Kahumoku helps EL PASO, Texas >> So far, so good.
UH spike UTEP
The Texas native hammers
25 kills as the Wahine
sweep past the MinersFrom staff and wire reports
The Hawaii volleyball team's first road trip of the season has been as smooth as butter. Travel to Texas was relatively easy and so was the Rainbow Wahine's first Western Athletic Conference match on the road.
Against Texas-El Paso, Hawaii coach Dave Shoji wanted to get in and get out quickly and his team certainly followed orders.
Before 1,325 at Memorial Gym -- the largest crowd ever to watch a Miners volleyball match -- second-ranked Hawaii maintained its efficiency in sweeping UTEP 30-13, 30-21, 30-20 in 82 minutes.
The Wahine (14-0, 4-0 WAC) have won 27 straight games and ran their WAC win streak to 56 matches.
"This trip has been real smooth," Shoji said. "Everything has gone well. The kids know what it takes to get done."
Getting done fast meant going early and often to outside hitters Lily Kahumoku and Kim Willoughby. The All-Americans proved that Hawaii wasn't going to dillydally against UTEP.
Kahumoku -- a native of Lubbock, Texas -- hit a whopping .561 and blasted 25 kills. Willoughby was efficient as well, hitting .423 with 14 kills. Willoughby passed Tita Ahuna (1,411) for fifth place on the Hawaii career kill list. She has 1,404 kills and will pursue Therese Crawford's 1,467 next. Teee Williams holds the school mark with 1,873 kills.
"(The outside) was just so open," Shoji said. "Their line blockers were small and we had a lot of success early with it and we just went with it.
"Lily was on fire. Lily had all the shots going. I think she likes to play in Texas."
UTEP (7-10, 2-3) started a different lineup, with starters Ana Beatriz Fontes and Brittney Bennet on the bench. The change surprised Hawaii, but it didn't make much of a difference.
In Game 1, the Wahine led 5-3 when an 11-point serving run by junior Hedder Ilustre undid the Miners. UTEP had trouble controlling the ball and the Wahine took advantage. Kahumoku put away kills at a dizzying rate and collected 11 in the game.
Hawaii had a marginal lead midway through Game 2 but scored six unanswered points at 16-15 to pull away. The Miners couldn't avoid the Wahine block. Junior Karin Lundqvist and freshman Susie Boogaard blocked Jennifer Abbruzzese to start the run. Willoughby added a solo block before leaving the game with a cramp. Freshman Ashley Watanabe served for Willoughby and promptly launched back-to-back aces to put the game out of reach.
"We just passed poorly and we kind of won too easily in Game 1," Shoji said. "We let our guard down. They served really tough and we just had trouble putting the ball where we wanted to put it."
There were few problems in Game 3 with Hawaii building an early 12-5 lead. The Wahine had at least four blocks during a 10-2 run.
Hawaii finished the match outblocking UTEP 12 1/2 to two. Setter Jennifer Carey and middle Lauren Duggins led Hawaii with seven block assists each.
Hawaii plays Southern Methodist tomorrow at 6 a.m. Hawaii time. The Wahine lead the series 7-0 and have never lost a game to the Mustangs.
30-13, 30-21, 30-20 Hawaii def. UTEP
WAHINE g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 3 0 2 2 -1.000 0 1 5 Willoughby 3 17 6 26 .423 1 0 10 Tano 2 0 1 3 -.333 0 0 0 Lundqvist 3 2 0 5 .400 0 2 3 Kahumoku 3 25 2 41 .561 1 2 9 Duggins 3 6 2 12 .333 0 7 2 Boogaard 2 2 0 5 .400 0 2 2 Carey 3 0 0 0 .000 0 7 0 Ilustre 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Eckmier 1 2 0 2 1.000 0 0 0 Watanabe 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 53 13 96 .427 2 21 39 UTEP g k e att pct. bs ba d Stacy 3 12 9 37 .081 0 1 3 Abbruzzese 3 5 8 33 -.091 0 1 6 Herzog 3 8 4 18 .222 0 1 1 Brock 3 2 1 11 .091 0 1 0 Brisnahan 3 2 4 9 -.222 0 0 1 Norman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Davis 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Portillo 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 29 26 109 .028 0 4 26 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- UTEP 1 (Abbruzzese). Hawaii 6(Ilustre 2, Watanabe 2, Willoughby, Lundqvist).
Assists -- UTEP 25 (Norman). Hawaii 50 (Vakasausau 26, Carey 22, Willoughby, Duggins).
T -- 1:22. Officials -- Richard Bleau, Rory Arisumi. A -- 1,325.
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