Saturday, November 3, 2001
[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
The temperature was in the 50s and expected to drop to the 30s in Reno, Nev., but the Hawaii volleyball team didn't stick around long enough to notice. Wahine deflate Nevada crowd
Star-Bulletin staff
Hawaii swept Nevada 30-18, 30-23, 30-20 in 98 minutes last night to win the Western Athletic Conference match with relative ease.
The Wahine were scheduled to leave Reno early this morning for a 4 p.m. (HST) meeting at Boise State.
The 1,419 fans packed into the Virginia Street Gym broke last year's school record of 1,052 (set against the Wahine) but they didn't factor much into the match.
The Wahine improved to 19-4, 10-0 in league play, while picking up their 16th straight win. The victory ended the Wolf Pack's 10-match home winning streak. Nevada drops to 14-6 overall and 8-4 in the WAC, a night after defeating San Jose State in four.
"We came out very strong," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. " We never let them run any points. We kept the crowd out of it. They made a little run in Game 3, but we did a nice job of coming back."
Hawaii served four aces and kept Nevada's offense from accomplishing much. The Wahine dominated at the net with 11 blocks while hitting .271 as a team.
Kim Willoughby led the Wahine with 17 kills. Maja Gustin and Nohea Tano added eight kills each.
It was only six days ago that the Wahine faced the Wolf Pack, and perhaps it wasn't enough time for Nevada to make the adjustments. After suffering an injury to her right foot last weekend, Nevada outside hitter Navonna Chambers started the match but only played in two of the three games.
Hawaii opened with a 7-2 lead in Game 1, but Nevada rallied to within one at 15-14 off kills by Kellie LaBossiere and the noise of the crowd. But that was the closest the Wolf Pack would get, as Hawaii surged to a 21-14 lead behind the blocking of Tano. She had three of her six blocks during the six-point run.
"Our serving was really key in the match," Shoji said. "They just couldn't run what they wanted to run."
The Wolf Pack hit just .079. Michelle More posted 12 kills and six digs.
LaBossiere had just seven kills, compared to 19 last weekend.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
