Saturday, September 25, 1999
Wahine block
out Lions
They survive a big scare
By Cindy Luis
from a tough-serving Loyola
Marymount team
Star-BulletinPush came to shove last night with No. 3 Hawaii shoving back at the right time.
No. 23 Loyola Marymount pushed the Wahine to five games for the first time this season, threatening to become the first women's volleyball team to win twice at the Stan Sheriff Center, as well as end Hawaii's 24-match home winning streak.
Neither happened, thanks in part to the Wahine's season-high 25 blocks and body-sacrificing play by junior defensive specialist Aven Lee (12 digs). It took 2 hours and 49 minutes for Hawaii to remain unbeaten at 10-0 with a 15-17, 15-11, 13-15, 15-5, 15-12 victory over the Lions (9-3) in front of a crowd of 6,213.
The Wahine have less than 24 hours to figure out how to do it again. The teams meet at 7 tonight with Hawaii needing to again slow down LMU's 6-foot-6 Sarah McFarland (30 kills) and prevent the Lions from repeating their serving success (13 aces).
"They aren't ranked as high as Long Beach State but some of us remember them beating us two years ago," said Lee, one of four Wahine players who ended a personal two-game losing skid to the Lions. "We did not want a defeat on our home court and sometimes it's a matter of who wants it the most.
"We knew they had tough servers and their 6-6 hitter. We had to adjust to how they were beating us. It's a good thing we adjusted fast."
The Lions had 16 aces the last time they visited Honolulu, which resulted in their 3-2 victory. LMU looked ready to surpass that mark when burning Hawaii's serve-receive plan with seven aces in Game 1.
"They didn't do anything we didn't expect," said Jessica Sudduth, Hawaii's kill leader with 17. "They were not going to surprise us. We knew they were going to go back and serve tough balls. The ball stays up there a long time and we just quit moving our feet.
"They have all the pieces, everything a team needs to be good. They picked on our weaknesses and we did not play our game. We did not control that match. It was frustrating and ugly."
The most frustrating part of Game 1 for Hawaii was serving for game-point at 15-14 then losing it on three straight serves by Allison Gustorf, two of those aces.
The Wahine seemingly took control in Game 2 but lost the momentum in Game 3. Hawaii led, 13-9, only to have LMU storm back with six unanswered points to pull it out, 15-13.
McFarland, who had 52 kills in the upset win over Ohio State two weeks ago, put down nine of her 30 kills in Game 4. But she was the only Lion having any success as Hawaii finished with seven blocks and hit .565 in forcing Game 5.
"It was one of those matches where it was our serving versus their block and it was sort of a wash," said LMU coach Steve Stratos. "At the end, we lost our ball control and that broke the wash. Our passing in Games 4 and 5 hurt us.
"Hawaii is the best blocking team we've ever played as long as I've been coaching here (11th season). What we need to do is again come out aggressive and go for broke on the serve. That's the way we play."
But rally scoring takes away some of the edge for a tough-serving team and the Wahine took advantage. Hawaii broke to a 12-7 lead on the point-per-serve format. The Lions pulled to within 12-10 and 14-12 before Heather Bown said aloha with her 14th kill. The senior all-American finished with her fifth double-figure block performance in 10 games with 12 stuffs.
Hawaii def. Loyola Marymount, 15-17,15-11, 13-15, 15-5, 15-12
Lions (9-3)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Hecker 5 6 1 16 .313 0 0 10 Brubacher 5 8 9 30 -.033 0 1 15 L.Gustorf 5 9 8 29 .034 0 0 15 Gallup 5 0 2 3 -.667 0 0 11 McFarland 5 30 16 83 .169 1 4 11 A. Gustorf 5 12 9 36 .083 2 2 10 Day 5 10 4 22 .273 0 3 1 Ward 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Harris 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Totals 5 75 49 219 .119 3 10 78Rainbow Wahine (10-0)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Carey 5 4 0 12 .333 2 4 14 Sudduth 5 17 5 45 .267 2 3 7 Bown 5 14 5 32 .281 2 10 6 Kahumoku 5 12 5 34 .206 0 3 7 Lima 5 8 5 22 .136 0 7 14 Ilustre 5 3 0 10 .300 0 5 4 Vakasausau 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Roberts 4 5 3 16 .125 1 5 0 Lee 5 0 0 0 000 0 0 12 Totals 5 63 23 171 .234 7 37 66Aces--LMU (13): A.Gustorf 4, McFarland 3, Ward 2, Hecker 1, Brubacher 1, L.Gustorf 1, Gallup 1; UH (6): Sudduth 3, Lima 3. Assists--LMU (71): Hecker 62, Brubacher 3, L.Gustorf 2, Ward 2, Gallup 1, McFarland 1; UH (53): Carey 44, Illustre 6, Roberts 2, Lima 1A--7,268. T--2:49. Officials--Wayne Lee, Denice Hanson.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
