[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
Kahumoku, Wahine
keep rolling
against BSUHawaii is back at full strength,
and looked like it, running
its WAC streak to 75
Four years ago, Dave Shoji picked up his 700th career win when Hawaii easily swept host Fresno State on Oct. 30.
Lily Kahumoku was in her first year as a Rainbow Wahine, but was well on her way to Western Athletic Conference fame as the freshman of the year.
Little has changed in the 128 matches since.
Last night, Hawaii again picked up a quick win. And Kahumoku, back from a week of resting a sore back, was her solid, senior self.
Kahumoku had 11 kills with no errors in playing the first two games to help the No. 2 Wahine to a 30-20, 30-20, 30-25 victory over Boise State at the Stan Sheriff Center. A turnstile crowd of 4,739 saw Hawaii take only 86 minutes to run its WAC winning streak to 75 and hand the Broncos their 10th straight loss.
Kim Willoughby, who didn't make the trip to play Boise State on Oct. 9, more than made up for it. The senior hitter had eight kills through Game 2; she doubled her total with eight kills in Game 3 to finish with 16 for Hawaii (24-1, 10-0).
Cameron Flunder led Boise State (5-20, 1-9) with 11 kills. The Broncos finished 0-9 for October, and haven't won since their WAC opener against Louisiana Tech in five.
"It was kind of what I expected," said BSU coach Scott Sandel. "We're a young team, playing a lot of freshmen, and we committed a lot of unforced errors.
"Playing against Hawaii, one of the best teams in the country, is not about wins and losses, it's about playing as hard as we can. I thought our kids did a nice job in Game 3, but Dave also didn't have his best unit out there."
Kahumoku was on the bench, sitting on her career-record hitting percentage of .846. It was the best percentage since rally scoring was put into play for the entire match (2001), and also the sixth-best all-time for a Wahine hitter.
"It was nice to be back and we were all happy to play at home," said Kahumoku, who had 11 kills on 13 swings. "We know that we only have one match left at home (before the NCAA tournament) and that will be senior night (Nov. 15).
"I think I played pretty well. Our goal was to be done by 8:30 tonight. Halloween is a big night and we wanted to be rested for that."
As scary as Kahumoku's percentage was, the costumes planned for tonight may top that. In honor of the NCAA final four being held in Dallas, a number of the Wahine will be dressed up as Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders.
Shoji laughed at the thought when told of the plan. Laughing was also what his team did last night as they enjoyed being back at home after playing three matches in three days in three states last week.
"It's probably the most relaxed and fun match we've had this year," said Shoji. "Even after we made mistakes, we laughed it off, which hasn't happened this year.
"Lily was happy to be playing again and that's a pretty awesome hitting percentage. I'm looking at some pretty amazing stats."
The one that stood out the most was the 10 team hitting errors, spread out among three seniors. Willoughby had eight of them; Maja Gustin and Lauren Duggins had one each in combining for 13 kills.
The Wahine hit .440, putting down 54 kills in 100 swings. Hawaii outblocked Boise State 6-2, with freshman setter Kanoe Kamana'o having a career night with two solo and two block assists.
With Kahumoku out in Game 3, Willoughby was the offense early. She accounted for seven of Hawaii's first 10 points, on four kills and three consecutive service aces.
The Broncos rallied from 20-15 to pull to 27-24. But that was as close as Boise State came as the Wahine used a 3-1 run to close it out, including getting two kills from freshman Alicia Arnott.
The Wahine have two matches on the road next week, at Nevada Nov. 6 and at Fresno State No. 9.
Note: In WAC matches last night, Rice upset Southern Methodist 31-29, 30-22, 30-22. It was the first Eastern Division loss for the Mustangs in five matches this season. Also, Louisiana Tech outlasted Tulsa 35-33, 34-32, 30-26.
Hawaii def. Boise State
30-20, 30-20, 30-25
Broncos (5-20, 1-9 WAC)
WAHINE (24-1, 10-0 WAC)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Young 3 9 7 28 .071 0 0 6 Ellis 3 1 0 4 .250 0 1 2 Melvin 3 4 0 9 .444 0 1 4 Flunder 3 11 3 25 .320 0 2 0 Moore 3 5 1 8 .500 0 0 0 Johnson 3 0 2 6 -.333 0 0 2 Bennett 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 4 Childress 3 9 3 18 .333 0 0 3 Tranter 3 0 1 1 -1.000 0 0 12 Totals 3 39 17 99 .222 0 4 33
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 16 8 34 .235 0 0 6 Tano 2 2 0 5 .400 0 1 0 Kahumoku 2 11 0 13 .846 0 0 4 Kamana'o 2 1 0 1 1.000 2 2 2 Gustin 2 6 1 11 .455 0 2 1 Duggins 2 7 1 13 .462 0 1 4 Boogaard 2 3 0 7 .429 0 0 2 Lundqvist 1 1 0 4 .250 0 0 1 Arnott 1 5 0 6 .833 0 0 2 Eckmier 1 2 0 6 .333 0 0 0 Watanabe 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Thurlby 1 0 0 0 .000 1 0 1 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Totals 3 54 10 100 .440 3 6 34
Aces -- Broncos (3): Bennett 2, Young. Hawaii (6): Willoughby 3, Kahumoku, Duggins, Watanabe. Assists -- Broncos (38): Melvin 32, Tranter 3, Young 2, Johnson. Hawaii (47): Kamana'o 28, Thurlby 16, Tano, Arnott, Villaroman.
T -- 1:26. Officials -- John Martin, Denice Hanson. A -- 4,739.
