ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii's Maja Gustin, middle, celebrated with teammates after the Rainbow Wahine beat Nebraska in four games yesterday at Lincoln, Neb. Hawaii, which ended Nebraska's 63-match home win streak, advanced to the final four with the win.
UH advances LINCOLN, Neb. >> Who said the Rainbow Wahine couldn't take the hard road to the Big Easy?
to final 4
The Rainbow Wahine move on to the
Notebook
Big Easy with a tough win at Nebraska
By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comYesterday's match between No. 2 Hawaii and No. 4 Nebraska was billed as the NCAA Central regional final, but it was no ordinary regional final. By the end of the night a top-five team would be eliminated.
Before a beyond-capacity crowd of 4,357 at Nebraska Coliseum, Hawaii stunned Nebraska 30-25, 25-30, 30-27, 30-21 to complete the NCAA final four field. Florida (34-2), USC (29-1), and Stanford (31-4) all had advanced earlier. The Rainbow Wahine (34-1) will face the Cardinal in the semifinals Thursday.
Hawaii and Nebraska played an exhilarating match for a shot at next week's national championship in New Orleans. When the final ball dropped, the Wahine celebrated the win like no other victory this season. The players piled onto the floor and associate coach Charlie Wade hugged and picked up head coach Dave Shoji and the two spun around together.
"It's a huge win for our program," Shoji said. "We've lost to them twice in the last two years. They have a great tradition here. They've had the upper hand on us the last eight to 10 years, so that was huge for us to get over that hump.
MVP: Kim Willoughby, Hawaii All-regional team
>> Amber Holmquist, Nebraska
>> Lily Kahumoku, Hawaii;
>> Laura Pilakowski, Nebraska
>> Greichaly Cepero, Nebraska
>> Lauren Duggins, Hawaii"I don't think many people thought we would win this match tonight besides the players. I was trying to be cool and Charlie picked me up and twirled me around like a rag doll. I was trying to be like I've been there before."
Shoji, who doesn't weigh much anyway, probably weighed even less after the pressure had been heaved off of Hawaii's collective shoulders. The Rainbow Wahine denied Nebraska a third straight final four appearance and ended the Huskers' 63-match home win streak that dated back to 1999 and was the longest in the nation.
It is only the fourth time Nebraska (31-2) will not go to the final four after hosting 12 regionals. And it is the first defeat Nebraska has experienced since losing to USC more than three months ago.
"Certainly our effort and the emotion were there. Maybe we were too wound up," Nebraska coach John Cook said. We didn't execute very well siding out. I thought we did as good a job on Lily and Kim as anybody in any tapes I've seen.
"We played good enough defense to win the match. It was just serving and passing. They made some runs on us and those were the games they won."
Hawaii All-Americans Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku finished with 25 kills apiece after being set over 60 balls each. Middle Lauren Duggins hit over .400 again and added 10 kills and seven digs.
Serving is not the strongest aspect of the Rainbow Wahine's game, but they served well enough that All-American setter Greichaly Cepero could not spread the offense. Cepero had to chase many errant passes that took her and the middles out of the attack.
All-Americans Amber Holmquist and Laura Pilakowski led the Nebraska attack with 17 kills each. Junior Anna Schrad finished with 10 kills.
"We served just tough enough," Shoji said. "We didn't get many aces, but they couldn't run every option in their offense."
Cook said that the Wahine were better able to play their style of volleyball. The Huskers rely on their block to win and have beaten most of their opponents that way. They average nearly four roofs a game, but had only 10 for the match.
As the Cornhuskers ran onto the court before the start of the match, the crowd rose to its feet and started a thunderous chant and clap. They were not nearly as loud by the end of the match, but they weren't silent either.
There were five ties in the first third of Game 1. Junior Nohea Tano started the Wahine off by going 4-for-4 on her first swings in the match. Hawaii led 15-14 at the media timeout and used a 4-2 run to distance itself from Nebraska.
The Wahine continued to separate themselves and withstood Nebraska's four-point charge at 28-21. Willoughby ricocheted a kill off Schrad's arm that nearly landed in the balcony to end the game.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Lisa Nakasone and Novie Vettemente celebrated at Players sports bar while watching yesterday's Hawaii-Nebraska match on TV. The Rainbow Wahine advanced to the final four.
Nebraska had only two blocks in the first game, but the Huskers made up for it in Game 2. Holmquist stuffed four balls and Schrad blocked three balls and put away five kills. The Huskers took a 5-2 lead after four kills and a Hawaii hitting error. The Wahine caught up at 6-6 after a kill by Willoughby. That was the closest Hawaii would be the rest of the game. The Wahine added five service errors to the four they had from the first game. There were seven other unforced errors, which would be too many to overcome.
Game 3 seesawed back and forth before Nebraska scored four points in a row to take a 17-15 lead. Hawaii tied the match at 19 and took a one-point lead after a Willoughby kill. The Wahine led 23-21 after a Cepero mis-set, but the Huskers rattled off three quick points.
Kahumoku was stuffed in a one-on-one opportunity by Cepero as Nebraska regained the lead at 24-23. That could have had a disastrous effect, but Hawaii called timeout and got a kill from Maja Gustin off a one-handed set by Margaret Vakasausau to start a five-point run.
Kahumoku made up for her missed opportunity by blasting three kills, the last of which brought the score to 28-25. Kahumoku's 20th and 21st kills gave Hawaii a 2-1 lead in the match.
"It's no fun getting blocked," Kahumoku said. "I tried to make the necessary adjustments and it worked out in my favor. The sets were pretty scattered all over the place. I'm fortunate enough that I could detach my arm from my body and do a lot of creative swings with my armswing."
Junior Hedder Ilustre scored Hawaii's first point of Game 4 with an ace. Two blocks by Jennifer Carey gave Hawaii a 5-2 lead. It was short-lived, as Nebraska used a 7-2 run to regain control of the game. The Wahine did not fold and went on an 8-1 run that put them up for good.
The Nebraska faithful had not witnessed a loss in their brick house in three years, but perhaps their supportive presence added to a match already weighed down by a ton of pressure.
"We felt like there was a lot of pressure on Nebraska," Shoji said. "We've been in that hosting position before of being the favorite. We knew there was pressure on the local home team. We thought we could free it up and relax and go and play loose and not worry about anything. And that's exactly what happened. They were a little tight and our kids just went for it."
Notes: With yesterday's win, Hawaii evened the series at 5-5. ... The Wahine are 7-7 in NCAA regional final matches.
Hawaii def. Nebraska
30-25, 25-30, 30-27, 30-21
Wahine (34-1) g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 10 Willoughby 4 25 14 64 .172 0 1 13 Tano 3 5 1 9 .444 0 0 2 Kahumoku 4 25 6 68 .279 0 0 16 Gustin 4 5 3 19 .105 0 3 4 Duggins 4 10 1 21 .429 0 3 7 Boogaard 3 1 0 5 .200 0 1 1 Carey 4 2 1 10 .100 0 4 1 Ilustre 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 18 Villaroman 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 19 Totals 4 73 26 196 .240 0 12 91 Cornhuskers (31-2) g k e att pct. bs ba d Cepero 4 4 1 14 .286 2 1 15 Holmquist 4 17 7 36 .000 0 4 0 Elmer 4 7 6 27 .111 0 3 3 Pilakowski 4 17 4 50 .100 0 1 9 Schrad 4 10 5 36 .167 1 3 15 Saleaumua 4 9 2 27 .130 0 2 12 Lynch 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Wischmeier 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 21 Dowling 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Rebholz 1 0 0 2 1.000 0 0 0 Totals 4 64 25 192 .124 3 14 77 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (2): Kahumoku, Ilustre. Nebraska (1): Pilakowski. Assists -- Hawaii (67): Vakasausau 32, Boogaard 2, Tano, Kahumoku, Duggins, Ilustre, Villaroman. Nebraska (56): Cepero 46, Saleaumua 4, Elmer, Pilakowski, Schrad, Lynch, Wischmeier, Rebholz.
T -- 2:10. Officials -- Michael Blalock, Mary Blalock. A -- 4,357
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