ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawaii's Lily Kahumoku hit the ball over Stanford's Jennifer Harvey and Anna Robinson during yesterday's semifinal match in New Orleans. Stanford beat the Wahine for the seventh straight time in a sweep to advance to the title match against USC.
NEW ORLEANS >> For all the magic and momentum No. 2 Hawaii had in defeating a powerful Nebraska team last week, the Rainbow Wahine couldn't find a similar spell to pull the trick against No. 3 Stanford.
Stanford beats Hawaii
Tom shows versatility
for the second time this season
to earn a spot in the title match
USC advances
Game statsBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comThe Cardinal played unexpected but excellent defense to sweep the Rainbow Wahine 30-25, 30-27, 30-24. Hawaii finishes the season at 34-2. Both losses this year were to the Cardinal.
Stanford (33-4) advances to its 10th NCAA final and will try to defend its national title tomorrow against top-ranked USC.
"We're all real disappointed in the results of the match," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "But hats off to Stanford. They made the plays in the end and we didn't. We were in position in all three games to make a few plays and pull ahead and we just didn't convert.
"The last sequence of plays in the third game pretty much typified the match. They made some huge plays, great defensive plays and made the transition for some points. We just couldn't do that. We had our chances to convert defense to offense."
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Stanford's Ogonna Nnamani was congratulated by Hawaii's Kim Willoughby after yesterday's match in New Orleans. Stanford swept Hawaii to advance to the championship match Saturday. Willoughby had a match-high 22 kills but only hit .136.
Hawaii did a decent defensive job with 65 digs and nine blocks. Junior Maja Gustin had a hand in eight of the Wahine's nine blocks, but she struggled with her hitting. Gustin finished with six kills and six errors and was a prime example of the Wahine's offensive woes.
Hawaii's usually overpowering offense never managed to get out of first gear. The Rainbow Wahine were stifled by a Cardinal block and a scrambling defense behind it that was better than usual. Stanford shut down and frustrated the Wahine with 11 blocks and 58 digs. Hawaii hit .117 -- its lowest percentage of the season -- and had 10 errors in each game.
Junior All-American Kim Willoughby sprayed 22 kills in 66 swings in an offense that seemed reminiscent of last season, when every ball was set her way. Willoughby hit. 136 in the match and her All-American counterpart, Lily Kahumoku, fared only slightly better, with 10 kills and a .194 hitting percentage.
"They played tremendous defense in the back court," said a weakened Kahumoku, who fought off a bout with the flu. "Bodies were flying and balls were coming up. They made the plays."
Olympian Logan Tom played her best volleyball on defense. Tom hustled everywhere for 21 digs. She also had 13 kills and two aces. Sophomore Ogonna Nnamani lowered the boom on Hawaii with 15 kills.
It was not Hawaii's best effort overall and that was due in part to Kahumoku's illness. Kahumoku said she felt OK, but admitted her energy level was not where it usually is.
Shoji thought differently.
"Lily was not 100 percent," he said. "That was obvious. She tried as hard as she could go, but I think she was weak. She didn't have enough pace on the ball tonight.
"She had to resort to more shots and that wasn't the real Lily out there. She won't make any excuses for herself. She's a force, but a little slow tonight."
Kahumoku wasn't the only sluggish one. The first point of the match was an indication that Hawaii's game wasn't fully on track and it never found the aggressiveness it needed.
Stanford middle blocker Sara McGee's float serve dropped untouched as the Wahine shouted at each other to go for the ball. The Cardinal had a quick 3-0 lead after that, but the Wahine responded with four straight points, including two Kahumoku kills and a block. The game went back and forth before the Cardinal pulled ahead 19-13.
Hawaii battled back and was within a point at 26-25 after a solo block by Willoughby. But Stanford shut the door after a timeout with a kill by Tom and three Wahine errors.
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Stanford's Ogonna Nnamani hit a soft shot over the net as Hawaii's Jennifer Carey and Maja Gustin tried to block her yesterday in Game 2. Stanford swept the Wahine to earn a spot in tomorrow's title game.
After eight ties in Game 2, the Wahine stuffed four balls during an 8-2 run to go up 18-13. But they let the lead slip away. Stanford knotted the score at 24 after a Willoughby hitting error.
The momentum swung hugely in Stanford's favor three plays later after a touch was called on Hawaii on a Nnamani attack that was headed out of bounds. (Television replays showed that libero Melissa Villaroman didn't contact the ball, but the ruling was made based on a block at the net.) The point went to Stanford, which still trailed 26-25. The Cardinal scored the next four points on three blocks by Nnamani and an ace by Ashley Ivy. The game ended on Nnamani's 10th kill of the match.
Shoji said the call was a momentum buster, but he added that Hawaii got tentative, too.
"At that point, we got a lead," Shoji said. "Instead of trying to make another run, it was just trying to sideout. We lost a little bit of aggressiveness.
"I heard some people saying, 'Let's get a sideout, let's stay with them,' when we were ahead. The attitude was maybe the wrong one. We needed to be a little more aggressive and score some real points. One or two more and we win Game 2. We just couldn't convert."
At 23-23 in Game 3, Hawaii suffered a six-point collapse when it couldn't put away a ball and Tom connected on three kills. Hawaii managed one more point on a Stanford service error before Gustin hit long to end the match.
The Cardinal weren't at their best, but they were better when it counted.
"I'm happy to be sitting here," Cardinal coach John Dunning said. "At this point, we feel lucky. We had moments where we were playing less than perfectly. But we all know that in our program that we're not about playing perfect, we're about playing to win. At the key moments, we did that."
Notes: Rainbow Wahine seniors Jennifer Carey and Margaret Vakasausau ended their careers at 122-12. Neither were available for comment after the match. ... Hawaii is 33-0 in matches when it wins the first game. The Wahine are 1-2 when they lose Game 1. ... The Wahine have not beaten the Cardinal since 1991, an 11-year streak of seven matches. Hawaii's record in the NCAA tournament is 50-18. ... If Stanford wins tomorrow, it would be the fourth time in NCAA history that a team has defended its national title. Hawaii and Pacific repeated as champions in the 1980s, while the Cardinal did it in 1996-97. The Cardinal already own an NCAA record five national championships.
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NEW ORLEANS >> The talk earlier this week was about Logan Tom's ability to butcher a block and hit every shot in the book when it counts. Tom shows versatility
By Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comHawaii coach Dave Shoji feared her ability to elevate to another level and dominate a match late in the game. Well, the Stanford senior caused every bit of trouble he thought possible, but Tom didn't do it the way most expected.
Tom played spectacular defense, scrambling all over the court to finish with more digs than kills (21 digs, 13 kills). The Olympian seemed to cover the whole court and was outstanding in stopping Hawaii All-American Kim Willoughby and slowing Hawaii's offense.
"They played great defense," said Willoughby, whose face was stained with tears. "And then when you're hitting at an Olympian, when you're hitting a ball at Logan Tom, of course she's going to dig it."
Stanford defeated Hawaii 30-25, 30-27, 30-24 yesterday in the NCAA semifinals. Tom will play in the third NCAA final of her career and has a chance to help the Cardinal win back-to-back titles.
"They just made some unbelievable defensive plays. We still outdug them," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "I don't think they're a great defensive team. They're not necessarily known for their defense. They certainly made the plays when they had to and Logan was in on most of that stuff.
"Logan Tom, at the end of a match, will take over, and she did. I was hoping it wouldn't happen and you can see the quality of her play when it counts and the match is on the line."
Tom readily says that she had help in frustrating Willoughby, who had 22 kills, but also had 13 errors.
"Kim Willoughby is a great player," said Tom, who had a lei around her neck that she received from her father, Melvyn, and her auntie. "I have all the respect in the world for her. She can go far, far beyond college. With a player like that, she's going to get kills.
"You just want to try to pick up anything you can, whether it's a touch or if you run down balls. I was lucky our block did a good job. It was easy to read around the block."
Besides her defense, Tom fearlessly cranked jump serves in tight situations. Stanford and Hawaii were tied 10-10 in Game 3 when she took over from the service line. Two aces later the damage was done and the Cardinal would be headed to another NCAA final.
With the score 23-23, Tom finished off the Wahine during a six-point blitz with four kills. The senior will likely be named the Player of the Year again today at the All-America banquet.
"At the end of the game, Logan really cranked it up defensively and serving, and that was very much a key for us. It's a miracle to get (Willoughby) to hit .136," Stanford coach John Dunning said. "She can get so high and so easily hits it so hard. The only advantage we have is that we have some blockers who block very high."
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NEW ORLEANS >> Southern California defeated fourth-seeded Florida 24-30, 30-25, 30-26, 30-24 in the other NCAA championship semifinal last night. USC advances
to title matchAssociated Press
The Women of Troy were led by Keao Burdine with 16 kills, while Nicole Davis contributed 13 digs. Emily Adams hit .476 in the match and buried 11 kills and April Ross had 13.
Aury Cruz led the Gators, who finished 34-3, with 19 kills.
Southern California will meet Stanford in the NCAA championship match.
Stanford (33-4) and Southern California (30-1) met twice during the regular season and each team won a five-game match on the road.
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30-25, 30-27, 30-24 Stanford def. Hawaii
STANFORD (33-5)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Robinson 3 0 1 5 -.200 0 2 4 McGee 3 10 4 21 .286 1 4 2 Yamasaki 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 8 Ivy 3 6 2 18 .222 0 1 6 Tom 3 13 2 41 .268 1 1 21 Harvey 3 1 5 8 -.500 0 3 0 Nnamani 3 15 5 39 .256 2 3 5 Dukes 2 2 0 4 .500 0 0 0 Hall 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Schultz 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 48 19 137 .212 4 14 58
WAHINE (31-1)
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
g k e att pct. bs ba d Vakasausau 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Willoughby 3 22 13 66 .136 1 3 11 Tano 3 2 1 3 .333 0 1 0 Kahumoku 3 10 3 36 .194 0 1 14 Gustin 3 6 6 15 .000 0 3 3 Duggins 3 6 5 16 .062 0 0 5 Boogaard 2 0 1 4 -.250 0 1 0 Carey 3 1 1 4 .000 0 2 1 Ilustre 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Villaroman 3 0 0 1 .000 0 0 17 Totals 3 47 30 145 .117 1 16 65
Aces -- Hawaii (3): Illustre 2, Willoughby. Stanford(5): Tom 2, Ivy 2, McGee. Assists -- Hawaii (42): Carey 22, Vakasausau 15, Willoughby 2, Kahumoku 2, Tano. Stanford (43): Robinson 39, Ivy, Tom, Harvey, Nnamani.
T -- 1:42. Officials -- Joan Powell, Tana Martin. A -- N/A.
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