[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Nohea Tano blocked a Louisiana Tech hit last night at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Wahine swept.
Wahine
win ugly against
Louisiana TechUH extends its WAC streak
to 71 with a quick victory
over the Lady Techsters
There will come a point this season when the Hawaii volleyball team will not be able to get away with sloppy play. Nor will the No. 2 Rainbow Wahine be able to afford lapses in focus and still pull off a victory.
It likely will not come at home or against a Western Athletic Conference team any time soon. Hawaii's WAC winning streak -- now at 71 -- was never threatened last night by Louisiana Tech. Not seriously during a 30-21, 30-21 30-17 win that took 82 minutes.
Still, Hawaii (18-1, 6-0) was anything but sharp against LaTech (13-9, 2-4) in front of 5,411 at the Stan Sheriff Center last night. The Wahine had one senior All-American back in Kim Willoughby (strep throat last week), but were without another in Lily Kahumoku (back spasms) in earning their 17th straight victory this season.
They did not look good doing it. They knew it. And they know they'll have to play better tomorrow when taking on WAC Eastern Division leader SMU (15-4, 6-0) and nonconference foe Arizona on Sunday.
"There was a little bit of a lull on our side and they played well," said senior blocker Lauren Duggins, who had 12 kills in hitting .733. "We took a minibreak. But give them some credit, too. They had some runs."
But Hawaii had more, led by Willoughby's 17 kills. She had nine in Game 2 in moving up to No. 19 on the NCAA's all-time kill list (2,208).
"Our thoughts will always be different than the thoughts of the No. 2 team in the country," said Lady Techsters coach Heather Mazeitis. "We wanted it to be better than last year (a 30-15, 30-19, 30-16 loss). We've been struggling on offense. We wanted to hit positive and we did (.120).
"It's not so much what Hawaii does but who they are. They're big, they're better than last year and they're a legitimate national championship contender."
Tech was outblocked 14 1/2-2, with Duggins in on seven. The senior was playing in front of her mother and grandparents, who flew in from California, as well as students from her student-teaching education class.
"That motivates me," said Duggins. "And we tried not to have Lily being out with her back affect us.
"It's not that I was doing that well, it's more they had no block on me."
The Wahine had Tech's number when it came to Cristine Sant'Anna. The senior hitter came in hitting .263 and averaging 4.37 kills per game; last night, she hit negative .040 with six total kills but led the team in digs with 11.
"Most teams will key on her and Hawaii took her completely out of system," said Mazeitis. "And Lauren was simply hitting over our block."
In on four of Hawaii's blocks was sophomore hitter Susie Boogaard, who had a career-high 11 digs and tied her season high in kills with nine.
"At times it was ugly," said Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji. "Our passing wasn't real sharp. It's obviously that Lily wasn't there. The biggest difference is in the passing. She and Kim have been doing most of the passing.
"I think we'll be more into it mentally for SMU. When we're at a high energy level, we play well. Tonight, we did what we had to do, got everyone in and got the win."
Shoji expects Kahumoku to be back for tomorrow's match. She was bothered by back spasms that began last week and apparently were aggravated by the plane ride back to Hawaii on Sunday.
Kahumoku was having problems sitting for any length of time and was not on the bench last night.
Joy Okpa led Tech with eight kills.
Hawaii def. Louisiana Tech
30-21, 30-21, 30-17
LADY TECHSTERS (13-9, 2-4 WAC)
WAHINE (18-1, 6-0 WAC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Rush 3 4 2 20 .100 0 2 3 Jarvis 3 6 0 11 .545 0 0 1 Okpa 3 8 4 21 .190 0 0 5 Osterhaus 3 6 5 22 .045 0 0 1 Mora 3 4 2 8 .250 0 0 3 Sant'Anna 3 6 7 25 -.040 0 2 11 Sims 3 0 1 1 -1.000 0 0 2 Anderson 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Totals 3 34 21 108 .120 0 4 32
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 Boogaard 3 9 2 18 .389 1 3 11 Willoughby 3 17 4 32 .406 1 2 10 Tano 2 4 1 10 .300 1 2 3 Kamana'o 3 0 0 0 .000 0 2 10 Gustin 2 4 0 9 .444 0 1 2 Duggins 3 12 1 15 .733 1 6 1 Lundqvist 1 0 1 3 -.333 0 3 2 Arnott 2 4 2 9 .222 0 2 0 Eckmier 1 3 0 4 .750 0 0 1 Watanabe 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Thurlby 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Totals 3 53 11 100 .420 4 21 48
Aces -- Lady Techsters (3): Okpa 2, Rush. Wahine (4): Kamana'o 2, Gustin, Willoughby. Assists -- Lady Techsters (29): Mora 24, Sims, Anderson, Okpa, Jarvis, Rush. Wahine (48): Kamana'o 34, Thurlby 7, Tano 2, Boogaard, Willoughby, Gustin, Lundqvist, Eckmier.
T -- 1:22. Officials -- Ken Kitade, Denice Hanson. A --6377.
