Thursday, October 18, 2001

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Wahine beat Aztecs
for 10th in a row

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Star-Bulletin Staff

It wasn't quite how the Hawaii volleyball team wanted to start its road trip, but the 12th-ranked Wahine are grateful to leave San Diego with a win.

UH defeated San Diego State, 30-18, 30-22, 23-30, 30-19, before 845 at Cox Arena. The Wahine got a sneak peek at the site of the 2001 NCAA championship, a place they'd like to see again in mid-December.

Hawaii picked up its 10th consecutive win and improved to 13-4, while San Diego State suffered its third loss in a row and dropped to 10-7.

It was the first meeting between the two teams since 1998.

With a tough conference match against San Jose State today at 4 p.m. and another Saturday vs. Fresno State, the Wahine were hoping to expend as little energy as possible .

UH easily took the first two games and was on its way to another sweep before San Diego State finally woke up.

"We were grooving for a while, but we had trouble in the third game," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "We had trouble stopping (Kim) Magnuson and (Aspen) McPartland. We had a little letdown. We didn't want to go four."

The hitting of Magnuson and McPartland helped the Aztecs outhit the Wahine, .357 to .178, in the third game. But Hawaii quickly rebounded to take the fourth game.

It was the first time the Wahine were forced to a fourth game on the road.

Shoji wanted to rest outside hitter Kim Willoughby, who led the team in hitting and digging again with 32 kills and 25 digs, but wasn't able to, as UH got all it could handle.

"She continues to play unbelievably," Shoji said. "We need her to get a lot of kills. We'd like to rest her a little more but couldn't afford to get her out of the lineup."

Maja Gustin, Willoughby's counterpart on the outside, contributed 16 kills as UH outhit SDSU, .404 to .226.

Hawaii had a slightly more balanced attack than usual with more offensive production from the middle blockers. Nohea Tano chipped in nine kills and Lauren Duggins notched seven.

The Wahine outdug the Aztecs, 70-37.

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UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii