Tuesday, September 7, 1999
Lily blooms
The freshman from Kamehameha
By Cindy Luis
helps power Hawaii past UCLA
in the Wahine Classic title game
Star-BulletinThere have been many stars in the Hawaii volleyball galaxy the past 25 seasons.
Last night, a new one was born.
In her first-ever collegiate start, freshman Lily Kahumoku played scared, played nervous, played great. The Kamehameha Schools graduate finished with team highs of 19 kills and 15 digs, hit. 410, not to mention serving the final five points of the Wahine's 7-15, 15-11, 15-10, 15-11 victory over No. 10 UCLA.
Thanks to a 5-0 run that closed out Game 4 - and two blocks by Jessica Sudduth - fourth-ranked Hawaii (4-0) won its own Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic for the fifth time in 12 years. In the process, the Wahine saw their freshmen come of age at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"Their freshmen did a great job," said UCLA coach Andy Banachowski, whose team finished 2-1. "(Setter) Jennifer Carey brings a ton of experience to the court and Lily is such a smooth and beautiful player to watch. I'm sure she's been waiting for a chance like tonight (to start)."
Actually not. Kahumoku first learned she would start after yesterday's morning practice.
"When Dave (coach Shoji) said 'I think we're going to go with Lily,' I thought, 'What are you talking about?' " said Kahumoku.
"I didn't think I deserved it. I'm too young. I'm not that experienced."
She faked it well, heading back to the service line with Hawaii trailing, 10-11, in Game 4. Sudduth put down a kill to tie it and, perhaps bothered by the noise of 6,824 fans, the Bruins miscommunicated on a play to give the Wahine the 12-11 lead.
"I don't think anything went through my mind," said Kahumoku. "I couldn't think about it or I would have screwed it up. Then when Jessica had those two blocks - wow."
Sudduth, assisted by Veronica Lima, dropped in on UCLA's Kristee Porter perfectly. Porter had 31 kills on the night and was two kills away from tying the tournament record of 73 kills when she ran into the Wahine wall twice to set up match point.
Sudduth slammed down what looked to be the match-ending kill and the Wahine started to celebrate. The Bruins dug the ball, returned it to a surprised Hawaii team, which free-balled it back over; UCLA didn't capitalize with Lauren Fendrick hitting wide to end it after 2 hours and 16 minutes.
"This was a good win for us," said Sudduth, who added 10 kills and 14 digs. "We got the best out of everyone, competed hard and won. It was good that we kept our composure against a ranked team. But we still have a busy schedule against a lot of good teams. USC (Friday's opponent) went five with Long Beach State the other night. It's really wide open."
Hawaii has a quick turnaround, with the Aston's Imua Wahine Challenge starting Thursday, playing another three matches in four days. Southern Cal opens the round-robin event with the Wahine taking on Tennessee in the second match.
"It is a quick turnaround and we have work to do," said Hawaii's Heather Bown, named the Classic MVP. "We need to work on our passing and the other basics, hitting and blocking. We need to keep improving.
"It was frustrating in the beginning (last night) but we calmed down and our offense got better and better every game. The intensity out there was just amazing. All and all, I thought we played well this weekend."
Bown finished with 12 kills, 9 blocks and two awards yesterday. In addition to the MVP plaque, she was named the WAC player of the week for her role in the Wahine's three wins last week (43 kills, 14 digs, 19 blocks and hitting .474).
The Bruins had three players in double kill figures, led by Porter's 31. Tamika Johnson added 15 and Ashley Bowles 11.
Hawaii outblocked UCLA, 17-10. The teams combined to have nine players in double-dig figures, with Bowles (17) and Kahumoku (15) leading their respective squads.
"This is a huge win for us," said Shoji.
"Our confidence was never down this weekend. No one expected we were going to lose to UCLA but we did have to fight back.
"I think our players understand that they are a good team that could be very, very good."
Joining Bown on the all-tournament team were Lima, Porter and Bowles, Minnesota's Lindsey Berg and Nicole Branagh and Melissa Alpers of Pitt.
The fans who remained for the awards ceremony gave Porter quite an ovation, appreciating the ability of the three-sport athlete from UCLA.
Perhaps the loudest cheers came when Kahumoku received her award for being part of the championship team.
There's a rising star in the Hawaii galaxy and the Wahine faithful have already spotted her.
Hawaii def. UCLA, 7-15, 15-11, 15-10, 15-11
Bruins (2-1) g k e at pct. bs ba d Bowles 4 11 3 35 .229 0 3 17 Porter 4 31 17 67 .209 0 0 11 Selsor 4 1 0 2 .500 0 2 9 Johnson 4 15 5 32 .313 1 4 0 Fendrick 4 8 6 34 .059 0 3 16 Quon 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 14 Bachman 4 2 2 14 .000 1 1 1 Millichap 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Nihipali 3 4 1 10 .300 0 3 0 Totals 4 72 34 194 .196 2 16 77 Wahine (4-0) gp k e at pct. bs ba d Carey 4 6 1 10 .500 0 4 10 Sudduth 4 10 6 41 .098 0 6 14 Bown 4 12 3 34 .265 2 7 4 Kahumoku 4 19 3 39 .410 0 2 15 Lima 4 6 2 20 .200 0 8 14 Roberts 3 2 1 7 .143 0 3 2 Vakasausau 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Nikolic 1 0 0 2 .000 0 0 0 Lee 4 0 0 2 .000 0 0 3 Ilustre 4 4 3 12 .083 0 0 10 Totals 4 59 19 167 .240 2 30 75Key: g-games. k-kills. e-hitting errors. pct.-hitting percentage. bs-block solos. ba-block assists. d-digs.Aces-UCLA (6): Millichap 2, Porter 1, Selsor 1, Fendrick 1. Quon 1. UH (3): Carey 1, Bown 1, Lima 1. Assists-UCLA (68): Selsor 57, Fendrick 5, Millichap 3, Bowles 1, Porter 1, Johnson 1. UH (50): Carey 42, Ilustre 3, Sudduth 2, Kahumoku 2, Lima 1. A-7,963.
T-2:16. Officials-Ernest Ho, Wayne Lee.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
