Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Thursday, December 14, 2000
Nebraska RICHMOND, Va. -- The No. 3 University of Hawaii women's volleyball team was eliminated, 3-15, 12-15, 15-9, 10-15, today in the NCAA Championships semifinal by No. 1 Nebraska (33-0) in the Richmond Coliseum.
defeats Hawaii in
game four
Huskers took match 3-1
By Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinBattling to force a rally scoring fifth game, the Wahine took a 5-3 lead but Nebraska went on a 5-0 run. The Wahine then put together the same kind of run before Nebraska responded once again.
The match ended with consecutive points on blocks.
Down, 2-0 in games, Hawaii charged out to a 10-1 lead in game 3. But Nebraska came back to cut the Hawaii lead to 13-9 before the Wahine secured the win to get a stay of execution.
The Wahine (31-2), were outblocked, 23 to 7.5 and outhit, .296 to .134.
All-American Lily Kahumoku led Hawaii with 18 kills, She led five Wahine in double digit kills.
Jenny Kropp led the Cornhuskers with 16 kills.
Kropp and Amber Holmquist, the nation's leading blocker, had 20 blocks between them for Nebraska.
Hawaii started out making mistakes and quickly fell behind 2-0 in game 1.
After Maja Gustin put the Wahine on the board (3-1), the block combination of Holmquist (three blocks) and Laura Pilakowski (three blocks) went to work and the Cornhuskers took control with a 9-0 run.
Gustin, Hawaii's top percentage hitter, was blocked three times.
Gustin, obviously not 100 percent recovered from her sprained ankle injury, seemed to have some trouble getting high enough at the net.
Hawaii, led by Kahumoku's four kills, hit .000 to Nebraska's .435 in the first game and was outblocked, 8-1.
Holmquist led the Cornhuskers, the nation's No. 2 team in hitting percentage, with five kills.
Hawaii fell behind 3-0 to start game 2 but the Wahine came back to make it 3-2 on points scored by Jenn Carey and Jessica Sudduth.
Nebraska jacked it to 6-2 before Hawaii started to get some velocity from Kahumoku and Willoughby to move within one point (6-5). Nebraska responded with a 5-0 run to make it 11-5. But Hawaii stormed back, sustaining rallies and setting up Sudduth and Kahumoku on the left side to narrow the Nebraska lead to two (11-9).
Nebraska went up, 13-9 but Hawaii moved within two twice more (13-11 and 14-12) behind smart hitting by Sudduth before the Cornhuskers put it away.
Hawaii did something it hadn't done in the previous two games to start game 3. The Wahine went up, 1-0, on a kill by Veronica Lima. Holmquist tied it at 1- but the Wahine went on a 9-1 run.
Hawaii is trying to win its third NCAA title while Nebraska is after its second.
NOTES: Nebraska brought its band and apparently the largest cheering section, as indicated in the pre-match introductions.
The Big Red band played the national anthem. Four Nebraska students dressed in grass skirts mocked the Wahine from the stands.
NCAA WOMEN'S
VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPWhere: Richmond, Va.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii