DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Kim Willoughby had 21 kills and just one error last night for a .606 kill percentage.

Wahine look better
in sweep of
Cal Poly

The return of Lily Kahumoku
provides a spark

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By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.com

The return of an All-American can do wonders for a team.

A day after an anemic performance for an ugly win, the undefeated Wahine turned in a solid all-around performance and tamed the Mustangs in just under 90 minutes.

Third-ranked Hawaii swept Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 30-16, 30-18, 30-20 before a crowd of 5,397 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

It wasn't just Kahumoku's presence but a different attitude that propelled Hawaii to its eighth win of the season. Cal Poly fell to 1-7.

"It helps to have Lily in there," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "She gives us more balance. She frees up the middles a little bit more.

"The attitude was much better tonight. I don't think it was because Lily was in the lineup. We had better preparation. We were tested on Friday night and we knew we had to come out with better attitude."

The attitude manifested itself early and didn't let up throughout the match. The Rainbow Wahine offense was less predictable.

Setters Jennifer Carey and Margaret Vakasausau mixed up their sets and had the Mustang blockers a little more clueless about which way to go. Hawaii outhit Cal Poly .461 to .170.

Junior Kim Willoughby led the attack again with 21 kills. But this time the All-American hit .606 with just one error. Kahumoku and junior Lauren Duggins added 10 kills each, while middle Karin Lundqvist chipped in eight kills.

"They made some very good adjustments from (Friday) night," Cal Poly coach Steve Schlick said. " They had some great swings high off the block. They diversified their offense."

The collective confidence of the team was noticeably higher with Kahumoku on the court. With the All-American in the lineup, the Wahine grooved from the get-go. Behind stellar hitting from Kahumoku and an unrelenting defense Hawaii jumped out to a 6-1 lead in Game 1. The Wahine led by as many as 10 and forced the Mustangs to buckle under the pressure.

Hawaii continued its hot hitting in Game 2. With Willoughby and Kahumoku both in double-digit kills, the Wahine continued to stifle the Mustangs. After struggling Friday, freshman Susie Boogaard entered midway through the game and put away her first two balls.

Boogaard stayed in the match and switched to the left side in Game 3 to give Kahumoku a break. Hawaii took advantage of the gaping holes in Cal Poly's block for a 15-9 lead. Willoughby left the game after bombing consecutive aces for another 10-point lead at 26-16. Freshman Megan O'Brian replaced Willoughby and dug two balls. Lundqvist hammered her last kill of the match to end the game.

"We got our middles involved," Willoughby said. "We hit a lot smarter. We tried to cut down our errors. We knew what they were going to do.

"The difference was last night, they blocked really well. We covered a lot better tonight."

Hawaii's next match is against Samorodok, a club team from Russia, in an exhibition match Tuesday at 7 p.m.

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Hawaii def. Cal Poly

30-16, 30-18, 30-20

Mustangs (1-7)	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Lien	2	2	1	12	.083	0	4	1
O'Halooran, K.	3	1	2	19	-.053	0	2	6
O'Halooran, C.	3	3	1	8	.250	1	1	2
Diepersloot	3	7	2	28	.179	0	0	2
Duncan	3	7	3	24	.167	0	1	7
Bertotti	3	3	0	7	.429	0	0	1
Donoghue	1	3	0	6	.500	1	0	0
Benesh	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Martin	1	1	0	1	1.000	0	0	0
Ellington	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	4
Hubbard	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	2
Mulder	1	0	0	1	.000	0	0	0
Totals	3	27	9	106	.170	2	8	25

Wahine (8-0)	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Vakasausau	3	3	1	5	.400	0	1	8
Willoughby	3	21	1	33	.606	0	1	11
Tano	3	5	0	9	.556	0	1	6
Lundqvist	3	8	0	13	.615	0	4	3
Kahumoku	2	10	3	20	.350	0	0	5
Duggins	3	10	3	16	.438	0	1	9
Boogaard	2	6	3	11	.273	0	0	3
Carey	3	2	1	5	.200	0	2	4
Ilustre	3	0	0	1	.000	0	0	4
O'Brian	1	0	1	1	-1.000	0	0	0
Villaroman	3	1	0	1	1.000	0	0	8
Totals	3	66	13	115	.461	0	10	61

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

Aces - Cal Poly (3): Bertotti, Benesh, Mulder. Hawaii (5): Willoughby 3, Duggins 2. Assists - Cal Poly (25): C. O'Halloran 21, K. O'Halloran 2, Ellington 2. Hawaii (62): Vakasausau 30, Carey 18, Tano 5, Willoughby 3, Duggins 3, Kahumoku 2, Ilustre.

T - 1:29. Officials - Dan Hironaka, Wayne Lee. A - 6,910.

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UH Athletics