[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
Wahine dump
Nevada, reach
WAC final
RENO, Nev. >> The Hawaiian flag was waving.
The ti leaves were waving.
Not that there needed to be any extra cold air added to the already chilly atmosphere of the Virginia Street Gym. The game-time temperature inside was a cool 69 degrees last night.
However, it quickly warmed up.
It was Hawaii that brought the heat.
The No. 2-ranked Rainbow Wahine played about as well as they have all season, needing just 72 minutes -- one minute off the tournament record -- to crush host Nevada 30-16, 30-19 30-17 in the second semifinal of the Western Athletic Conference women's volleyball tournament.
Hawaii (29-1) will take on surprising sixth seed San Jose State in today's championship match (1 p.m. Hawaii time). The Spartans (10-17) stunned No. 2 seed Southern Methodist 30-23, 24-30, 30-25, 30-16 in the first semifinal.
In front of 1,211, the Wahine more than avenged the only game they dropped during WAC play this season, hitting .351 as a team with 12 1/2 blocks. Here on Nov. 6, the Wolf Pack took Game 1 off Hawaii before falling in four.
"How fun was that?" asked Wahine senior hitter Lily Kahumoku after her team won its 28th consecutive match. "We weren't prepared the last time we played them. We made a decision amongst ourselves that we weren't going to let anything hit the ground and we were going to go after it. And we did. Bodies were flying, balls were coming up. It's so motivating to see your teammates do that."
Hawaii had 48 digs to Nevada's 30, with senior libero Melissa Villaroman picking up a match-high 14. Senior hitter Kim Willoughby had eight digs to go with three aces and a match-high 18 kills.
Salaia Salave'a led the Wolf Pack (16-15) with 12 kills in the team's season finale. Setter Tristin Adams, who had 13 kills the last time the teams met, had just one kill.
Part of the game plan was to prevent Adams from effectively dumping the ball. Hawaii did just that by "putting a bounty on her dumps," joked Dave Shoji. "We were just more aware of her, who was supposed to be on the tip. We were ready for her this time. The last time, they forced us into a bad match and I think everybody was determined that wasn't going to happen again.
"Technically, it was probably the best match we've played all season. Defensively, we executed the game plan just the way we talked about it."
The Wolf Pack never got on track from the beginning. Nevada coach Devin Scruggs called her first timeout five minutes into the match after her team fell behind 10-5.
Her second timeout came 10 minutes later ... this time with her team trailing 24-15 following one of Willoughby's floor-denting kills.
"Hawaii came ready to play and they did not back down," said Scruggs.
"If they had any weak spots, we certainly couldn't find them. Hawaii has one of the best back-row defenses in the country and what I told these guys is when you put it down, you've got to put it down with authority. We don't want it coming back."
"It was very frustrating," said Adams. "They really didn't have any weakness."
"Every time we did one thing good, they came back and did two things good," said Salave'a.
Defense was the key. What the Wahine didn't block, they dug up, leading to Nevada hitting negative-.017 for the night.
"We had a lot of energy tonight," added senior hitter Nohea Tano, who hit .857 with six kills and no errors in seven swings. "We got genuinely excited on every play and that's a good thing for us."
Hawaii kept the heat on until the end. There was no letdown in Game 3.
It was 26-11 when Shoji began subbing out his starters. The pro-Hawaii crowd gave standing ovations when Willoughby left first, then Kanoe Kamana'o, then Maja Gustin.
"One of the things we have been trying to work on is finishing games out," said Kahumoku. "I think we demonstrated that tonight."
San Jose State 3, SMU 1
The Spartans continued their role as spoiler, ousting the Eastern Division champion Mustangs (23-7) and perhaps eliminating SMU's NCAA Tournament hopes.
"We were just out of system in Game 4," said SMU coach Lisa Seifert. "You can't play good volleyball if you're out of system. Hats off to San Jose, they out-executed us."
Hawaii def. Nevada
30-16, 30-19, 30-17
Wahine (29-1) g k e att pct. bs ba d Willoughby 3 18 8 33 .303 1 1 8 Tano 3 6 0 7 .857 0 2 6 Kahumoku 3 9 1 20 .400 2 1 7 Kamana'o 3 1 0 3 .333 0 3 5 Gustin 3 4 1 11 .273 0 6 1 Duggins 3 9 3 19 .316 1 2 4 Boogaard 1 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 0 Lundqvist 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Arnott 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Eckmier 2 1 0 1 1.000 0 2 0 Watanabe 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Thurlby 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 14 Totals 3 48 14 97 .351 4 17 48 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Wolfpack (16-15) g k e att pct. bs ba d Salave'a 3 12 5 29 .241 0 2 5 Adams, T. 3 1 3 11 -.182 0 1 0 Adams, K. 3 4 4 12 .000 1 2 2 Holda 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 Sorensen 3 2 9 25 -.280 0 1 2 Galler 3 5 3 23 .087 0 0 5 Capurro 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Donaldson 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 1 Burton 3 4 5 17 -.059 0 2 0 Davis 1 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 1 Harms 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Totals 3 28 30 120 -.017 1 8 30
Aces -- Wahine (8): Willoughby 3, Gustin 2, Tano, Kahumoku, Duggins. Wolfpack (2): Salave'a 2. Assists -- Wahine (43): Kamana'o 37, Thurlby 3, Kahumoku 2, Villaroman. Wolfpack (25): Adams, T. 17, Donaldson 6, Sorensen, Harms.
T -- 1:12. Officials -- Margie Ray, Kent Kitade. A --1,211.
