[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
Willoughby turns
it up at home
BATON ROUGE, La. >> The trophy case at Assumption High School, some 45 minutes south of here, is divided in half. One side is football, the other volleyball, a testament to the success of the Mustangs in those two fall sports.
Last night, there was a division of sorts along the same lines. It was homecoming at Assumption High in football and it was homecoming here at the LSU campus for one of the most celebrated athletes to wear a Lady Mustang volleyball jersey.
Kim Willoughby didn't disappoint the crowd of 1,313 who turned out for the "Louisiana Luau" at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The senior All-American hitter put down a match-high 18 kills and added 10 digs to lead the second-ranked Hawaii volleyball team to a 30-13, 30-23, 30-22 win over LSU in an hour and 26 minutes.
It was the sixth-largest crowd ever to see an LSU volleyball match. The Tigers' previous attendance high this season was 394.
"It was awesome to be back home," said Willoughby, who moved up to No. 9 on the NCAA all-time kill list with 2,295. "I hope it was fun for the fans. There were a lot of people from my high school here."
"And there would have been more, except that it was homecoming at the high school," said Rainbow Wahine coach Dave Shoji. "Still, it was a nice crowd and it was on regional TV. A lot of people from Kim's town (Napoleonville, population 700) came and a lot of junior high players were here. I think she turned it up a notch tonight.
"Overall, we played rather efficiently, especially in Game 3, where we had no hitting errors (17 kills on 29 swings, hitting .586). That's a game where we sometimes get too loose. We didn't tonight."
What Hawaii got was its 20th consecutive victory and its 18th sweep. The Wahine (22-1, 8-0 Western Athletic Conference) put their WAC winning streak of 73 on the line today at Tulsa (11-10, 2-6). Match time is 2 p.m. Hawaii time.
LSU, which started five freshmen, fell to 9-13. Junior middle Regan Hood and freshman hitter Markeisha Constant each had nine kills to lead the Tigers.
For the first time this season, Hawaii had no service aces.
The Wahine outblocked the Tigers 8-1, with senior middle Lauren Duggins in on seven. Senior middle Maja Gustin added seven kills in two games, with no errors, hitting .538.
Hawaii didn't have much time to prepare for LSU, having played at Rice on Thursday night. Yesterday's five-hour bus ride from Houston included the scouting video, shown on the bus's VCR.
"It was the perfect way to do it," Shoji said.
The Tigers didn't give the Wahine much trouble in Game 1, but began playing better in Game 2. LSU took its first lead of the match at 8-7, when Willoughby hit wide, and stayed close until trailing 19-17.
Consecutive kills by Willoughby and Duggins, an LSU hitting error and a kill by Gustin gave Hawaii a 23-17 cushion. The Tigers pulled to within 26-22 on their only block of the game -- a stuff of Duggins by Lauren Leaumont and Megan Heinz -- but the Wahine pulled away with a 4-0 run, highlighted by Willoughby and Gustin teaming for a block to end Game 2.
Game 3 followed a similar pattern, with LSU leading early 13-11. At 14-14, Nohea Tano's two kills book-ended three Wahine blocks as UH built a lead.
The Tigers again pulled to 26-22 but gave up the four deciding points on a service error, a block of Heinz and two hitting errors.
"LSU is a couple of years away from being a good team," Shoji said. "They played well at times but, with five freshmen starting, they're just too inexperienced.
"I don't think we had a lot of energy tonight. Most teams might not have wanted to play after five hours on the bus, but our players always seem to show up."
The Wahine have a morning flight to Tulsa today and will return to Honolulu tomorrow.
Hawaii def. LSU
30-13, 30-23, 30-22
TIGERS (9-13)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Hood 3 9 3 28 .214 0 0 8 Leaumont 3 7 5 26 .077 0 1 4 Clark 2 3 2 12 .083 0 0 0 Mikulik 3 7 4 16 .188 0 0 6 Romero 3 2 4 7 -.286 0 0 7 Constant 3 9 6 23 .130 0 0 2 Ruttley 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Heinz 2 6 5 21 .048 0 1 1 Causey 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Cowley 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Pittman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Totals 3 43 29 133 .105 0 2 37 WAHINE (22-1, 8-0 WAC)
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 2 5 2 16 .188 0 1 4 Willoughby 3 18 3 29 .517 0 2 10 Tano 3 9 3 16 .375 0 2 4 Kamana'o 3 0 1 1 -1.000 0 0 6 Gustin 2 7 0 13 .538 0 1 5 Duggins 3 7 3 22 .182 2 5 2 Lundqvist 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 3 Arnott 1 3 0 8 .375 0 1 5 Eckmier 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Thurlby 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Totals 3 50 12 107 .355 2 12 47
Aces -- Tigers (1): Heinz. Wahine (0). Assists -- Tigers (39): Romero 36, Cowley 2, Leaumont. Wahine (47): Kamana'o 41, Tano 3, Thurlby 3.
T -- 1:26. Officials -- John Cline, Steve Owen. A -- 1,313.
