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Hawaii's Hedder Ilustre passed the ball during yesterday's first-round match.
Spartans know RENO, Nev. >> Second-ranked Hawaii had plenty of time to rest after yesterday's rout of Louisiana Tech. San Jose State, the Rainbow Wahine's opponent today, doesn't have that luxury.
they’re overmatched
The San Jose State coach
expects the Wahine to rollBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThe fourth-seeded Spartans survived a five-game, two-hour-and-15-minute battle against Rice that earned them the right to play the Rainbow Wahine today in the semifinals at 3 p.m. Hawaii time.
After the last ball dropped to the ground, Spartans coach Craig Choate immediately looked up to the stands and mouthed the words "we own you" to Hawaii coach Dave Shoji. Choate was joking, as two 3-0 losses to the Wahine this season would indicate otherwise. But humor has probably been the best coping mechanism for a season in which too many things have not gone his way.
The Spartans started slowly this season after injuries limited setter Lindsey Rule's ability to practice. San Jose State has simplified its offense with a back slide it runs on every opportunity. The Spartans have improved, but not enough to resemble the team that played in last year's WAC championship.
"Nothing has been easy all year long. But it gets easier tomorrow, yeah!," Choate said facetiously after the match. "We've played them twice. They have two monsters on the outside. Do you want to know the truth? There's nothing to prepare for.
"Hawaii has to have a lot of people to have a bad match for someone in our conference to beat them. If people think that sounds defeatist, then people aren't living on planet Earth because that's the way it is.
"Do we want to play hard and try to beat them? Yes. But when our 5-7 setter is blocking either Lily (Kahumoku) or Kim (Willoughby), what kind of preparation can I give? I can't tell her to grow taller tonight, so for us, it's to enjoy this moment, rest up and just try as hard as we can tomorrow."
That was pretty much Louisiana Tech's mentality before yesterday's loss.
"Everyone expects them to win. Everyone expects them to get up and kill us," Louisiana Tech coach Heather Mazeitis said. "They're the No. 2 team in the country. They should dismantle us with ease.
"As a coach and an optimist, let's play hard and do everything we can. We're always, always looking to better the level we're at, but also understand where we are."
The Lady Techsters couldn't come near Hawaii's level. The Wahine set the tone early with a virtually flawless first game. Hawaii stuffed enough balls (three) to make the job easy for its backcourt defense, which picked up 15 digs.
Willoughby blasted two aces to help Hawaii 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.
The Wahine were unbelievably balanced, with no player seeing more than eight sets and four of five hitters hitting above .600 in Game 1.
Willoughby and Kahumoku each finished with 16 kills, while Maja Gustin (seven kills, .455) and Lauren Duggins (eight kills, .636) made their presence felt as well.
"Hawaii comes at you from a lot of different angles. No matter what you try, they pretty much stopped that," Mazeitis said. "It's hard to bounce back. You can expect it, but since we don't see people like Hawaii, it's hard for them to understand what they're supposed to be expecting.
"They know what Kim is going to do, they know what Lily is going to do, but it's the other players who come after you. You can prepare a team for two players, but to prepare your team for six players is very difficult."
Which is San Jose State's task today.
Notes: Hawaii set four tournament records in yesterday's win. Louisiana Tech's hitting percentage (.065) and block total (one) were the lowest of any WAC tournament match. Willoughby posted the highest hitting percentage in the history of the tournament after hitting .577 with 16 kills. Middle Lauren Duggins hit for a higher percentage, but a minimum of 15 attempts is required to count. Hawaii's .495 team hitting percentage was also a WAC best. ... The Wahine improved their record in the tournament to 11-2. ... Hawaii is No. 1 in the latest NCAA West region poll. UC Santa Barbara is second, followed by Long Beach State, Colorado State and Fresno State. In the Pacific region, USC is first with Stanford in second. Regional rankings are used to help determine the host sites of the NCAA regionals.
Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs. Hawaii def. Louisiana Tech
30-13, 30-19, 30-16
LOUISIANA TECH (19-16) g k e att pct. bs ba d Rush 3 4 2 19 .105 0 0 1 Jarvis 3 3 1 7 .286 0 1 1 Sibley 3 8 8 22 .000 0 1 4 Mora 3 3 2 10 .100 0 0 4 Sant'anna 3 6 6 22 .000 0 0 5 Shipp 3 3 2 12 .083 0 0 3 Valdez 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Anderson 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Totals 3 27 21 92 .065 0 2 25 WAHINE (26-1, 6-0) g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 3 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 7 Willoughby 3 16 1 26 .577 1 1 6 Tano 2 3 0 4 .750 0 0 1 Kahumoku 3 16 2 31 .452 1 1 6 Gustin 3 7 2 11 .455 0 1 3 Duggins 3 8 1 11 .636 0 6 0 Boogaard 1 0 0 3 .000 0 0 0 Carey 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 6 0 Ilustre 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Eckmier 1 1 0 2 .500 1 0 0 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 11 Totals 3 52 7 92 .495 3 14 39
Aces -- Hawaii (6): Duggins 3, Willoughby 2, Gustin. Louisiana Tech (4): Sant'anna 3, Shipp. Assists -- Hawaii (48): Vakasausau 23, Carey 19, Tano 3, Ilustre 2, Willoughby. Louisiana Tech (24): Mora 20, Jarvis, Sant'anna, Shipp, Anderson.
T -- 1:18. Officials -- Kent Kitade, Annette Cottle. A--N/A.
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