DENNIS ODA DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Lily Kahumoku had 14 kills on 32 attempts as the Wahine swept San Francisco last night.

UH dispatches
Dons quickly

Willoughby leads the way
with 20 kills in a match
that lasts only 88 minutes

» Coaching adjustments
» Isle schools have opened eyes already

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By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.com

How do you spell mismatch?

U-S-F.

The fourth-ranked Hawaii Rainbow Wahine needed 88 minutes to dispose of the University of San Francisco Dons 30-15, 30-20, 30-16 before a crowd of 4,437 at the Stan Sheriff Center yesterday.

The Dons put in a strong effort but just didn't have the personnel to even remotely threaten the Wahine on the opening day of the Aston Imua Wahine Challenge.

"They had a couple of bad streaks," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "They competed hard. They just don't have the firepower."

Hawaii certainly does. The All-American hitting tandem of Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku dominated the match. Willoughby (20 kills, four blocks) and Kahumoku (14 kills, 10 digs) combined for more than half of the team's 60 kills.

UH's role players got in on the act, too. Junior Nohea Tano hit 1.000, putting down all five of her swings, while middle blocker Lauren Duggins added eight kills.

"It's a physical team," USF coach David Noble said. "They're very quick. They've been there before. I expect that team to be in the final four.

Aston Imua Challenge Today Hawaii vs. San Diego State, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center

"Certainly they're a lot more physical, they have more talent. They have some terminators. They just come at you. You have to be impressed that they don't make a lot of errors."

San Francisco didn't have star middle blocker Teresa Russell, who tore her anterior cruciate ligament last year. Noble hopes to have her back in time for the start of the West Coast Conference season.

Junior Brittanie Buddinger led the Dons' attack with 10 kills.

USF stayed close in the early minutes of Game 1. The Dons trailed by just a point at 5-4, but the Wahine vaulted ahead on a 6-1 run and never looked back. USF couldn't generate any offense and its defense couldn't contain Hawaii's attack. The Wahine hit .452 and had 23 team kills. Willoughby led the charge, blasting eight kills, one more than the Dons' team total of seven.

"We take it personally when they put the ball down," Shoji said. "We try to prevent balls from hitting the floor."

The Wahine defense scooped up 60 digs and picked up the slack when the block wasn't effective until later in the match.

Hawaii's hot hitting continued in Game 2, but San Francisco also stepped up its game a notch. The Dons stayed within striking range and even led a few times midway through the game. But the Wahine got kills from four different players and an ace by Duggins to pull away completely.

"The frightening part is that I don't think we could hold them," Noble said. "Every time the match was close ... we weren't able to make the adjustments that we had to.

"We have some spots we need to fill. We played hard at times, but we had some mental breakdowns. "

Shoji rested most of his starters in Game 3. Freshman Ashley Watanabe played libero, while Melissa Villaroman and Hedder Ilustre converted back to defensive specialists. Sophomore Melody Eckmier helped the Wahine improve their blocking with two solo blocks.

Eckmier said Hawaii's only concern was on its side of the net.

"It's a different level of play," Eckmier said. "We really had to focus on our side of the court. Our goal each time is just to get better as a team."

Hawaii plays San Diego State today at 7 p.m.

Washington swept San Diego State 31-29, 30-23, 30-21 in the early match. UW outside hitter Paige Benjamin hammered 23 kills to lead the Huskies. Melissa Cansdale and Zlatina Anguelova had 10 kills apiece for San Diego State.

Hawaii def. San Francisco

30-15, 30-20, 30-16

Dons (2-3, 0-1 AIWC)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Bognar	3	0	0	1	.000	0	0	6
Milo	3	4	1	16	.188	0	0	1
Bello	2	1	2	13	-.077	0	0	3
Budinger	3	10	6	28	-.143	0	1	8
Macausland	3	3	1	13	-.154	1	2	1
Shorts	3	2	2	20	.000	2	0	1
Scoggin	3	2	1	5	.200	0	0	3
Cowen	2	2	0	5	.400	0	0	1
LeJeune	3	5	5	16	.000	0	1	3
Skacel	3	0	0	1	.000	0	0	12
Totals	3	29	18	118	.093	3	3	39

Wahine (4-0, 1-0 aiwc)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Vakasausau	2	0	1	1	-1.000	0	0	1
Willoughby	3	20	4	35	.457	0	4	11
Tano	2	5	0	5	1.000	0	0	2
Lundqvist	2	6	0	10	.600	0	3	8
Kahumoku	3	14	2	32	-.375	0	2	10
Duggins	2	8	2	13	.462	0	3	5
Boogaard	1	3	0	7	.429	0	0	3
Carey	3	1	0	4	.250	0	1	5
Ilustre	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	4
Eckmier	2	3	3	12	.000	2	1	1
Watanabe	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	4
Villaroman	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	6
Totals	3	60	12	119	.403	2	14	60

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.

Aces -- USF 0. Hawaii 5(Willoughby 2, Kahumoku 2, Duggins).

Assists -- USF 25 (Bognar 13, Scoggin 9, Skacel 2, LeJeune). Hawaii 54 (Carey 27, Vakasausau 21, Kahumoku 2, Willoughby, Tano, Duggins, Villaroman).

T -- 1:28. Officials -- Dan Hironaka, Ernest Ho. A -- 4,437 (6,413 tickets sold).