Saturday, December 1, 2001
[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
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Wahine advance PULLMAN, Wash. >> Continuing to defy expectations, the Hawaii volleyball team shook off a playoff jinx and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament with its top player hurt.
in sweep
UH wins on the road in the NCAA
first round for the first timeBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.com
Proving just how valuable she is to the Wahine volleyball team, Kim Willoughby injured her right leg midway through the match but played through the injury as ninth-seeded Hawaii defeated WSU 34-32, 30-26, 30-23 in 93 minutes before 2,035 (a Washington State record) at Bohler Gym.
The Wahine play Eastern Washington, a 3-2 winner over Oregon State, today at 2 p.m. Hawaii time.
It is the first time the Wahine have won an NCAA first-round match on the road.
"Well, certainly the first game I was waiting for Washington State to make an error and I don't think they did," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "They played flawlessly and I thought wow this is what Pac-10 volleyball is all about. It was very tough and we were fortunate to win Game 1.
"I thought the atmosphere and the crowd were terrific. We had seen some hostile crowds in the WAC, but this one was probably the best."
It was snowing outside and a draft could be felt inside the gym, but the Cougar fans (known as the Stimson Men) and the sounds of the band vibrating off the wall made it an intimate and cozy setting.
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Sitting 5 feet from the court, the Stimson Men were good for a few early points as two of Hawaii's first three servers misfired. Junior LaToya Harris did the rest for the Cougars, slicing through the block for four of her seven kills as WSU led 17-13. Hawaii trailed almost all of Game 1 before taking a 25-24 lead with a block by Willoughby and Tano.The Cougars reached game point first with a block by Holly Harris and Chelsie Schafer. Maja Gustin hammered a kill to keep the Wahine alive. And then in a rare display of emotion, Shoji came off the bench and pumped his fist when Lauren Duggins and Margaret Vakasausau stuffed a Cougar hitter to even the score at 29.
Gustin unloaded a thunderous kill for game point, but a tip by Schafer saved the Cougars. The teams battled to ties at 31 and 32, but Willoughby hammered another kill with almost no block up for a 33-32 lead. Duggins' dig of Harris sailed over the net and landed on the line for game point.
"We kind of weathered the storm in the first game, and then we wore them down from there," Shoji said. "I was hoping we wouldn't come out flat at the start of the second game, because when you win a long game like that, you kind of relax and give the other team an advantage. But luckily our players responded."
Hawaii opened with a 16-6 lead in Game 2 behind solid hitting from Duggins, Tano and Gustin. The Cougar attackers, on the other hand, started to struggle and hit four balls into the net. Harris started to tip after being dug several times, but she helped out on defense during a 10-1 run that brought WSU to within two at 21-19. Hawaii was without Willoughby in the back row at the time, as she exited the game after injuring her right knee. She returned to the game two rotations later and hammered four kills, scoring four of Hawaii's last five points with her 16th kill of the match as the Wahine held off the Cougars' late-game comeback.
"She's a control player. She takes control of that team," Washington State coach Cindy Fredrick said. "Without her, that would be a real average team, if that. With her, it's an exceptional team. She takes control out there. And you think that you know where it's going to go and you should be able to stop it, but you cannot. She hits the ball hard, real hard.
Added setter Kali Surplus: "Harder than anybody we've played against. I know I found myself hiding behind the block there."
Willoughby finished the night with 22 kills and 10 digs and denied feeling hurt.
"There's no aches and pains and now is not the time even if there were," Willoughby said. "It would take a broken arm or a broken leg or something like that to keep me from playing. I'm doing whatever I have to do to keep my team on top."
Vakasausau ran a balanced Wahine attack with Gustin (16 kills), Duggins (10 kills, 12 digs) and Tano (8 kills, .727, 13 digs) all contributing.
Tano, the 5-11 transfer from Washington State, has been error-free in her hitting the last two matches. She was booed and called a traitor in the beginning but silenced the crowd.
The Cougars are 0-10 against ranked opponents this season.
Eastern Washington def. Oregon State 3-2: With enormous defensive efforts from both teams, Eastern Washington outlasted Oregon State 33-31, 19-30, 30-28, 23-30, 15-10 in a 2 1/2 hour war. Without a terminating hitter for either team, both teams had more than 100 digs, including three players with over 20 digs for each squads.
"I think we always play a little bit better with a small chip on our shoulders," Eastern Washington coach Wade Benson said. "But I'm starting to feel that this team isn't an underdog."
It was the first win in the NCAA tournament for the Eagles, who had been swept the previous three times, including the first time in 1989 by Hawaii. And the first tournament win for a team in the Big Sky conference.
Tournament notes: Oregon State was the first of two Pac-10 schools to lose in the first round. Third-seeded Stanford, No. 4 Southern Cal, No. 5 Arizona and eighth-seeded UCLA also advanced.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii