[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Lily Kahumoku tried to hit past SMU's Jessica Mihm last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
UH gets jewelry
and WAC victoryThe Wahine end SMU’s
10-match win streak and
extend their WAC streak to 72
They received their commemorative conference championship bracelets prior to last night's volleyball match. It took another 85 minutes before Hawaii was able to put the handcuffs on SMU.
The No. 2 Rainbow Wahine survived a Game 1 scare before wearing down the Mustangs 30-25, 30-19, 30-18. A crowd of 6,636 saw Hawaii (19-1, 7-0) win its 18th straight and extend its Western Athletic Conference streak to 72 after handing SMU (15-5, 6-1) its first Eastern Division loss.
Kim Willoughby overcame a slow start to finish with 17 kills, the only Wahine in double figures for kills. Lily Kahumoku, who missed Thursday's match and Friday's practice with back spasms, had a team-high 10 digs and was in on two of Hawaii's 11 blocks.
Perhaps giving the Mustangs the most trouble were Lauren Duggins (eight kills, four assisted blocks) and Maja Gustin (seven kills, .412, five block assists).
"What tonight proved to me was we can slow down Kim and Lily, but the multiple attack of Lauren and Gustin is what we need to work on for when -- hopefully -- we see them again (at the WAC tournament)," said SMU coach Lisa Seifert after seeing her team's 10-match winning streak end. "Lauren is so fast, her foot-speed and her arm swing and then you have someone like Maja ... it's a pretty diverse offense.
"What I was thinking during Game 1 was 'We could play.' I was really proud, we came out with confidence and emotion. But as the match wore on, I felt like I was begging for that. What we talked about (after the match) was that when teams are championship teams, they get better as the match progresses. Hawaii got better and they adjusted. We didn't."
It took awhile for the Wahine to adjust in both Games 1 and 2.
SMU, the WAC dig leader (18.91 dpg) and ranked 11th nationally, frustrated Hawaii early and often in Game 1. It took Willoughby 11 swings before she put down her first kill, pulling the Wahine to 7-3.
Duggins had the first of several long serving runs, giving Hawaii its first lead at 11-10 after a skein of four points. The Mustangs rallied for a 15-14 lead at the first timeout, the first time in 10 matches the Wahine trailed at the break.
SMU held a 20-18 advantage before a kill by Duggins, a Mustang hitting error and Kahumoku's ace put Hawaii in control. Kahumoku continued to serve during a 7-0 run; when Ashley Zener stuffed Duggins for a point, the Mustangs trailed 25-21.
They never got closer than four points with Nohea Tano's quick-set kill ending it.
It was a similar pattern in Game 2. SMU led 10-7 before Willoughby's kill jump-started a 6-0 run that put the Wahine ahead for good at 13-10. The largest margin was at 26-15. Willoughby's second ace finished Game 2 and began SMU's slide.
The Mustangs simply unraveled in Game 3 with Seifert calling a timeout while trailing 9-4. At 14-7, Duggins served for an 8-0 run that was punctuated by setter Kanoe Kamana'o's slam of an overpass, a move that had UH coach Dave Shoji smiling.
It was 25-9 when SMU "saw the point spread and I think they were embarrassed," said Seifert. "We picked up some points at the end because of that, and also with their substitutions. And this is a tough place to play.
"It's a great volleyball environment. It's an experience. This place is a dynasty and Dave has built what every other coach in the country dreams of."
Beth Karasek led the Mustangs with 11 kills but had 10 errors. Jacky Niederstadt finished with 10 kills, five coming in Game 3. SMU hit .107 to Hawaii's .254. The Wahine had the edge in digs 56-53.
"They're a good digging team and we knew that coming in," said Shoji. "They played spirited defense and that's what made it so much fun, when the ball kept coming up. I thought we were really patient. We were hitting negative for a while. We have veterans and they know if they hang in there, they can come back."
Shoji said he decided not to use Kahumoku in Game 3.
"Lily is about 80 percent, but we thought she needed to play a little tonight if she was going to be effective tomorrow," Shoji said of today's 5 p.m. match with Arizona. "We wanted to see her out there tonight. I thought she played great defense.
"Arizona is going to be a different match. We'll be outsized against them. And we have to find a way to slow (Kim) Glass down."
Arizona sophomore hitter Glass had 30 kills in Friday's 30-24, 30-28, 30-27 win over Oregon State, setting a school record for a three-game rally scoring match.
Note: In other WAC matches yesterday, Rice defeated Tulsa in five, 30-25, 30-32, 25-30, 30-20, 17-15; Nevada swept Boise State 30-23, 30-24, 30-25; San Jose State downed Louisiana Tech 31-29, 30-28, 30-23; and Fresno State beat UTEP 30-10, 23-30, 30-23, 30-25.
Hawaii def. SMU
30-25, 30-19, 30-18
MUSTANGS (15-5, 6-1 WAC)
WAHINE (19-1, 7-0 WAC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Mihm 3 3 1 4 .500 0 3 12 Zener 3 0 4 9 -.444 3 1 3 Niederstadt 3 10 4 34 .176 0 0 10 Larkan 3 8 4 21 .190 0 3 7 Holder 3 6 1 14 .357 0 1 0 Karasek 3 11 10 49 .020 0 1 16 Erazmus 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Evanco 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Totals 3 38 24 131 .107 3 9 53
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 Willoughby 3 17 7 42 .238 0 1 7 Tano 2 3 2 9 .111 0 1 5 Kahumoku 2 3 3 16 .000 0 2 10 Kamana'o 3 2 0 4 .500 0 5 7 Gustin 3 7 0 17 .412 0 5 3 Duggins 3 8 2 17 .353 0 4 4 Boogard 2 5 1 8 .500 0 1 3 Lundqvist 1 1 0 4 .250 0 2 2 Arnott 1 2 0 7 .286 0 1 2 Eckmier 1 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 1 Watanabe 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Thurlby 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Totals 3 48 16 126 .254 0 22 56
Aces -- Mustangs (1): Karasek. Hawaii (7): Duggins 2, Willoughby 2, Gustin, Kahumoku, Kamana'o. Assists -- Mustangs (37): Mihm 34, Erazmus 3. Hawaii (44): Kamana'o 31, Thurlby 6, Kahumoku 3, Gustin 2, Lundqvist, Tano.
T -- 1:25. Officials -- Ken Kitade, Dan Hironaka. A -- 6,636.
