DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii coach Dave Shoji celebrated after the Rainbow Wahine swept Washington last night to advance.
Hawaii advances Life on the edge can only work a few times in a "one and you're done" kind of tournament.
to regional
The Rainbow Wahine take a
Game Stats
tight sweep from the Huskies
Huskies unable to finish
By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThe final scores may not show it, but No. 2 Hawaii (32-1) was pushed to the brink last night and had a hard time dealing the final blow to Washington.
A smallish crowd of 5,774 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched another exciting match between the two teams with the same outcome. Hawaii prevailed over Washington 30-26, 39-27, 30-25. The Huskies (20-11) gave the Rainbow Wahine a good battle back in September in the Aston Imua Challenge and another hard-fought match last night.
"I don't think anybody could understand how tough that match was by looking at the scores," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "Every point was hard-fought. The second game speaks for itself. We got behind in the game, we made a run and caught them. And then it was just anybody's game. The key to the match was the second game.
"It was a well-played match. We knew Kim (Willoughby) and Lily (Kahumoku) weren't going to get 40 percent tonight. They had to work really, really hard to get kills tonight."
Game 2 was the longest for either team this season and it was some of the best volleyball Hawaii had to play under pressure. The Wahine fought off seven game points and didn't fold.
They got timely kills from juniors Kahumoku (22 kills, 10 digs) and Willoughby (19 kills, 21 digs) and Maja Gustin (12 kills) in Game 2.
"At times, it was unreal," said Huskies coach Jim McLaughlin. "There was big-time volleyball going on. Hawaii elevated for sure when they had to. They were impressive."
The Huskies were impressive as well, as they dug 65 balls. But they couldn't terminate on long rallies. Paige Benjamin led the UW attack with 17 kills, while teammate Sanja Tomasevic struggled for 11 kills with 11 errors.
The Huskies were bothersome from the start of the match. Setter Gretchen Maurer's dump neutralized Hedder Ilustre's first serve for a 5-4 lead in Game 1. But Hawaii regained the lead behind two blocks from Jennifer Carey and Lauren Duggins, and two kills by Carey.
The Huskies responded behind one of their four jump-servers. Sophomore Kaitlin Leck ripped four straight and had two aces as UW went up 13-12.
The Wahine used a 5-1 run to snatch the lead back and then held off late rallies.
The Huskies seemed unaffected by losing Game 1. UW quickly took an 8-4 lead and expanded it to 17-12 with one of its five blocks in the game. Gustin batted down Tomasevic's tip to even it 22-22.
There were 17 more ties and UW had seven game points before Willoughby's kill ended Game 2 and brought the crowd to its feet.
"Emotionally, it would have mad a huge different to get over the hump," Benjamin said. "Hawaii did a great job of keeping the intensity," said Maurer. "We couldn't finish."
There was bedlam in Hawaii's locker room between Games 2 and 3, according to coach Dave Shoji.
"I've never seen a locker room like that," he said. "It seemed like we had won the match already. No, I did not think of Michigan State (when UH lost in five after leading 2-0 in the 1995 regional championship)."
Against the nation's best offense, the Huskies totaled twice the number of blocks they usually average with five in each of the first two games. In Game 3, UW zipped out to an 8-3 lead, but Willoughby and Kahumoku combined for 16 of UH's 22 kills to finish off the Huskies.
The Huskies lose Benjamin and Maurer next year but will return five other starters.
The Wahine will next face North Carolina (32-3) in the regional semifinal next week, likely at Lincoln, Neb. The Tar Heels defeated South Carolina in four games last night.
Notes: Hawaii is 28-3 in playoff matches at home ... Shoji's daughter Cobey is attending graduate school at North Carolina and will have a scouting report on the Tar Heels today.
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Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs. Hawaii def. Washington
30-26, 39-37, 30-25
WAHINE g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 8 Willoughby 3 19 9 46 .217 0 2 21 Tano 2 2 1 4 .250 0 0 1 Kahumoku 3 22 6 62 .258 0 1 10 Gustin 3 12 3 23 .391 2 1 0 Duggins 3 5 3 15 .133 1 6 6 Boogaard 2 2 1 8 .133 0 1 4 Carey 3 2 0 5 .400 1 5 1 Ilustre 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 14 Totals 3 65 23 164 .256 4 16 74 WASHINGTON g k e att pct. bs ba d Benjamin 3 17 5 56 .214 9 0 4 Leck 3 5 0 12 .417 0 4 4 Maurer 3 4 2 9 .222 0 2 2 Bjorklund 3 12 2 19 .526 0 5 6 Danicic 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Tomasevic 3 11 11 48 .000 0 5 15 McDonald 3 6 2 14 .286 0 8 0 Lawrence 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Ross 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Lee 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 22 Totals 3 55 22 158 .209 0 28 65
Aces -- Washington 3 (Leck 2, Tomasevc). Hawaii 2 (Willoughby, Kahumoku).
Assists -- Washington 49 (Maurer 41, Benjamin 3, Lawrence 2, Leck, Tomasevic, Ross). Hawaii 59 (Vakasausau 32, Carey 21, Boogard 2, Kahumoku, Ilustre, Villaroman, Willoughby).
T -- 1:50. Officials -- Bob Oshita, Carlos Rodriquez. A -- 5,774.
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