FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Kim Willoughby had 22 kills last night as the Rainbow Wahine swept Wichita State at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Tano fills
a need as UH
beats WichitaThe senior contributes eight kills
from the right in the easy win
The missing piece of the Hawaii volleyball puzzle this season has been a solid right-side hitter.
The Rainbow Wahine may have taken a big step toward filling that void last night.
Senior Nohea Tano had a season-high eight kills and No. 2 Hawaii swept Wichita State 30-17, 30-20, 30-18 in the second match of the ninth Aston Imua Challenge at the Stan Sheriff Center.
"It's my senior year and I want to go out and play hard every chance I get," said Tano after the Wahine took just 80 minutes to win their fourth straight.
A crowd of 4,333 saw Hawaii senior hitter Kim Willoughby finish with 22 kills. She hit .724 with just one error. As a team, the Wahine hit .488.
In yesterday's opening match, Pacific needed 1 hour, 59 minutes to put away Baylor 32-30, 30-27, 24-30, 30-28.
Tonight's first match pits Pacific (2-0) against Wichita State (2-2) at 5 p.m., followed by Hawaii (5-1) against Baylor (3-2).
Last night was the first time in six matches the Wahine faced an unranked team. The Shockers, who upset then-No. 22 Washington State last week, didn't have another one in them.
Hawaii had a lot to do with that, playing very efficiently. At one point in Game 1, Willoughby had as many kills (six) as the entire Wichita State team.
The Wahine didn't commit a hitting error until their 24th swing, when Tano hit long. By then, it was 21-10.
"I'm very happy with Nohea and, combined with Susie (Boogaard), we got 10 kills from the right tonight," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji. "If we can get 10 kills from the right every night, we'll be very happy."
WSU coach Chris Lamb was just happy to get the chance to play Hawaii.
"If you don't push hard against a good team, you'll never know how good you are," said Lamb. "It was neat to see a really good team on the other side of the net.
"The difference tonight was one team came in expecting a win, the other was just hoping to play well. We did some good things and, after they think about it, I hope my team sees that it was pretty cool tonight. I'm glad we came when they still had Kim and Lily (Kahumoku). Those are two very special players."
Kahumoku, slowed by a strained thigh muscle, nearly didn't start. Shoji said he left it up to his senior All-American whether she wanted to play.
Kahumoku had just three kills and six digs in two games.
The Shockers were led by Sara Younes' 10 kills and two aces.
Hawaii had 11 aces, including three by Willoughby and three by freshman Alicia Arnott, who only played in Game 3.
Pacific 3, Baylor 1: The scouting report should have been simple enough: Stop Jennifer Joines. Easier said than done.
The Bears were able to slow the UOP senior blocker, but it wasn't enough. Joines, a three-time All-American, had a match-high 24 kills, including the match-ender.
"We looked like we were playing after a five-hour flight with three time changes," said Tiger coach Jayne Gibson McHugh, whose team upset No. 14 Santa Clara last week. "We were a step slow, we didn't block well, we didn't dig well. And that has to do with not having fresh legs."
Also in double-figure kills for the Tigers was Ashley Groothuis (12), while setter Hayley Anderson came up with 13 digs.
For the Bears, Tisha Schwartz put down 21 kills, while Desiree Guilliard-Young had 14 kills, hitting .500, and Stella Odion added 11 kills and 16 digs. Baylor outblocked UOP 6-2, and had the edge in digs (61-54) and kills (68-64).
Hawaii def. Wichita State
30-17, 30-20, 30-18
SHOCKERS (2-2) g k e att pct. bs ba d Younes 3 10 3 21 .333 0 1 1 Geer 3 2 2 10 .000 0 0 4 Moyer 3 0 3 3 -1.000 0 0 0 Vohs 3 6 4 13 .154 0 1 1 Meyers 3 2 1 12 .083 2 2 0 Meyer 3 4 1 10 .300 0 0 4 Brown 3 7 3 13 .308 0 0 3 Romano 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Whitcomb 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Ray 3 1 2 6 -.167 0 0 0 Augspurger 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 10 Hartig 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 32 19 88 .148 2 4 23
WAHINE (5-1) g k e att pct. bs ba d Willoughby 3 22 1 29 .724 1 3 4 Tano 2 8 1 10 .700 0 0 1 Kahumoku 2 3 2 14 .071 0 0 6 Kamana'o 3 1 0 2 .500 0 1 2 Gustin 2 6 0 7 .857 0 1 2 Duggins 3 4 2 11 .182 0 3 5 Boogaard 2 2 0 4 .500 0 0 1 Lundqvist 1 0 1 1 -1.000 1 1 0 Arnott 1 1 0 2 .500 0 0 1 Eckmier 1 1 1 2 .000 0 1 0 Watanabe 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Thurlby 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Woolford 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 3 48 8 82 .488 2 10 31 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Shockers (3): Younes 2, Brown. Hawaii (11): Willoughby 3, Arnott 3, Kamana'o 2, Kahumoku, Duggins, Watanabe. Assists -- Shockers (31): Moyer 17, Whitcomb 2, Hartig 12. Hawaii (45): Kamana'o 33, Thurlby 4, Tano 3, Villaroman 3, Kahumoku, Gustin.
T -- 1:20. Officials -- Dan Hironaka, Denice Hansen. A --6118.
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