DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Kim Willoughby had a match-high 17 kills in a sweep of Nevada last night. Willoughby is third all-time at UH in kills.
Wahine roll right Top-ranked Hawaii's matches aren't just won on the volleyball court. They're also won from hours of work without touching a ball. The Rainbow Wahine are studious players and spend hours on scouting reports and watching videotape.
through Wolf Pack
Hawaii needs just 89 minutes to
improve its record to 22-0By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThat kind of work paid off as No. 1 Hawaii swept Nevada 30-17, 30-11, 30-17 last night in 89 minutes in front of a crowd of about 6,100 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"People think our competition is bad, but that's not the case at all," said junior outside hitter Lily Kahumoku, who had 11 kills. "We're such an offensive-minded team, but our back-court defense is tremendous.
"(Michelle More) wasn't able to make the necessary adjustments. We had her number. We knew all her shots. We had her cutback."
Hawaii (22-0, 10-0 Western Athletic Conference) was overwhelming again, hitting .435 as a team and blocking nine balls. Nevada (18-6, 7-4)would have loved to have had any offense.
"The things we struggled with had nothing to do with what was on the other side of the court," Nevada coach Devin Scruggs said. "Twelve service errors is ridiculous. Offensively, we were not able to do any of the things we'd like to do."
Hawaii effectively contained More, one of the conference's more efficient hitters. More had four kills and four errors in 35 attempts. Meanwhile, junior Kim Willoughby continued her ascent in the Hawaii record books with a 17-kill performance that moved her to No. 3 on the Hawaii career list. The junior has 1,567 kills and needs three more to tie former Wahine standout Angelica Ljungquist, who is No. 2.
Willoughby got the Rainbow Wahine going early with her hitting, as Hawaii broke away from a 6-6 tie in Game 1 by scoring five straight. Nevada responded with its own five-point blitz to even the score at 11. The Wolf Pack weren't heard from again. Willoughby took over the game with her serving, blasting three aces as Nevada never reconstructed its passing. The Wolf Pack started the game hitting .556 but ended it at .032.
The match went from bad to ugly in Game 2. Nevada hitters couldn't find the court after Hawaii blocked them early for a 10-3 lead. The Wahine stuffed three balls and touched several others before the Wolf Pack hitting took a turn for the worse.
Erroneous passing forced Nevada setter Jill Couwenhoven to run all over the court and send every ball to the outside. The strength of the Wolf Pack's attack this season has been in the middle. Ball after ball sailed long and wide. Nevada had twice as many hitting errors as kills (5 kills, 10 errors). Toward the end, Scruggs replaced Couwenhoven with freshman Emily Donaldson, who couldn't do much to spark Nevada.
"One way to look at it is our team is really good," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "Our block, it's not a great block, but it's a solid block. It's like pick your poison. You can get dug. You can get blocked or you can hit out."
Hawaii plays Boise State today at 7 p.m.
Alumnae match tonight: The Rainbow Wahine alumnae match starts at 5 p.m. today before Hawaii's match against Boise State.
Twenty-three former Wahine from the earliest Hawaii teams to last year's alumnae (Tanja Nikolic) are expected to participate in the match. The Green team will be coached by Joey (Akeo) Miyashiro, Dean Nowack, Rhonda Stewart and UH senior women's administrator Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano. Angie Andrade, Beth McLachlin and Waynette Mitchell will lead the White team as coaches.
Honorary coaches of the match are Ann and Alan Kang.
Ann Kang is a former Wahine from the 1970s battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's dsisease. The alumnae, Wahine booster club, the Rainbow Wahine Hui and the UH Letterwinner's Club will be accepting donations outside the Stan Sheriff Center near the main entrances until 7:30 p.m.
Notes: Junior Nohea Tano saw her first match action since spraining her left ankle in practice several weeks ago. ...Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. for tomorrow's sold-out 6 p.m. match against No. 4 Stanford. The Cardinal swept No. 23 Arizona State yesterday. ...The Rainbow Wahine are No. 1 in the new NCAA West Region rankings this week, followed by UC Santa Barbara. Long Beach State, Colorado State and Utah round out the top five. ...Willoughby celebrated her 22nd birthday Thursday.
Hawaii def. Nevada
30-17, 30-11, 30-17
Wolf Pack (18-6, 7-4) g k e att pct. bs ba d Wooley 3 4 7 26 -.115 1 0 9 Salavea 3 3 3 13 .000 0 0 0 Couwenhoven 3 1 1 4 .000 0 0 4 Burton 3 5 3 13 .154 0 0 0 Randolph 3 6 3 17 .176 0 0 5 More 3 4 4 35 .000 0 0 2 Donaldson 2 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Baracco 3 0 0 0 .000 0 1 5 Adams 3 0 2 3 -.667 0 0 2 Holda 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Totals 3 23 23 112 .000 1 2 32
Wahine (22-0, 10-0) g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 3 0 0 0 .000 0 1 9 Boogaard 2 2 0 9 .222 0 3 1 Willoughby 3 17 4 26 .500 1 2 9 Kahumoku 3 11 2 22 .409 0 1 12 Gustin 2 5 1 13 .308 0 3 3 Duggins 3 7 0 8 .875 0 4 8 Carey 3 0 0 1 .000 0 1 1 Tano 1 3 1 7 .286 0 0 1 Ilustre 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Eckmier 1 4 1 6 .500 0 1 2 O'Brian 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Watanabe 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Totals 3 49 9 92 .435 1 16 53 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Nevada (1): Salavea. Hawaii (4): Willoughby 3, Vakasausau. Assists -- Nevada (20): Couwenhoven 18, More, Baracco. Hawaii (41): Vakasausau 21, Carey 18, Kahumoku, Ilustre.
T -- 1:19. Officials -- Verna Klubnikin, Denice Hanson. A -- 7,552.
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