In its final tune-up before the Western Athletic Conference season, No. 2 Hawaii showed that a little fine-tuning could be beneficial before conference play. UH overpowers
St. Mary’s
By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comIt wasn't UH's crispest performance, but the Rainbow Wahine prevailed 30-17, 30-24, 30-17 over St. Mary's before 4,357 at the Stan Sheriff Center. Hawaii improved to 10-0. St. Mary's fell to 3-5.
"We weren't real emotionally fired up," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "It was kind of a slow start, but the team just can't come out every night and take charge. They had to feel their way through that first part.
"It was a competitive match. St. Mary's played and gave us a match. They didn't hit a bunch of balls out. They kept the ball in play. Their libero (Kaui Salzman) was outstanding. They made us work hard and that's what we need. We need teams to challenge us and make us do something."
St. Mary's used Hawaii's block to its advantage, tooling the Rainbow Wahine for a few early points in Game 1. It was all the Gaels got as the Wahine scored four straight at 10-9 (a kill by Lily Kahumoku, an ace from Karin Lundqvist, and two St. Mary's hitting errors). The Wahine snuffed out the Gaels offense, putting three hitters in the negative. Senior Hedder Ilustre hit the first two of her match-high three aces to bring UH to game point. A hitting error by Lindsey Bogoson ended the game two plays later.
Setter Brook Lowry helped the Gaels build a 5-0 lead in Game 2 with her jump serve. But St. Mary's lead disappeared almost as quickly. Kahumoku served six straight points and the Wahine got two kills from Willoughby to take a lead it would not relinquish. St. Mary's did cut the deficit to three late in the game, but a kill from Kahumoku and another ace from Ilustre ended the brief threat.
Game 3 made the mismatch obvious as Hawaii racked up 24 kills -- one more than St. Mary's total in the second and third games -- to nail the coffin shut.
Gaels coach Jon Stevenson knew his squad could challenge, but he also knew it couldn't match Hawaii.
"We could've played better," Stevenson said. "We did some good things, but we didn't take advantage of some opportunities that presented themselves. We were overpowered in general by the two outsides."
Hawaii opens conference play against Rice on Friday.
Notes: Middle blocker Maja Gustin will be out for at least two more weeks. Sophomore middle blocker Melody Eckmier will return to practice Tuesday after straining her left knee.
Hawaii def. St. Mary's
30-17, 30-24, 30-17
Gaels (3-5) g k e att pct. bs ba d Hauser 3 5 3 12 .167 0 1 6 Parmele 3 8 7 33 .030 0 1 6 Bogoson 3 9 5 31 .129 0 2 6 Gravert 3 1 1 10 .000 1 0 0 O'Conner 3 2 1 12 .083 0 4 2 Lowry 3 2 0 7 .286 0 1 8 Avilla 3 4 4 19 .000 0 0 2 Salzman 3 0 0 2 .000 0 0 11 Collins 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 31 21 126 .079 1 9 41
Wahine (10-0) g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 3 0 1 1 -1.000 0 0 5 Willoughby 3 19 6 33 .394 0 2 9 Tano 3 1 1 7 .000 0 1 3 Lundqvist 2 4 0 8 .500 0 2 5 Kahumoku 3 16 4 35 .343 0 1 7 Duggins 3 6 3 15 .200 0 2 1 Boogaard 2 9 1 13 .615 0 2 2 Carey 3 2 0 6 .333 0 1 6 Ilustre 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 10 O'Brian 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Watanabe 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Villaroman 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Totals 3 57 16 118 .347 0 11 55 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- St. Mary's (2): Lowry. Hawaii (7): Ilustre 3, Willoughby 2, Duggins, Lundqvist. Assists -- St. Mary's (28): Lowry 26, Salzman 2. Hawaii (56): Vakasausau 33, Carey 19, Ilustre 2, Kahumoku, O'Brian.
T -- 1:39. Officials -- Ernie Ho, Dan Hironaka. A -- 4,357.
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