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Saturday, September 9, 2000

Wahine breeze
by Bluejays

Willoughby injures her
ankle as UH pushes into
Imua Challenge final

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By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

Lily Kahumoku turned in a dominating double-double performance to lead the University of Hawaii to an easy 15-1, 15-6, 15-3 victory over Creighton last night before 5,045 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.

But Kahumoku (14 kills, 10 digs) said seeing freshman teammate Kim Willoughby crumple to the floor with her second left ankle sprain in five days made it a bittersweet night.

The Wahine (5-0) will play Northwestern (0-6) at 4 p.m. tomorrow as they go for their sixth consecutive championship in the Aston's Imua Wahine Challenge.

Willoughby out 3-6 weeks Star-Bulletin staff University of Hawaii freshman hitter Kim Willoughby suffered at Grade 2 sprain of her left ankle in last night's match against Creighton and could be sidelined for 3-6 weeks. Willoughby went down toward the end of Game 1 last night against the Bluejays at the Stan Sheriff Center. X-rays taken last night were negative, ruling out the possibility of a fracture. It is the same ankle that Willoughby sprained during last Monday's win over then-No. 1 UCLA. a match in which she also suffered a concussion. She sat out Friday's match, a 3-0 victory over Oregon. The sixth-ranked Wahine (5-0) finish out play in the Aston's Imua Challenge with a 4 p.m. match tomorrow against Northwestern. Hawaii hosts UC Santa Barbara next Friday and UNLV next Saturday.

With three kills, two digs and two service aces under her belt and Hawaii leading 14-1 in the first game, Willoughby went up for a block at the post and came down on somebody's foot.

It wasn't clear whether the foot belonged to Creighton's Erin Swanson or Wahine Maja Gustin (six kills, seven block assists).

That didn't matter. The bigger question is how severe Willoughby's new sprain is.

"They're X-raying it," said Hawaii head coach Dave Shoji. But there was no word on what the X-rays revealed.

"We're hoping it's just a sprain."

The 6-foot right-sider from Louisiana originally sprained the ankle on Monday against UCLA, a match in which she also sustained a mild concussion.

Willoughby looked like a cat on a hot tin roof watching the victory over Oregon in sweats Thursday, and Shoji said that if she could convince the team doctor she was ready to start last night, it was OK with him.

Kahumoku said she thought Willoughby should have skipped the Creighton match.

But Shoji said he didn't think the decision to play was really a bad one.

"She wanted to play, her head was clear, and her ankle (sprain) from the other night was not a factor in the injury," he said. "She just came down on the other girl's foot. It happens all the time in volleyball.

Willoughby's departure -- she was helped off by trainer Melody Toth and Dr. Allen Richardson -- seemed to affect the Wahine in the second game.

After going ahead, 4-1, Hawaii gave up three points in a row.

But with Kahumoku making five kills and five digs and Jennifer Carey digging nine balls (she had a match-high 13 digs), the Wahine slowly regained command of the game.

"Whenever anything happens to one of our teammates, it's like the loss of a limb," said Kahumoku. "Like last year when Shelley Kim tore her ACL, it's horrible. It mentally affects the team, and it's hard to come back and play."

Jessica Sudduth, who just missed a double-double with nine kills and 10 digs, said, "It's always a bummer when a teammate goes down, but you can't let it affect your momentum."

Creighton, coached by former UH associate head coach Howard Wallace, has three players from Hawaii.

Outside hitter Melanie Keolanui (one kill) played at Hilo High and setter Kailey Reyes (six kills) played for Aiea.

Defensive specialist Kelli Koochi, who had four digs off the bench, is also from Aiea. She played at Iolani.

In last night's first match, Halie Mazza had 15 kills to lead Oregon (5-1) to a 15-4, 15-13, 5-15, 16-14 win over Northwestern (0-6).

Hawaii def. Creighton, 15-1, 15-6, 15-3

Bluejays (4-1 overall, 1-0 IWC)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Walsh	3	10	5	29	.172	1	2	12
Keolanui	3	1	3	14	.143	0	1	0
Moran	3	0	0	1	.000	0	0	4
Reyes	3	6	2	11	.364	0	1	7
Meekins	3	3	1	19	.105	1	0	2
Swanson	3	6	2	23	.174	0	1	8
Bjoin	2	4	3	14	.071	0	0	7
Simmons	3	2	3	9	-.111	0	0	0
Berube	2	0	2	7	-.286	0	1	0
Koochi	3	0	0	1	.000	0	0	4
Totals	3	32	21	128	.086	2	6	44

Wahine (5-0 overall, 0-0 IWC)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Willoughby	1	3	1	6	.333	0	0	2
Nikolic	3	4	2	12	.167	0	2	6
Carey	2	0	0	2	.000	0	1	13
Sudduth	3	9	4	27	.185	1	3	10
Kahumoku	3	14	1	27	.481	1	5	10
Lima	3	10	2	17	.471	0	3	6
Gustin	3	6	0	11	.545	0	7	1
Vakasausau	1	1	0	2	.500	0	0	6
Cravens	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Gomez-Tukuafu	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Lee	2	0	0	1	.000	0	0	0
Duggins	1	1	0	1	-1.000	0	1	4
Villaroman	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Totals	3	48	10	106	.358	2	22	60

Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.

Aces--CU (1): Reyes. UH (7): Willoughby 2, Lima 2, Vakasausau 2, Nikolic..

Assists--CU (30: Reyes 20, Walsh 4, Koochi 2, Swanson 2, Bjoin, Berube. UH (43): Carey 27, Vakasausau 11, Nikolic 3, Willoughby, Gustin.

T-1:25. Officials: Ernest Ho, Denice Hanson.

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UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii