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Friday, October 6, 2000
Sudduth in Jessica Sudduth made it clear she's uneasy being alone in the spotlight.
the spotlight
The 6-foot-2 senior hitter joins
the Wahine's 1,000-kill club in
last night's victory over SMURealAudio: 'Net broadcast Click Here
By Pat bigold
Star-BulletinIf she'd had it her way, the moment she joined the elite 1,000-kill club last night would've passed unnoticed.
"It's my job," said the 6-foot-2 senior left-side hitter, whose game-face is punctuated by a piercing pair of Bette Davis eyes.
But there was no way to downplay the highlight of an otherwise business-like night by the nation's No. 2 team.
Sudduth nailed her milestone kill on a sideout with the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team (13-0, 3-0 WAC) up, 9-4, in the second game of its 15-7, 15-6, 15-3 sweep of Southern Methodist University (9-6, 0-3 WAC) before 4,412 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Play was momentarily stopped as a red-faced Sudduth was embraced by teammates and presented the ball.
"I don't like the spotlight," said the Wahine team captain from Yorba Linda, Calif., who wound up with eight kills in the match. "This is my role. Reaching a number doesn't mean much. It's all business. What made me feel good though were my teammates and the crowd. Besides that, it was embarrassing."
Sudduth became the first Wahine to reach 1,000 kills since Therese Crawford did it in 1997.She stands 11th at 1,003 on a list led by Teee Williams (1987-89, 1,873 kills).
"She joins a great list of former players I think everybody knows," said Hawaii head coach Dave Shoji. "It's quite an honor."
Sophomore left-side hitter Lily Kahumoku led the team in kills for the 10th time this season with 12.
But she opened her postgame interview by rolling her eyes in amazement at Sudduth's career stats.
"Jessica rules, she's bonk," said Kahumoku in 21st century vernacular. "Do you know how hard it is to do that in a career? I'm so ecstatic for this girl. She's awesome."
Kahumoku, with 314 kills in her first season and 205 this season, is also on track to join the 1,000 club.
Freshman middle blocker Maja Gustin had 11 kills and six total blocks while hitting .625.
Gustin combined with fellow freshman Kim Willoughby on three of those blocks in the decisive third game.
Willoughby, who lost an uncle a few days ago and is still coping with the tragic shooting death of her boyfriend this year, played one of her best defensive games with 11 digs."I had a lot on my mind and I thought to myself, 'Give your body up,' " said Willoughby. "Every time I touched the ball a little bit of the pain went away."
Willoughby had seven kills and was involved in five total blocks.
"Willoughby is a tremendous defensive player," said Shoji. "She touches a lot of balls over there on the right. The right side of our defense when she's in the back row is very, very solid. You don't notice her defense because she's so quick to the ball."
SMU head coach Lisa Seifert praised sophomore Wahine setter Jennifer Carey's 37-assist performance.
"I thought she ran a nice offense, and there was even distribution to the good hitters," said Seifert.
She called the Wahine, "a huge block."
"That's one of the reasons we made so many errors (23)," said Seifert. "Our hitters would go up and see four big hands up there."
Hawaii will host TCU tomorrow night at 7.
HAWAII DEF. SMU, 15-7, 15-6, 15-3
Mustags (9-6 overall)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Klecka 3 8 9 28 -.036 0 0 2 Godwin 3 7 4 19 .158 0 3 1 Peterson 3 4 5 18 -.056 0 3 4 Hatfield 3 2 3 12 -.083 0 1 2 Bredewater 3 3 1 9 .222 0 2 5 Newsom 3 4 0 12 .333 0 3 0 Erazmus 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Moffett 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 2 Warner 3 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 6 Totals 3 29 23 101 .059 0 12 22
Wahine (13-0 overall)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Willoughby 3 7 3 11 .364 0 5 11 Carey 3 2 1 5 .200 0 2 5 Sudduth 3 8 2 19 .316 0 0 6 Kahumoku 3 12 2 24 .417 1 0 5 Lima 3 4 3 12 .083 1 1 5 Gustin 3 11 1 16 .625 0 6 2 Vakasausau 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Nikolic 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Cravens 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Gomez-Tukuafu 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Lee 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Villaroman 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 44 12 87 .368 2 14 37 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--SMU (3): Warner. UH (6): Carey 3, Willoughby, Lima, Gomez-Tukuafu.
Assists--SMU (26): Hatfield 25, Bredewater. UH (41): Carey 37, Vahasausau 2, Willoughby, Kahumoku.
T-1:15. Officials: Bob McCarthy, Ernest Ho. Att: 4,412.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii