FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH's Nohea Tano had six kills and two assisted blocks last night as the Wahine swept Louisiana Tech to stay perfect in the WAC.
Efficient Wahine Minimal drama and a chance for outside hitter Kim Willoughby to rest a little made Louisiana Tech a good opponent for the Rainbow Wahine yesterday.
dispose of LaTech
Hawaii wins in 88 minutes for its
54th straight WAC victoryBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comAnything related to the level of volleyball that was played was another matter.
Second-ranked Hawaii easily and efficiently dispatched Louisiana Tech 30-15, 30-19, 30-16 to run its Western Athletic Conference win streak to 54.
There was no uncertainty about the outcome of the match. The Lady Techsters (12-8, 0-2) simply got to soak up their first taste of island volleyball before an announced crowd of 7,567 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"This crowd is awesome to play in front of," middle blocker Megan Rush said. "They're so nice. It was just a blast to play out there."
It wasn't a bad first match in Hawaii, but the performance wasn't what Lady Techsters coach Heather Mazeitis thought her team was capable of.
"We could've done some things better," Mazeitis said. "We are an emotional team and we use our emotion to our advantage. I don't think we came out scared. Once we settled down, we started to play a little bit, but we couldn't get it going completely."
Emotion wasn't as much of a factor for Hawaii. The clock was. The Wahine dismantled the Lady Techsters in 88 minutes and finished under the time limit the team set for itself.
Junior Lily Kahumoku was the main reason Hawaii beat the clock. Kahumoku hit .467 and blasted 15 kills. Despite dealing with back spasms earlier this week, Willoughby tallied nine kills and five aces. It was the first time in 22 previous contests that the All-American didn't reach double-digit kills.
If her back bothered her at all, Willoughby didn't show it in Game 1. The All-American served at least one ace each time she went back to the service line and she closed out the game with three aces. Willoughby's serving coupled with Kahumoku's hitting (7-for-8) was enough to keep Tech players scrambling.
The Lady Techsters showed more defensive mettle in Game 2. They outdug Hawaii (16-14), led once and tied Hawaii six times early in the game before Kahumoku served six straight to provide Hawaii with an 18-11 lead. The cushion was more than sufficient as the Lady Techsters killed their own cause with missed serves.
The Rainbow Wahine outserved the Lady Techsters eight aces to none. Hawaii opened Game 3 with a comfortable 9-3 lead and never looked back.
"I was impressed with Louisiana Tech," Kahumoku said. "They did a nice job defensively. They started rallies and dug some balls."
Rush led Tech with 10 kills. Hawaii effectively stopped Tech's top hitter Cristine Sant'Anna (eight kills, nine errors, -.030) by serving her constantly throughout the match and limiting her attacking options.
Notes: Sophomore Melody Eckmier saw her first game action since straining her knee two weeks ago. Eckmier made the most of her time on the court with two aces, two kills and a block. ... Karin Lundqvist celebrated her 21st birthday yesterday. ... In other WAC action, Rice swept Nevada 3-0 for its second conference win since losing to Hawaii last week.
Hawaii def. LaTech
30-15, 30-19, 30-16
Lady Techsters (12-8, 0-2) g k e att pct. bs ba d Rush 3 10 3 19 .368 0 3 2 Jarvis 3 2 4 10 -.200 0 0 1 Sibley 3 8 4 29 .138 0 1 8 Mora 3 3 1 10 .200 0 1 8 Sant'Anna 3 8 9 33 -.030 0 1 2 Shipp 3 4 3 15 .067 0 0 8 Valdez 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Osterhaus 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Anderson 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Totals 3 35 24 116 .095 0 6 41
Wahine (12-0, 2-0) g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 3 0 0 1 .000 0 0 1 Willoughby 2 9 1 19 .421 1 2 6 Tano 2 6 1 10 .500 0 2 1 Lundqvist 2 3 1 9 .222 0 1 1 Kahumoku 3 15 1 30 .467 0 4 7 Duggins 3 8 1 18 -.111 2 0 3 Boogaard 2 2 3 9 .600 0 1 5 Carey 3 3 0 5 .000 1 0 4 Ilustre 3 0 0 0 .250 0 0 9 Eckmier 1 2 1 4 .000 1 0 1 O'Brian 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Watanabe 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Villaroman 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Totals 3 48 9 105 .371 5 11 46 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- La Tech (0). Hawaii (8): Willoughby 5, Eckmier 2, Duggins 1. Assists -- La Tech (33): Mora 26, Shipp 3, Jarvis, Sibley, Sant'Anna, Anderson. Hawaii (41): Vakasausau 25, Carey 13, Duggins, Ilustre, Villaroman.
T -- 1:28. Officials -- Charles Priebe, Dan Hironaka. A -- 7,567.
UH Athletics
