Monday, October 4, 1999
Wahine blast
Bulldogs, have
shot at No. 1
The easy WAC win leaves
By Cindy Luis
Hawaii, at 13-0, as the only
undefeated team in
the Top 10
Star-BulletinSpeed kills. Just ask the Fresno State women's volleyball team.
The Bulldogs saw just enough of third-ranked Hawaii last night to identify the license number as it whizzed by. It read: 13-0.
The Wahine went from zero to sweep in 84 minutes, running their Stan Sheriff Center win streak to 30 with a 15-3, 15-4, 15-5 victory over their WAC rival. The only question Hawaii and the 6,606 fans had after the dominating effort was: How will No. 1 Pacific's loss to UC Santa Barbara affect the Wahine's rating in the Top 25 poll?
The answer is probably move UH to No. 2, with current No. 2 Penn State moving up by default into the top spot. There is the outside chance that Hawaii, the only undefeated team in the Top 10, could leapfrog over the once-beaten Nittany Lions.
At least the speculation provides some excitement in what should prove to be a rather ho-hum week. The Wahine (13-0, 2-0 WAC) take off on their first WAC road trip of the season, facing Tulsa (7-6, 1-1) on Friday and Rice (8-10, 0-1) Saturday.
"I don't know if Pacific losing affects us that much," said Hawaii senior Heather Bown. "It's not like we earned the (higher) ranking by beating teams ahead of us.
"It's different because teams like UOP and Penn State have tougher conferences than we do. We may have had a tougher preseason, but we are sort of skating through conference play. Our players will have extra pride if we're second in the country, but we have to think about how we got there and what did we do to earn it."
By being a solid team with few weaknesses, is the answer from Bulldog coach Lindy Vivas. Last night was a rude homecoming for the Punahou alumna, capping a tough week that included a 62-minute loss to Stanford last Tuesday.
"Hawaii's speed (on offense) is a lot faster than we can handle," said Vivas. "It was like Stanford's. We can't do what we need to do to compete with Hawaii.
"I thought they did a nice job with (freshman setter) Margaret (Vakasausau) in there. It's a sign of a good team if they can handle having a new setter put in, especially a freshman. The rest of the players have to be stable to have that happen. And their players are pretty stable."
Vakasausau replaced starter Jennifer Carey (bruised toe) for the second match in a row. Shoji said Carey could have played last night if needed.
For most of the night, the Wahine were untouchable. Hawaii had five total hitting errors, hitting for a team .422.
In Game 2, the Bulldogs had their best performance offensively, with more than half their kills (16 of 29) and Anamie Buckelew having the most success (six of her team-high 10 kills). It was the only time the Bulldogs didn't hit in negative numbers for a game; unfortunately for Fresno State, Hawaii hit .581 with no errors (18 kills on 31 swings).
"The part I like was the five hitting errors," said Wahine coach Dave Shoji, who notched his 694th career win. "That's an unbelieveable number.
"I think that was probably the first time in her career that Jessica (Sudduth) didn't have a hitting error. It was one of her better matches. She's a different player this season, a much-improved player."
Sudduth, a junior hitter, had a match-high 12 kills, hitting .545. Freshman Lily Kahumoku added 10 kills; she had two hitting errors, one on a poor set that resulted in Fresno's only block and largest lead (3-1 in Game 3).
The Bulldogs' joy - and lead - were short-lived. An ace by Bown and two of Hawaii's 11 blocks resulted in three consecutive points that put the Wahine ahead for good.
When the Wahine went up 13-5, the end was near and the UH band set it up with a reprisal of Saturday's halftime show at the football game, complete with the tuba players dancing the Filipino tinikling. Sophomore newcomer Tanja Nikolic, subbing for an injured Veronica Lima (sprained ankle), blocked Malia Malu then put down aloha ball.
"I know Fresno State can play way better than they did," said Bown, who had just seven kills but tied her career high with 11 blocks. "They had trouble and I don't know how to pinpoint it.
"Their communication broke down and we served tough. Once a team is out of their system, we can chomp them on the block."
Bulldog freshman middle Lindsay Closs, leading the team in blocks and third in kills, missed the match due to illness. Vivas wasn't sure how much Closs would have changed things.
"We don't have an offense right now," Vivas said. "We don't have anyone to step up."
Hawaii def. Fresno St., 15-3, 15-4, 15-5
Bulldogs (6-8)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Aufdermaur 3 2 1 7 .143 0 1 11 Satele 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Buckelew 3 10 8 39 .051 0 0 4 Sankey 3 6 3 16 .188 0 0 1 Pierpont 3 1 4 13 -.231 0 0 5 Malu 3 5 9 25 -.160 0 0 6 Farr 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 McQuaid 3 5 2 14 .214 0 1 1 Milburn 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 29 27 115 .017 0 2 37Rainbow Wahine (13-0)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 3 0 1 2 -.500 0 3 7 Sudduth 3 12 0 22 .545 1 0 5 Bown 3 7 1 16 .375 1 1 11 Kahumoku 3 10 2 23 .348 1 2 2 Lima 2 4 1 9 .333 0 3 4 Roberts 3 6 0 9 .667 0 3 0 Nikolic 2 2 0 4 .500 0 4 4 Makainai 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Lee 2 0 0 2 .000 0 0 5 Ilustre 3 2 0 3 .667 0 0 7 Totals 3 43 5 90 .422 3 16 45Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.Aces--Fresno St. (4): Pierpont 3, Sankey 1. UH (5): Bown 3, Kahumoku 1, Lee 1. Assists--Fresno St. (27): Aufdermaur 23, Buckelew 1, Malu 1, Pierpont 1, Satele 1. UH (40): Vakasausau 37, Illustre 3.
A--6,606. T--1:24. Officials--Ken Taylor, Ernest Ho.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
