SAN JOSE, Calif. >> A night after capturing its seventh regular-season Western Athletic Conference championship in dramatic fashion, No. 3 Hawaii just wanted to make life easy on itself. UH closes out
WAC perfectly
Star-Bulletin staff
The Rainbow Wahine (25-1, 13-0 WAC) did just that yesterday. In front of a San Jose State record crowd of 1,749, about half of whom were Wahine fans, Hawaii demolished San Jose State 30-18, 30-19, 30-17 in 80 minutes.
The Wahine concluded league play with their sixth perfect record and their 65-match conference win streak intact.
"We had a really good outing tonight," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "We played about as good as we can play. It was quite a turnaround from (Friday) night. Everything was good."
For San Jose State (13-14, 7-6), nothing went right. The Spartans have struggled with the same problems that have plagued them all season. San Jose doesn't have any offense and didn't hit above .081 in any game while the Wahine's hitting percentage never dipped below .326.
Hawaii stuffed San Jose at the net, outblocking the Spartans 14-4. Junior Lauren Duggins spearheaded the effort with eight blocks. The Wahine also got four stuffs each from Jennifer Carey and Maja Gustin. Libero Melissa Villaroman scooped up 16 digs.
Hawaii got plenty from its All-Americans, too. Lily Kahumoku (16 kills, 10 digs) and Kim Willoughby (19 kills, 11 digs, five blocks) turned in superb offensive and defensive performances.
Except for the opening minutes of Game 1, the rest of the match wasn't that close. After a 5-5 tie, a seven-point serving run by Kahumoku put the Wahine up for good.
Junior Nohea Tano gave the Wahine a lift in Game 2. Tano subbed in midway through the game after the Spartans had ticked off four straight points to pull within one at 17-16.
The junior right-side hitter connected on five kills in six swings with one error. Tano also added two block assists as Hawaii erased any thoughts San Jose might have entertained about winning a game. The Spartans scored three more points the rest of the game and didn't muster a whole lot more in Game 3.
"Tano did spark us," Shoji said. "We were kind of sputtering along in Game 2 and she came in and gave us a lift."
Tano's performance revived the competition at the right-side spot. The Kailua native lost her starting spot to freshman Susie Boogaard after injuring her ankle last month and has only appeared in the lineup as a reserve. Shoji said the position is up in the air again.
The Wahine return to Honolulu today and leave Thursday for the conference tournament. Their first opponent in the quarterfinals will be either Louisiana Tech or Southern Methodist.
Notes: Friday's two-hour and 40-minute match against Fresno State was the longest in the rally scoring era for the Wahine. Last year's five-game battle with San Jose took 2:25 to play. ... Villaroman's 33-dig performance against the Bulldogs was the first time since 1989 that a UH player notched 30 or more digs in a match. Teee Williams and Karrie Trieschman each shoveled up 30 digs on Nov. 16, 1989, against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Hawaii def. San Jose St.
30-18, 30-19, 30-17
Wahine (25-1, 13-0) g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 3 0 1 1 -1.000 0 2 6 Boogaard 2 1 1 4 .000 0 0 0 Willoughby 3 19 3 34 .471 1 4 11 Kahumoku 3 16 2 35 .400 0 1 10 Gustin 3 4 3 12 .083 0 4 2 Duggins 3 5 2 15 .200 0 8 3 Carey 3 1 0 2 .500 0 4 3 Tano 2 5 1 6 .667 0 2 0 Ilustre 3 0 0 2 .000 0 0 12 Eckmier 2 1 0 3 .333 0 1 0 Watanabe 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Villaroman 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 16 Totals 3 53 13 115 .348 1 26 65 Spartans (13-14, 7-6) g k e att pct. bs ba d Pascucci 3 7 6 28 .036 0 2 4 Powers 3 2 2 12 .000 0 1 1 Lukens 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Pozzi 3 10 10 44 .000 1 1 6 Hudson 3 2 3 14 -.071 0 1 5 Rule 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 5 Haldi 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 17 Noble 3 7 5 28 .071 0 1 2 Totals 3 29 26 127 .024 1 6 45 Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (3): Duggins 2, Gustnn. San Jose St. (3): Pascucci, Lukens, Pozzi. Assists -- Hawaii (48): Vakasausau 24, Carey 23, Kahumoku. San Jose St. (27): Rule 25, Hudson, Noble.
T -- 1:20. Officials -- Glenn Sapp, Bill Forrester. A -- 1,749.
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