[ WAHINE VOLLEYBALL ]
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Kim Willoughby tried to hit past the block of Georgia Tech's Laura Kuhn last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Wahine going
to DallasUH survives a scare from
Georgia Tech to advance to
the final four vs. Florida
It was quick. Devastatingly quick.
Quicker than anything Hawaii had seen in its previous 36 matches. The Georgia Tech attack was unorthodox, it came out of nowhere and everywhere.
It was designed to create panic and confusion. Last night, it was pretty successful.
But not successful enough.
No. 7 Georgia Tech threw a scare into No. 2 Hawaii's travel plans, nearly derailing UH's repeat trip to the final four. Instead, the Wahine will be on a plane tomorrow night, headed for Dallas.
Thanks to a 32-34, 33-31, 30-24, 30-25 victory over No. 7 Georgia Tech, the Wahine (36-1) face No. 3 (35-1) Florida in one of Thursday's semifinals at Reunion Arena. In the other semifinal, No. 1 Southern California (33-0) takes on surprising No. 14 Minnesota (26-10).
The Yellow Jackets (34-4), the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to reach the national quarterfinals, nearly became the first to reach the final four. Instead, Tech heads back to Atlanta with a bittersweet memory of coming close but not having enough after 2 hours and 25 minutes.
A turnstile crowd of 8,848 (9,412 tickets) saw another outstanding performance by UH senior All-American Kim Willoughby, who had a career-high 36 kills. Senior All-American Lily Kahumoku tied her career-high with 25, and under-appreciated senior Nohea Tano added 10 kills, half of them coming in the deciding Game 4.
For Tech, Lynette Moster put down 25 kills, Alexandra Preiss 22 and Laura Sauer 15.
"We're all a little drained right now," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji, advancing to the final four for the seventh time since 1981. "That was a great volleyball match. The whole atmosphere was something we'll never forget.
"That match had a lot of emotions on both sides. It was looking a little bleak when we were down in Game 2. Being down 0-2 would have been tough, but we made enough plays to win. I don't know how we won. You look at their stats and it was unbelievable. We never did stop their attack, but we stopped them when we had to."
The Wahine rallied late in Game 4, coming from a 21-19 deficit to take a 23-21 lead on two kills by regional MVP Willoughby and one by Kahumoku and a point on a Tech lift.
It was 24-23 when Kahumoku tooled one off the block. The teams traded points, with Moster pulling the Jackets to 26-25. Kahumoku put down her 25th, then served the final two points. It was an undeserved finish for Tech, with the final two points coming on a back-row blocking violation and a net violation.
This will be Hawaii's third trip to the final four in three years. The Wahine lost the previous two times in the semifinals, including last year in New Orleans to Stanford.
"When I was serving (for match point), the only thing I thought was, 'Don't cry.' It was surreal," said Kahumoku, who is the winningest player in UH history at 130-7.
Senior libero Melissa Villaroman came up with 25 of Hawaii's 97 digs.
"I thought we improved as the game went on. We adjusted," she said. "Everyone had their family here tonight. We were not going to lose to Georgia Tech."
Hawaii had its chances to win Game 1. The Wahine served for the game at 29-28 only to be called for a net violation to tie it.
The teams traded service errors before Sauer put down her sixth kill to give Tech its first game point. Another Tech service error tied it, but another quick set to Preiss gave the Jackets another shot.
They didn't need another. Preiss and Kele Eveland blocked Kahumoku as the Wahine dropped Game 1 for just the fourth time this season.
"I think losing Game 1 showed us that we were beatable," Willoughby said. "We came together and said, 'Let's play Hawaii volleyball.' "
Sauer's line shot made it 31-30 in Game 2. Willoughby answered, first with a kill, then two bullet serves that Tech couldn't handle and Kahumoku smashed back on overpasses.
The Wahine didn't want to take their chances in a Game 5. Hawaii gradually pulled away to a 15-9 lead behind the serves of freshman Kanoe Kamana'o.
As they had in Games 1 and 2, the Jackets rallied. They closed to 19-17 with a kill by Moster, an error by Kahumoku and a kill by Laura Kuhn.
Eventually, Kahumoku's 17th kill gave the Wahine some breathing room at 24-21.
Two pivotal calls went Hawaii's way late. Kamana'o was called for a lift but Tech was called for a net violation, putting the Wahine ahead at 25-21. Two sideouts later, with UH up 26-22, Moster's line shot was called in, prompting Shoji to do a bunny-hop on the sidelines.
Up official Jane Powell overruled the call, giving Hawaii the point, a 27-22 lead and the Tech bench a yellow-card warning. The Jackets got as close as 27-23 and 28-24 but a kill by senior Karin Lundqvist and a resounding block of Kuhn by Willoughby gave the Wahine a 2-1 lead.
Kahumoku and Kamana'o from Hawaii and Tech's Moster, Preiss and setter Eveland were also named to the all-regional team.
"We're proud of the effort we gave tonight," Tech coach Bond Shymansky said. "We run a high-risk attack. We live on the edge of error all the time because the risk-reward factor is high for our team.
"The bottom line is we never gave up tonight."
Hawaii def. Georgia Tech
32-34, 33-31, 30-24, 30-25Yellow jackets (34-4)
Wahine (36-1)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Moster 4 25 4 52 .404 0 1 22 Gergen 4 9 4 31 .161 0 1 2 Vincent 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 15 Kuhn 4 6 4 20 .100 0 2 0 Preiss 4 22 1 50 .420 0 3 2 Eveland 4 5 2 14 .214 0 1 9 Sauer 4 15 4 42 .262 2 0 1 Randall 4 0 0 3 .000 0 0 8 Aston 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 19 Totals 4 82 19 212 .297 2 8 78
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 4 36 8 71 .394 2 2 13 Tano 4 10 2 22 .364 0 1 9 Lundqvist 4 4 0 10 .400 1 3 4 Kahumoku 4 25 8 68 .250 0 2 19 Kamana'o 4 2 0 5 .400 0 1 8 Duggins 4 8 4 21 .190 0 3 13 Boogaard 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Watanabe 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Gustin 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Villaroman 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 25 Totals 4 85 22 197 .320 3 12 97
Aces -- Yellow Jackets (3): Gergen 2, Moster. Hawaii (0). Assists -- Yellow Jackets (78): Eveland 70, Moster 3, Aston 2, Kuhn, Preiss, Randall. Hawaii (80): Kamana'o 71, Willoughby 2, Tano 2, Duggins 2, Villaroman 2, Kahumoku.
T -- 2:25. Officials -- Joan Powell, Syd Church. A -- 8,848.
