at middle-back. Lee, Brandt and Griffiths are also excellent passers with Lee one of the most talented bump-setters in the country. The offense should be even quicker and diverse.
FINISHING
Not much to criticize about a 31-4 record.
The biggest disappointment was the 3-1 loss to UCLA, which Hawaii led late in the last three sets but let get away. The Wahine did struggle at times to get to 20 but usually came on strong to finish it out. Team did a fairly good job of not playing down to lesser opponents.
'09 goal: Get off to a quicker start and “;put the nail in the coffin,”; as associate coach Mike Sealy says. Don't let weaker teams hang around.
2008 Statistics
31-4 | WAC: 15-1 | Home: 20-3 | Away: 9-0 | Neutral: 2-1
| Player | MP-MS | Kills | KPS | Errors | Attempts | Hitting Pct. | Assists | Service: Aces | Service: Errors | Digs | Block: Solos | Block: Assists |
| Jamie Houston | 34-34 | 450 | 4.05 | 195 | 1,032 | .247 | 17 | 12 | 35 | 198 | 16 | 67 |
| Kanani Danielson | 34-34 | 335 | 3.02 | 107 | 797 | .286 | 35 | 8 | 11 | 323 | 11 | 43 |
| Aneli Cubi-Otineru | 35-33 | 260 | 2.41 | 98 | 605 | .268 | 21 | 35 | 59 | 246 | 2 | 46 |
| Amber Kaufman | 35-35 | 241 | 2.10 | 61 | 474 | .380 | 22 | 54 | 38 | 81 | 4 | 92 |
| Nickie Thomas | 34-33 | 167 | 1.62 | 45 | 364 | .335 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 14 | 79 |
| Stephanie Ferrell | 33-3 | 150 | 2.27 | 58 | 315 | .292 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 30 | 3 | 15 |
| Dani Mafua | 32-30 | 42 | 0.43 | 8 | 91 | .374 | 1,098 | 21 | 23 | 183 | 2 | 25 |
| Tara Hittle | 35-1 | 17 | 0.16 | 12 | 55 | .091 | 35 | 22 | 16 | 327 | 0 | 1 |
| Catherine Fowler | 18-1 | 14 | 0.64 | 8 | 40 | .150 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 17 |
| Jessica Keefe | 35-0 | 11 | 0.15 | 6 | 48 | .104 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 13 |
| Stephanie Brandt | 35-5 | 6 | 0.06 | 7 | 21 | -.048 | 314 | 16 | 17 | 105 | 1 | 9 |
| Amanda Simmons | 10-1 | 5 | 0.42 | 2 | 21 | .143 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Jayme Lee | 18-0 | 2 | 0.07 | 0 | 2 | 1.000 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| Elizabeth Ka'aihue | 28-0 | 1 | 0.02 | 0 | 2 | .500 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 66 | 0 | 0 |
| Hawaii | 35-35 | 1,701 | 14.66 | 607 | 3,867 | .283 | 1,590 | 175 | 211 | 1,613 | 53 | 414 |
| Opponents | 35-35 | 1,238 | 10.67 | 646 | 3,776 | .157 | 1,132 | 74 | 229 | 1,282 | 47 | 392 |
2008 RESULTS
| Opponent | Win / Loss | Games |
| Penn State | L | 0-3 |
| Ohio | W | 3-0 |
| UCLA | L | 1-3 |
| Minnesota | W | 3-2 |
| Wyoming | W | 3-0 |
| Cincinnati | W | 3-0 |
| St. Mary's | W | 3-0 |
| Pacific | W | 3-0 |
| Washington | W | 3-2 |
| Idaho * | W | 3-1 |
| Boise State * | W | 3-0 |
| at Louisiana Tech * | W | 3-0 |
| at New Mexico State * | W | 3-0 |
| at San Jose State * | W | 3-0 |
| Louisiana Tech * | W | 3-0 |
| New Mexico State * | L | 0-3 |
| at Utah State * | W | 3-0 |
| At Nevada * | W | 3-0 |
| San Jose State * | W | 3-0 |
| Fresno State * | W | 3-1 |
| Nevada * | W | 3-0 |
| Utah State * | W | 3-0 |
| at Boise State * | W | 3-0 |
| at Idaho * | W | 3-0 |
| at Fresno State * | W | 3-0 |
| Utah Valley | W | 3-0 |
| Boise State ^ | W | 3-0 |
| Idaho ^ | W | 3-0 |
| New Mexico State ^ | W | 3-1 |
| Cal Poly | W | 3-2 |
| Cal Poly | W | 3-0 |
| Belmont # | W | 3-0 |
| at USC # | W | 3-0 |
| Purdue % | W | 3-1 |
| Stanford % | L | 0-3 |
* Denotes Western Athletic Conference match
^ Denotes WAC tournament match, Honolulu
# Denotes NCAA 1st-2nd rounds, Los Angeles
% Denotes NCAA Regional, Fort Collins, Colo.
POSTSEASON HONORS
ALL-WAC
» Player of the Year: Jamie Houston
» Freshman of the Year: Kanani Danielson
» First Team: Houston, Danielson, Aneli Cubi-Otineru, Amber Kaufman.
» Second Team: Tara Hittle, Dani Mafua, Nickie Thomas
» Freshman Team: Danielson, Stephanie Ferrell
ALL-WAC tournament
» Houston (MVP), Stephanie Brandt, Cubi-Otineru
All-REGION
» Cubi-Otineru, Houston, Mafua, Danielson (HM & FOY), Kaufman (HM)
All-america
» Jamie Houston (2nd), Kanani Danielson (3rd)
