[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Kim Willoughby tried to get the ball past the block of Illinois' Lisa Argabright and Erin Virtue last night. The Wahine swept.
Wahine looking elite
Hawaii is a win away
from the final four
after sweeping Illinois
The Kim Willoughby Show was playing last night to a packed house at the Stan Sheriff Center. It was more than worth the price of admission.
The senior All-American had a match-high 28 kills to help lift No. 2 Hawaii over No. 15 Illinois 30-21, 30-22, 33-31 and into tonight's NCAA Tournament regional championship. The Rainbow Wahine (35-1) put their 34-match winning streak up against No. 7 Georgia Tech at 7 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets (34-3) became the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to reach the elite eight after subduing No. 10 California 30-25, 20-30, 30-24, 30-23 in last night's first semifinal. Tonight, the Wahine will have to contend with a Tech team that runs a quick, multi-faceted offense.
"Georgia Tech presents a lot of problems for us," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji after the 96-minute victory. "They run the fastest attack I've seen in college volleyball. They set the ball very fast from any part of the court. They shredded Cal's block.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii players celebrated after match point against Illinois last night. The Wahine advance to play Georgia Tech.
"I'm impressed with their play. They don't look like a great volleyball team, but they perform like one."
Against the Bears (25-7), the Yellow Jackets had four players in double figures in kills, including setter Kele Eveland. Eveland, who leads the country in assists, had her first career triple-double (11 kills, 52 assists and 12 digs), and the school's first since Rochelle Komula's in 1996.
Last night, a turnstile crowd of 8,435 saw the Illini, one of the tallest teams in the country, finish with just an 8-7 margin in blocks against the smaller but athletic Wahine. They also saw Hawaii come up with a 61-43 advantage in digs, led by 11 from Lily Kahumoku.
Kahumoku finished with a double-double, adding 14 kills, including the match-ender. Senior middle Lauren Duggins added 12 kills and was in on five blocks.
"We touched a lot of balls tonight and I think defense controlled the match," Willoughby said. "I don't think they'd seen enough of a team like ours to prepare for us."
The Wahine were very efficient in Game 1, putting down six kills with no errors in the opening eight minutes. By the time Illini coach Don Hardin called his first timeout, Hawaii was up 11-4, having scored five straight points behind the serve of Karin Lundqvist.
Illinois had all sorts of problems with UH's very agile block. The Illini were hitting negative until late in the game, finishing at .082.
The Wahine had three of their seven blocks in the opening 23 minutes, holding Illinois All-American Lisa Argabright to just one kill on eight swings. By then Willoughby had 11 kills to 13 for the entire Illini squad.
It was pretty much the same routine in Game 2, with Willoughby adding another eight kills to her total. The Wahine pulled away to a 20-12 lead behind a four-point service run by Kanoe Kamana'o.
Illinois closed to 21-15 only to have Hawaii go to senior Nohea Tano for two straight kills, including a rare middle set where there was no block with which to contend.
Willoughby continued to impress, even getting rave reviews from the ousted Cal team sitting on the baseline. When Willoughby went over the Illini block for her 24th kill, the Bears' Camille Leffal and Gabrielle Abernathy looked at each other and shook their heads.
By the time Willoughby had 25 kills to the Illini's collective 33, the Wahine had a 15-12 lead in Game 3. Illinois refused to go quietly, with late rallies.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Lily Kahumoku tried to get past the block of Illinois' Shelly O'Bryan and Erin Virtue.
Hawaii looked to have the match wrapped up, going up 18-13. But Illinois used a 9-2 run, including three kills from Jessica Belter, to take a 22-20 lead.
Behind three kills from Duggins, the Wahine got to match-point at 29-26. The Illini held off the Wahine to tie it at 29, 30 and 31.
Willoughby put down her 50th swing to give Hawaii what would be its final shot at match point. Kahumoku ripped her 31st attempt to end it.
Jessica Belter led Illinois with 13 kills and 11 digs. Shelly O'Bryan and Rachel VanMeter added 10.
The 6-foot-5 Argabright finished with just four kills, hitting .000.
It was the third time in as many NCAA Tournament meetings that Hawaii had eliminated Illinois. The other times came in the semifinals for the final four of 1987 and 1988.
"It was a great performance by Hawaii and they took advantage of what we weren't doing," Hardin said. "Their passing was excellent.
"I think (tonight's) match will come down to passing. If Hawaii serves as aggressively and effectively as they did against us, they'll get the best of Georgia Tech easily. If Georgia Tech passes well, we'll be in for a great match."
Hawaii def. Illinois
30-21, 30-22, 33-31 Fighting Illini (26-7)
Rainbow Wahine (35-1)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Belter 3 13 3 26 .385 0 4 11 Vrdsky 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 5 O'Bryan 3 10 3 19 .368 0 3 2 Virtue 3 1 0 5 .200 0 0 6 Argabright 3 4 4 18 .000 1 2 0 VanMeter 3 10 3 30 .233 0 0 1 Vandrey 3 8 3 34 .147 2 1 3 Bazzetta 3 0 0 1 .000 0 0 6 Harks 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Totals 3 46 16 133 .226 3 10 42
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 28 7 50 .420 0 2 14 Tano 3 3 1 8 .250 0 2 9 Lundqvist 3 7 1 11 .545 0 2 2 Kahumoku 3 14 1 31 .419 0 1 11 Kamana'o 3 2 2 7 .000 0 2 10 Duggins 3 12 6 28 .214 0 5 6 Watanabe 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 9 Totals 3 66 18 135 .356 0 14 61
Aces -- Fighting Illini (2): Argabright, Vandrey. Hawaii (3): Duggins 2, Watanabe. Assists -- Fighting Illini (43): Virtue 40, Harks 3. Hawaii (60): Kamana'o 51, Tano 3, Villaroman 3, Lundqvist 2, Duggins.
T -- 1:36. Officials -- Annette Cottle, Robert Okamura. A --8435.
