[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Nohea Tano tried to hit through the Pacific block last night.
Wahine regroup
to beat TigersAfter dropping the first game
to Pacific, UH storms back
to grab the tournament title
The thud -- and it was a loud, reverberating one -- was not the sound of one of Kim Willoughby's service missiles smacking the Stan Sheriff Center court.
It was the sound of No. 2 Hawaii collectively falling flat early against unranked Pacific last night in the title match of the 9th Aston Imua Challenge. The Rainbow Wahine regrouped, picking themselves up and picking up their eighth Challenge title via a 27-30, 30-24, 30-18, 30-21 victory over the Tigers in front of 6,132.
In the third-place match, Wichita State topped Baylor 30-24, 25-30, 30-21, 30-23.
It was the sixth consecutive win for Hawaii (7-1) and upped the series advantage against UOP (3-1) to 34-25.
It was two hours and 14 minutes of typical UH-UOP volleyball.
It was anything but easy.
The Wahine needed 25 kills from tournament MVP Willoughby, 17 from co-captain Lauren Duggins and 16 from Lily Kahumoku to do it. Hawaii also got strong supporting performances from senior libero Melissa Villaroman (14 digs) as well as freshman Alicia Arnott and senior Karin Lundqvist off the bench.
"If you look at the scores, it looks like we had an easier time than we did," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "It felt like a hard match. We had to scratch for points.
"I wasn't real impressed with Pacific the first two nights, but Jayne (Tiger coach McHugh) got them ready for us and they completely turned their game around. We had to play hard for every point. I give them a lot of credit."
McHugh volleyed the compliment right back.
"Dave made some good adjustments, especially in Games 3 and 4," he said. "I've been in Lundqvist's shoes, been the No. 3 middle just waiting for a chance to play. And Alicia's going to be a very good player. She'll learn when to take the big swing and when to take the smart swing.
"Kim's going to hurt everybody, but they really got Duggins involved tonight."
It was a career night for Duggins, whose previous high was 10 kills.
"It was wonderful, especially since it was my parents' last night here," said Duggins, whose parents flew in from California for the past two weekends. "I certainly didn't want it to go five.
"Even after losing Game 1, we know that we have Kim and Lily. They saw what they were doing wrong and they fixed it. And our bench ... we have some amazing players that hardly get into games."
KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Lily Kahumoku hit one past UOP's Hayley Anderson.
UH freshman setter Kanoe Kamana'o also continued to impress, being in on four of UH's nine blocks to go along with 58 assists and 11 digs.
The Wahine came in hitting .359 for the season, a lofty .486 for the tournament. Hawaii came back down to Earth in Game 1, committing 11 hitting errors, including four UOP blocks, for a .116 hitting percentage.
Willoughby and Kahumoku combined for 11 of the Wahine's 16 kills in Game 1. By the end of Game 2, they had accounted for 23 of 36, and UH's hitting percentage had risen to .209.
The Wahine block also began to appear, going from a no-show in Game 1 to 4 1/2 blocks in Game 2. Hawaii finally began to get a handle on UOP's three-time All-American Jennifer Joines, slowing the senior middle down from .231 to .058 for the night.
Joines finished with 16 kills, the only Tiger in double-figure kills.
Hawaii hit .268 on the night to UOP's .119.
The Wahine were at .545 in Game 4, cruising with a seemingly comfortable 24-16 lead. The Tigers refused to go quietly, pulling to within 24-20 on Joines' serve.
But a UOP hitting error and service error put the Wahine up 26-20. Hawaii needed another two minutes to end it.
When asked to compare the current UH team to previous ones, McHugh said, "I think this (Hawaii) team is as good as any of them. When you look out and see five seniors and a freshman, you know this year they're going to be hard to deal with.
"And I think Kanoe is very athletic. She's one of the most athletic people at that position right now. Once she settles in, she's going to maybe end up setting some records here."
In the night's first match, Wichita State coach Chris Lamb said he saw the growth in his team as the Shockers opened the season on the road at Washington State and Hawaii.
"You've got to smell the roses and there's a lot of roses out there," he said.
The Shockers (3-3) also smelled success in defeating the Bears (3-4) behind a balanced attack. Jackie Brown led WSU with 12 kills while Sara Younes and Darci Vohs each had 11. Younes also had four of the Shockers' nine aces.
WSU had five blocks in Game 4 to help seal the win, finishing with a 14-10 edge over Baylor. Elizabeth Meyers was in on eight and Younes six.
Tisha Schwartz was the only Baylor player in double-figure kills with 17.
All-Tournament: Joining Willoughby were teammates Kahumoku and Duggins, UOP's Joines and Haley Anderson, Schwartz of Baylor and Wichita State's Sara Younes.
Notes: Hawaii will host the last of its four nonconference tournament with next week's Sprint Hawaii Invitational. Stanford takes on Weber State and Hawaii faces Utah State in Friday's first round. The tournament concludes Saturday ... A week of surprising scores included last night's win by No. 3 Florida at No. 4 Stanford. The Gators won in three, 30-17, 30-25, 30-18 ... Earlier in the week, Eastern Washington stunned No. 14 Long Beach State 3-1 and No. 11 Arizona lost twice, to No. 20 Santa Clara and unranked San Diego State.
Hawaii def. Pacific
27-30, 30-24, 30-18, 30-21
TIGERS (3-1) g k e att pct. bs ba d Anderson 4 4 0 14 .286 0 3 11 Rentz 4 8 2 20 .300 1 0 9 Joines 4 16 13 52 .058 3 1 13 Groothuis 4 5 7 31 -.065 0 1 8 Kalend 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Vinall 4 9 1 21 .381 0 2 2 Drollinger 1 1 1 3 .000 0 1 0 Terry 4 3 2 14 .071 0 4 0 Ianni 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Mussie 2 1 1 2 .000 0 0 1 Mordaunt 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 11 Knox 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Bennett 1 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 2 Totals 4 47 28 159 .119 14 2 61 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
WAHINE (7-1) g k e att pct. bs ba d Willoughby 4 25 5 52 .385 1 1 17 Tano 2 1 3 7 -.286 0 0 4 Kahumoku 4 16 8 49 .163 2 0 8 Kamana'o 4 1 2 6 -.167 4 0 11 Gustin 2 4 3 10 .100 0 0 2 Duggins 4 17 4 23 .565 3 0 9 Boogaard 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Lundqvist 3 3 0 7 .429 4 1 1 Arnott 4 4 2 10 .200 1 0 7 Thurlby 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 14 Totals 4 71 27 164 .268 15 2 73
Aces -- Tigers (2): Rentz, Groothuis. Hawaii (8): Kahumoku 2, Willoughby, Kamanao, Gustin, Duggins, Lundqvist, Arnott. Assists -- Tigers (41): Anderson 36, Ianni 3, Rentz 1, Mordaunt 1. Hawaii (66): Kamana'o 58, Kahumoku 3, Tano 2, Thurlby 2, Willoughby 1.
T -- 2:14. Officials -- Denice Hansen, Ernest Ho. A --7428.
