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Saturday, September 2, 2000
Wahine dust Kim Willoughby admitted she was nervous throughout her collegiate volleyball debut last night against Texas A&M before 6,910 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.
off Aggies
Willoughby transforms her
first-game nervousness into
Aggie-beating effectivenessBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinBut it was the way the 19-year-old right-sider from Napoleonville, La., channeled that energy in Hawaii's 15-11, 12-15, 15-6, 15-8 victory over the Aggies in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic that made the difference.
"She didn't look nervous to me," said Wahine head coach Dave Shoji, who recorded his 711th win against 137 losses and a tie.
"She played with abandon and was all over the court defensively. She's very, very quick to the ball."
Willoughby finished with 14 kills, 15 digs, one solo block, five block assists and one service ace. She also committed eight errors and hit .188.
It was revenge, of a sort, against the team that upset the then-third-ranked Wahine in the semifinals of the NCAA Mountain Regionals last December.
HAWAIIAN AIRLINES
WAHINE CLASSICYesterday
UCLA def. Iowa, 15-3, 15-9, 15-3.
Today
Tomorrow
Monday
All matches at Stan Sheriff Center
Willoughby jump-started the Wahine in game one with eight kills, six digs and three block assists while hitting .778. She and another freshman starter, Slovenian middle hitter Maja Gustin, combined for 24 kills.
Sophomore Lily Kahumoku led the Wahine with 19 kills while senior Jessica Sudduth had 18 and junior Veronica Lima added 15.
Hawaii held a 13-11 edge in blocks, a 78-54 advantage in kills and a 79-65 advantage in digs.
"She (Willoughby) started out hot and I think she thought she could do that all night," said Shoji. "But she hit a few balls down and got blocked."
Texas A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli said she was amazed with Willoughby's performance.
"I think she's phenomenal," said Corbelli. "Volleyball is all about speed and power and she's got both. I think she's going to be very important to this program. She is one of the best freshmen I have ever seen in college volleyball."
Willoughby said the crowd support merged with her nervousness to energize her play.
"I'd make a kill and hear that crowd and get so pumped up," she said.
But Willoughby said she was almost surprised at the confidence Shoji expressed in her.
"He has me in for match point in the first game and I missed my serve," she said. "Then third game, match point, I miss my serve. Then, fourth game, match serve, and I wonder why am I in this game. But I figured it must be because he has confidence in me, so I'm going to have confidence in myself. Luckily, I got my serve over."
Shoji played down the revenge win against the Aggies.
"They're not the same team, they lost four starters, and nothing will ever take that victory away from them," he said.
Corbelli called Hawaii a "very business-like team."
"The focus they are able to keep after making errors or getting down is very good," she said.
Kahumoku said that even though this was her second season-opener, she had butterflies, too.
"I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up," said Kahumoku. "I had sweaty palms all day."
Gustin said she's never heard a crowd behind her like Hawaii's before.
"They are a part of our team and I think they will help us get to Virginia (site of NCAA finals)," said Gustin.
Senior Andrea Gomez Tukuafu contributed four digs and impressed the crowd with her renditions of both the national anthem and Hawaii Pono'i before the game.
UCLA 3, Iowa 0:
Kristee Porter had 17 kills to lead the No. 1 Bruins (2-1) to a 15-3, 15-9, 15-3 win over the Hawkeyes (0-1) in the tournament opener."I was real happy with our jump-serving," said UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski, referring to his 9-8 service ace-to-error ratio.
"That's really good for us because we're usually the other way."
Hawaii def. Texas A&M, 15-11, 12-15, 15-6, 15-6
Aggies (0-1 overall, 0-1 HAL)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Mount 4 16 6 34 .294 0 4 2 Marshall 4 6 3 24 .125 2 4 12 Pulaski 4 5 1 15 .267 0 5 5 Gibson 4 8 7 29 .034 0 2 10 Cole 4 15 4 42 .262 0 0 12 Moscovic 4 3 2 18 .056 0 2 14 Price 1 0 2 3 -.667 0 0 0 Weynand 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Clark 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Achilefu 2 1 2 0 -.125 0 1 0 Totals 4 54 27 173 .156 2 18 65
Wahine (1-0 overall, 1-0 HAL)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Willoughby 4 14 8 32 .188 1 5 15 Carey 4 1 0 4 .250 0 0 8 Sudduth 4 18 6 41 .293 0 2 12 Kahumoku 4 19 7 52 .231 0 2 12 Lima 4 15 4 34 .324 1 5 9 Gustin 4 10 3 24 .292 0 5 6 Vakasausau 4 0 0 0 000 0 0 3 Nikolic 3 1 1 2 .000 1 1 0 Gomez-Tukuafu 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Lee 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 10 Villaroman 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 78 29 190 .258 3 20 79 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--TAMU (6): Mount 2, Pulaski 1, Gibson 1, Cole 1, Weynand 1. UH 4): Willoughby 1, Sudduth 1, Lima 1, Gustin 1.
Assists--TAMU (48): Moscovic 42, Clark 3, Cole 2, Marshall 1. UH (67): Carey 59, Vakasausau 3, Nikolic 2, Kahumoku 2, Gustin 1.
T-2:21. Officials: Ernest Ho, Wayne Lee.
Att-6,901 (turnstile).
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
