[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Nohea Tano yelled as she celebrated a point last night against UNLV. The Rainbow Wahine went on to sweep the Rebels.
UH sweeps UNLV
Hawaii needs just 84 minutes
to defeat former UH star
Dietre Collins’ Rebels
It's not an easy place for visiting teams to play.
The Stan Sheriff Center is imposing and overwhelming, both in size and in the size of the crowds that come to watch volleyball. Most opponents will play in front of an audience that is not only the largest of their season but also larger than the rest of their matches combined.
And it sure doesn't help when the home team is ranked No. 2.
Hawaii welcomed back one of its all-time great players last night in Deitre Collins. Then the Rainbow Wahine promptly dismantled Collins' UNLV team.
In its quickest match of the year, Hawaii needed just 84 minutes to sweep UNLV 30-16, 30-9, 30-22 in front of 6,104. The Wahine (11-1) won their 10th in a row and, in doing so, improved their home record to 171-14 since the arena opened in 1994.
The Game 2 score was the first time since last Nov. 9 when facing Boise State that Hawaii held an opponent to single digits. The Wahine did it by hitting .692 to the Rebels' .000, and getting a combined 13 kills from senior All-Americans Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku.
Willoughby finished with 15 kills, hitting .560 with just one error, and 10 digs in playing just two games.
"Wow, she's going to be Player of the Year, isn't she?" said UNLV freshman setter Tamara Kauliakamoa, pressed into service when junior setter Nicki King was injured in Thursday's loss to Loyola Marymount. "My goal was to touch the balls she hit (when blocking at the net). I think I touched two. Her back-row kills are like she's playing in the front row.
"Hawaii ... they're awesome. I was nervous, but it was everything I thought it would be."
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Former Wahine star Deitre Collins, now UNLV'S head coach, talked strategy with Nina Franchini last night.
Kauliakamoa, who was born in Honolulu, had hoped to play for the Wahine. But she knew she'd be at least third on the depth chart at defensive specialist and decided to stay in Las Vegas, where the family moved when she was 8 years old.
"Considering we didn't spend much time with her in practice, I thought she did a nice job," Collins said. "What a match to be thrown into, a big crowd and playing against Hawaii.
"We did some good things, thought we stayed in some rallies. I'm not happy with the score. A lot of times we kept shooting ourselves in the foot with our own mistakes."
UNLV (6-5) knew it was in for a short night on the very first play of the match. Willoughby's reflex dig ricocheted over the net for a 1-0 lead.
The Rebels fell behind 10-1 and it took them 16 swings to record their first kill, when Sheila Ocasio-Clemente put the ball down to make it 12-4.
By the end of Game 1, Willoughby had as many kills (nine) as the entire Rebel team. The Wahine also had 25 of their 53 digs.
The first time UNLV led in the match was at 4-3 in Game 3 on Patricia Assuncao's ace. The Rebels enjoyed leads of 14-10 and 16-13 against the Wahine's second team.
Hawaii scored five unanswered points -- on a kill by Susie Boogaard and two kills each by Karin Lundqvist and Alicia Arnott -- to go ahead at 18-16. UNLV rallied to tie it at 18 and again at 21.
Shoji called his first timeout of the match. The Wahine responded with a 9-1 run to close it out, including a resounding block of Assuncao by Nohea Tano and Melody Eckmeir on match point.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Lily Kahumoku tried to hit one past UNLV's Kari Gregory last night.
"The difference is Dave's second team plays against Kim and Lily every day in practice," said Collins. "They see the best every day and they're much better because of that. Their second string would be first string at a lot of places.
"Our first string is playing against our coaching staff. Matt (assistant coach Johnson) was serving in practice, saying he thought he was getting close to what Kim could do."
Willoughby was the only player in the match in double-figure kills. Kahumoku finished with nine. Leiana Oswald led UNLV with nine kills.
"We got a chance to play a lot of people," Shoji said. "We played at a high level for two games and that's what we wanted to do.
"So far this season, we had some ups and downs, but we rallied when we needed to rally, and won when we needed to win. Think we've improved since our first match and that's all we can ask."
Hawaii next heads out on its first road trip. The Wahine open conference play Thursday at San Jose State, where they will put their WAC 65-match regular-season winning streak on the line.
Hawaii def. UNLV
30-16, 30-9, 30-22
Rebels (6-5) g k e att pct. bs ba d Assunaco 3 5 4 23 .043 0 3 6 Oswald 3 9 2 35 .200 0 0 3 Kauliakamoa 3 1 1 3 .000 0 0 5 Ocasio-Clemente 3 5 3 14 .143 0 2 0 Keith 3 4 5 19 -.053 0 0 3 Johnson 3 2 2 10 .000 1 1 1 Koochi 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Banks 1 0 1 3 -.333 0 0 0 Franchini 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Totals 3 26 18 107 .075 1 6 27 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Wahine (11-1) g k e att pct. bs ba d Willoughby 2 15 1 25 .560 2 1 10 Tano 2 5 0 8 .625 0 4 6 Kahumoku 2 9 1 17 .471 0 0 7 Kamana'o 2 0 0 2 .000 0 1 6 Gustin 2 5 1 9 .444 0 0 3 Duggins 2 5 0 5 1.000 0 3 6 Boogard 2 4 2 7 .286 0 0 2 Lundqvist 1 4 0 65 .667 0 0 0 Arnott 1 4 3 11 .091 0 0 1 Eckmier 1 2 1 5 .200 1 3 0 Watanabe 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Thurlby 1 1 1 2 .000 0 0 2 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Totals 3 54 10 97 .454 3 12 53
Aces -- Rebels (2): Kauliakamoa, Ocasio-Clemente. Wahine (5): Kahumoku, Kamana'o, Thurlby, Lundqvist, Eckmier. Assists -- Rebels (23): Kauliakamoa 21, Banks, Franchini. Wahine (48): Kamana'0 26, Thurlby 14, Boogard 3, Tano 2, Willoughby, Kahumoku, Gustin.
T -- 1:24. Officials -- Denise Hanson, Ernie Ho. A -- 7,419.
