Wahine easily RENO, Nev.>> No. 2 Hawaii played a nearly perfect match today to easily advance to the semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
win WAC opener
Hawaii's dynamic duo of
Willoughby and Kahumoku
shine in rout of Louisiana TechBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comBefore a mostly pro-Hawaii crowd at Virginia Street Gym, Hawaii routed Louisiana Tech 30-13, 30-19, 30-16 in 78 minutes. The Rainbow Wahine improve to 26-1 overall and won their 72nd conference match in a row. The Lady Techsters finish their season at 19-16.
"We blocked well," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "We played good defense around the block. You have to block some, the others you try to slow down."
The Wahine blocked 10 balls and had 39 digs as they held the Lady Techsters to an .065 hitting percentage for the match.
Hawaii played an almost flawless Game 1.
The Rainbow Wahine executed their offense and defense to perfection. Lily Kahumoku hit .625 with six kills as Hawaii outhit Louisiana Tech .520 to .000. The Wahine were unbelievably balanced with no player seeing more than eight sets and four of five hitters hitting above .600.
Junior Kim Willoughby blasted two aces to help UH take a 5-0 lead to start the match. Defensive specialist Hedder Ilustre served six straight points for a 14-2 advantage that was too much for Tech to overcome.
"You always want to play perfect but with volleyball, it's impossible," Willoughby said. "(The game) stopped being perfect when it was 5-1. You can play as hard as you want but because you're playing against someone else who's playing just as hard, it's impossible."
The Rainbow Wahine didn't let up in Game 2.
Hawaii ran down balls and knocked over chairs on the sideline as if the outcome of the game was in doubt. And it was as the Lady Techsters recovered from a slow start in Game 1 to battle the Wahine point for point during an early stretch of Game 2. Hawaii held a slim 10-9 lead before capitalizing on three consecutive hitting errors by Louisiana Tech. The Wahine padded a 14-11 lead with two kills, a block, and another hitting error by Tech.
UH added four more blocks in the game and bothered the Lady Techsters into a .143 hitting percentage.
Hawaii opened Game 3 with an 8-3 lead that was the beginning of the end for Louisiana Tech.
The Lady Techsters slowly unraveled as the Wahine pulled away for a 19-5 lead. Willoughby smashed her 16th and final kill of the match to end it for the Wahine. Kahumoku finished the match with 16 kills.
UH plays the winner of the San Jose State-Rice match tomorrow at 3 p.m. Hawaii time.
UH Athletics
