BOISE, Idaho >> Second-ranked Hawaii completed a first-round sweep of Western Athletic Conference West teams yesterday by disposing of Boise State 30-15, 30-14, 30-18. No letdown for Wahine
From staff and wire reports
Before a gathering of 648 at Bronco gym, the Rainbow Wahine won their 67th conference match in a row and ruined senior night for libero Chera Sommer and middle blocker Tameisha Hastings.
Hawaii (21-0, 9-0 WAC) remains unbeaten this season, while Boise State drops to 1-20 and 0-9.
"We kind of went out with a business-like approach," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "We didn't spend a lot of time on scouting reports. We just went out and played.
"We got pretty good production out of everybody. (Melody Eckmier) chipped in with three kills. Maja (Gustin) had six kills in eight swings, that's what we want out of her. For us, it was spread out as much as we wanted it spread out."
Gustin, having recently recovered from a stress fracture, started for the injured Karin Lundqvist. The middle blocker sprained her knee Friday during a big win against second-place Nevada.
Shoji won't be sure what Lundqvist's status is until the junior sees team doctors tomorrow. Lundqvist's injury is one of many for Hawaii this season.
Wahine outside hitters Kim Willoughby (17 kills, five digs) and Lily Kahumoku (10 kills, 10 digs) did their parts in spreading the Boise block early in the match. Kahumoku had six kills in Game 1, while Willoughby took over for Games 2 and 3 with tough serving and stellar hitting.
The All-American hitters opened the way for Gustin and junior Lauren Duggins, who chipped in eight kills and four blocks.
Boise State held a brief 3-2 lead in Game 1 before Hawaii blockers put a roof over the Broncos' hitters. Gustin stuffed two balls in a row to give Hawaii a 13-7 lead.
Most of the Broncos' attacks went into the net or out of bounds after that as Boise finished the game with nine kills and 13 errors.
The Wahine never looked back after leading 7-2 in Game 2 and 8-4 in Game 3.
Hawaii suffocated Boise's offense with 12 blocks and 47 digs. The Broncos hit negative-.037.
"(Friday) night's victory was what we had pointed for," Shoji said. "We knew we could win tonight, but (Friday) night was a good win, so we were feeling pretty good.
"Everything's clicking right now. It kind of carried over to today."
Hastings and Kate Alderson each had six kills for Boise.
The Wahine return to Honolulu today. Hawaii will put its 48-game win streak on the line against Nevada on Friday. The Wahine face the Broncos again Saturday before a Sunday showdown against No. 6 Stanford.
Silverswords beat HPU: Chaminade limited Hawaii Pacific's Susy Garbelotti to 21 kills and the Silverswords beat the Sea Warriors 30-12, 26-30, 30-28, 30-22 in a nonconference match at McCabe Gym last night.
Valasi Sepulona finished with 20 kills and Audrey Brady had 17 for the Silverswords, who improved to 15-5. HPU dropped to 11-7.
30-15, 30-14, 30-18 Hawaii def. Boise St.
Wahine (21-0, 90) g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 3 0 0 1 .000 0 1 6 Boogaard 3 6 1 12 .417 0 2 4 Willoughby 3 17 3 30 .467 0 1 5 Kahumoku 3 10 3 27 .259 0 2 10 Gustin 2 6 0 8 .750 0 3 1 Duggins 3 8 3 16 .312 1 3 3 Carey 3 2 0 3 .667 1 3 2 Ilustre 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Eckmier 2 3 0 6 .500 1 3 3 Watanabe 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Totals 3 52 10 103 .408 3 19 47
Broncos (1-20, 0-9) g k e att pct. bs ba d Tranter 3 5 6 24 -.042 0 1 4 Bennett 3 2 1 9 .111 0 1 3 Baldwin 3 2 1 9 .111 0 0 1 Moore 3 2 4 14 -.143 0 1 5 Alderson 3 6 10 28 -.143 0 0 1 Hastings 3 6 5 22 .045 0 3 1 Ruff 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Sommer 3 0 0 1 .000 0 0 15 Hollingshead 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 23 27 107 -.037 0 6 30 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (6): Willoughby 2, Duggins, Gustin, Ilustre, Eckmier. Boise St. (1): Tranter. Assists -- Hawaii (48): Carey 22, Vakasausau 17, Boogaard 3, Ilustre 2, Willoughby, Kahumoku, Gustin, Duggins. Boise St. (23): Bennett 20, Sommer 3.
T -- 1:18. Officials -- Bruce Grant, Dale Goodwin. A -- 648.
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