GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Kim Willoughby had a match-high 23 kills as the Wahine swept Notre Dame last night.
UH fights off What happens when you put the top blocking and hitting teams in the nation on the same court?
Fighting Irish
The Rainbow Wahine succeed
with digging in their toughest
challenge in a monthBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comAn action-packed dog fight.
Challenged for the first time in a month, second-ranked Hawaii showed that if something was going to give, it wouldn't be the Rainbow Wahine. Hawaii remained unbeaten as it swept Notre Dame 30-26, 30-23, 30-17 at the Stan Sheriff Center last night.
The match was billed as a battle between Notre Dame's blocking and Hawaii's hitting, but ultimately it was relentless Wahine digging that made the difference. Four players registered double-digit digs as the Wahine outdug the Fighting Irish 67-48.
Outside hitter Lily Kahumoku scooped up 14 balls and pounded 16 kills. Senior defensive specialist Hedder Ilustre flew in every direction and came up with 12 digs, as did Kim Willoughby, who pounded a match-high 23 kills. Setter Margaret Vakasausau had a double-double (26 assists, 10 digs).
"We just wore them down," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "Our defense tires people out. We didn't block many balls, but we had another good digging night."
As expected, the Fighting Irish (15-4) put up a sizable block and collected 10 stuffs. But they couldn't overcome erratic passing and a serving game that was noticeably absent. Notre Dame had one ace and missed 11 serves.
"We knew coming in that Hawaii would be a tough opponent," Notre Dame coach Debbie Brown said. "They played very well and got stronger each game. It was more than we could handle tonight. We didn't serve as well as we wanted to."
Notre Dame blockers set the tone early in Game 1, touching almost every ball and holding Hawaii's prolific offense to eight kills with seven errors. The Fighting Irish led 12-9 after a solo block by freshman Lauren Brewster.
But the Wahine cut the deficit and grabbed its first lead of the game when Vakasausau served four straight points and Willoughby got hot. The junior hit negative early in the game before warming up and blasting four kills to help Hawaii take a 19-16 lead. The Irish kept the fight going, matching the Wahine point for point and knotting the game at 22. Hawaii edged out to a 27-24 lead off back-to-back kills by Willoughby. A kill by Karin Lundqvist gave the Wahine game point and Emily Loomis served out two plays later to give Hawaii the first game.
The action didn't stop in Game 2. Hawaii raced out to 13-7 lead, with middle blocker Lauren Duggins serving five straight points. Notre Dame didn't go quietly and chipped away at Hawaii's lead, twice cutting it to three with the last at 24-21. But Hawaii closed out the game with four straight points including a dump that Jennifer Carey snuck behind the towering Notre Dame block to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Fighting Irish didn't have much left in Game 3 as the Wahine took a commanding 16-6 lead. Duggins connected on four kills and Kahumoku gave Hawaii eight as the Wahine outhit the Fighting Irish .474 to .143 in the final game.
"That was fun," Duggins said. "It was definitely a different game. That was a great challenge. I'm glad we get to play them again."
The rematch is today at 6 p.m.
Notes: Junior Nohea Tano missed her first start of the season and will likely miss this week's matches. Tano injured her left ankle in practice on Sunday. The right-side hitter wore a boot on her left foot during yesterday's match. Freshman Susie Boogaard started in her place. ... Kahumoku was named the WAC player of the week for leading Hawaii to two road wins against Texas-El Paso and Southern Methodist. The junior All-American averaged six kills per game and 4.17 digs. She was one kill shy of her career high (26 kills) with 25 kills against UTEP. ... The six points SMU scored in Game 2 were the lowest total the Wahine have allowed in a game in the rally-scoring era. ... Athletic director Herman Frazier watched last night's game.
Hawaii def. Notre Dame
30-26, 30-23, 30-17 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.Fighting Irish (15-4)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Loomis 3 6 6 27 .000 0 1 5 J.Kinder 3 10 1 25 .360 1 1 8 Kelbley 3 6 1 17 .294 2 1 1 K.Kinder 3 2 1 6 .167 0 0 6 Brewster 3 6 2 20 .200 1 4 2 Neff 3 11 1 33 .303 0 4 0 Burrell 3 0 1 2 -.500 0 1 0 Henican 3 0 1 6 -.167 0 0 8 Coughlin 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Moen 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Alderete 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 11 Totals 3 41 14 136 .199 4 12 48 Rainbow Wahine (16-0)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 10 Boogaard 3 5 14 14 .143 0 1 3 Willoughby 3 23 49 49 .306 0 3 12 Lundqvist 3 7 14 14 .500 0 3 3 Kahumoku 3 16 44 44 .295 0 0 14 Duggins 3 10 14 14 .643 0 2 4 Carey 3 1 4 4 .250 0 1 2 Tano 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Ilustre 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 12 Eckmier 1 0 1 1 -1.000 0 0 0 Gustin 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Totals 3 62 16 140 .329 0 10 67
Aces--Notre Dame (1): Kelbley. Hawaii (1): Kahumoku.
Assists--Notre Dame (40): K. Kinder 35, Alderete 2, Brewster 1, Coughlin 1, Loomis 1. Hawaii (56): Vakasausau 26, Carey 21, Ilustre 4, Boogaard 2, Duggins 1, Kahumoku 1, Willoughby 1.
T--1:48. Officials--Wayne Lee, Denice Hansen. A--6,501.
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