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Thursday, November 23, 2000
Wahine If Dave Shoji could've scripted the last point of the Wahine's senior night match, this was exactly how it would've ended.
win ’em all
Texas El-Paso is the latest
to be swept in three games;
three seniors say farewellNCAA TICKETS
By Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinAven Lee, the local girl who plays defensive specialist, moving to the front row, lifting off the floor at the net and slamming the ball down off the block to a deafening ovation.
The improbable scenario came true.
Lee's very first kill of the season gave the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team a 15-1, 15-4, 15-12 sweep of the University of Texas-El Paso before 5,351 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center last night.
And it gave her affectionate fans the moment they dreamed of but never thought could happen.
It was UTEP's first loss in seven matches. The Miners ended their WAC season at 7-9 and in fourth place. They are 15-14 overall.
The Wahine (No. 2 in the AVCA/USA Today poll, No. 1 in Volleyball Magazine) ended their Western Athletic Conference schedule at 16-0 and improved to 26-0 overall.
"Once the ball went up in the air, Charlie (associate head coach Wade) and I were yelling, 'Set Aven!' " said Shoji with as broad a smile as he's shown all season.
"Margaret (Vakasausau) did and Aven put the ball down. It would've been just a shame if Margaret had set the middle or the back." Shoji, who's known Lee since she was very small, admitted he felt the emotion of the moment.
And it all became possible because Lee got locked in the front row when Shoji ran out his limit of 18 subs.
"At the end we didn't have a sub and Aven had to stay in," he said. "It worked out great." Lee, virtually smothered with over 40 leis weighing on her shoulders at one point, said she was overwhelmed by the reaction of the fans.
"But I think it was my family making most of the noise," she said with a laugh.
"Oh, I'm so itchy," she said as her mother, Ingrid, relieved her of some of her floral burden. "Hopefully I got a month more and then we can close this chapter in my book," said Lee.Moments before she signed countless autographs and received as many embraces, Lee made the ritual walk around the arena, hand-in-hand with sister seniors Jessica Sudduth and Andrea Gomez Tukuafu.
Sudduth, the team captain, took deep breaths as she acknowledged the standing crowd.
"It's the kind of moment you like to savor," said Sudduth who had her second straight errorless match.
That's 49 swings without a mistake.
"Do you know how hard that is?" said Shoji.
Sudduth, whose family will host the entire team for Thanksgiving dinner today in Yorba Linda, Calif., also had her seventh double-double of the season (12 kills, 12 digs).
Lily Kahumoku, Sudduth's partner on the left side, had 13 kills and hit .400 as the only other attacker in double figures.
"I'll never be able to do this (walk) again," said Sudduth, weighed down with an assortment of leis and a pink flotation tube the ball girls gave her. "I just wanted to take a deep breath and take a moment back and enjoy. Most of the time my head's going too many miles per hour. You can't ask for better fans than Hawaii." Sudduth's father Steve, said he was stunned by the outpouring for his daughter.
"My throat dried up pretty good," he said. "If that doesn't make your heart beat, nothing will." Gomez Tukuafu, the defensive specialist who revealed an incredible voice when she sang the national anthem early this season, shared the glow of her senior moment with husband, Torry Tukuafu. He is a junior middle blocker for the men's volleyball team.
"The fan support is great," said the Idaho native who played two years at BYU-Hawaii.
The Wahine open play in the Long Beach State Thanksgiving Tournament tomorrow against Cal Poly. They play No. 16 Long Beach State on Saturday.
Tickets for the NCAA tournament first and second rounds will be on sale Tuesday at the Stan Sheriff Center. NCAA TICKETS:
Hawaii will host the first round matches on Nov. 30 with winners advancing to the second round on Dec. 1.
Match times will be 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. both days.
If Hawaii is chosen to host a regional, tickets will go on sale Dec. 5.
The regionals would be held Dec. 7 and Dec. 8.
Hawaii def. UTEP, 15-1, 15-4, 15-12
Miners (15-14 overall, 7-9 WAC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Abbruzzese 3 5 5 24 .000 0 1 14 Zimmerman 3 12 5 40 .175 0 1 6 Marquell 3 1 2 7 -.143 0 0 4 Mosher 3 6 2 14 .286 0 1 1 Nosan 3 7 3 20 .200 0 3 1 Gronert 3 1 1 4 .000 1 0 9 Clarke 2 2 2 10 .000 2 0 1 Brock 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Davis 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Perez 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 34 20 119 .118 3 6 44
Wahine (26-0, 16-0 WAC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Willoughby 3 8 4 19 .211 0 2 6 Carey 3 0 0 1 .000 0 2 9 Sudduth 3 12 0 27 .444 0 4 12 Kahumoku 3 13 1 30 .400 0 2 5 Lima 3 6 3 17 .176 0 5 10 Gustin 3 9 2 16 .438 0 7 5 Vakasausau 2 1 0 4 .250 0 0 0 Nikolic 1 2 1 4 .250 0 2 2 Gomez Tukuafu 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Lee 2 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 4 Villaroman 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 52 11 119 .345 0 24 61 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces--UTEP (4): Marquell 2, Abbruzzese, Perez. UH (4): Carey, Kahumoku, Lima, Gustin.
Assists--UTEP (32): Gronert 31, Perez. UH (47): Carey 35, Vakasausau 9, Willoughby 2, Sudduth.
T-1:28. Officials: Kent Kitade, Wayne Lee. A--6,825.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
WAHINE VOLLEYBALL PLAYBOOK
vs. Cal poly SLO &
@ Long Beach stateFirst serve -- vs. Cal Poly, tomorrow, 3 p.m HST; vs. Long Beach State, Saturday, 5:30 p.m. HST, The Pyramid, Long Beach, Calif.
Pat Bigold, Star-Bulletin
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii