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UH stuns
UCLA
The Rainbow Wahine send
the No. 3 Bruins to their first
loss of the season
And then there were six.
Of the 14 Top 25 teams that came into this week undefeated, eight saw their hopes of an unbeaten season ended with their first losses over the past few days. Among them were No. 1 Southern California, No. 2 Nebraska and No. 4 Florida.
Add No. 3 UCLA to the list.
Alicia Arnott pounded down a career-high 20 kills and Susie Boogaard added 19 as No. 11 Hawaii stunned UCLA last night 32-30, 20-30, 30-23, 27-30, 15-13 in the final of the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Challenge. A season-high crowd of 6,854 (7,954 tickets) at the Stan Sheriff Center watched for 2 hours and 46 minutes as the Rainbow Wahine (6-0) won their second consecutive tournament in as many weekends as well as their third five-game match behind MVP Kanoe Kamana'o.
In the third-place match, No. 17 Santa Clara swept Southwest Missouri State 30-13, 30-20, 30-17. Both the Broncos (4-2) and the Bears (5-3) came into the tournament unbeaten.
So had the Bruins (6-1), who got 21 kills from Brynn Murphy and 19 from Nana Meriwether. Brittany Ringel added 14 and Becky Green added 13 for UCLA.
"In the close games we go out and fight, we play hard and get lucky," Arnott said. "We aren't thinking about the score. We want to go hard and we don't let it get in our heads what the score is.
"I think Dave (UH coach Shoji) is a believer after tonight."
Shoji doesn't understand how his young team is doing it.
"Don't ask me," he said. "They keep making the plays. They aren't feeling any kind of pressure except that of wanting to win. I don't see how they can keep it up. It's like sudden death in golf. Everyone loses at some point. But for right now, we'll take it."
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UCLA coach Andy Banachowski would have been happier if his veteran team had pulled it out.
"It did get pretty exciting in the fifth game," he said. "The fans really got into it. Our kids did a nice job to fight their way back.
"Having the experience that we have, we should be better in crunch time."
Hawaii trailed early in Game 5 but took the lead for good at 6-5 on a UCLA hitting error. Boogaard put down her 17th kill and then teamed with Arnott to stuff Heather Cullen for a 10-5 margin.
The Bruins refused to fold, rallying to tie it at 10. Boogaard ended a spectacular rally with her 18th kill to give the Wahine a brief 11-10 lead only to see UCLA score three unanswered points for a 13-11 lead.
The Wahine didn't break either, getting another kill from Boogard, a hitting error from UCLA and a kill from Tara Hittle. Victoria Prince and Boogaard stuffed Ringel to end the match.
"That last block was pretty amazing," said Boogaard, in on five of her team's 15 blocks. "And I just kept swinging whenever I got the ball."
Boogard had just two kills with two errors in Game 1. She had 17 kills and just one error the rest of the match. Arnott played hero in Game 1, putting down seven kills, including the game-ender. The Wahine had a 28-25 advantage and three swings to end it, the last coming at 29-28.
Instead, Kamana'o was called for a questionable lift that tied it. Ringel's block of Arnott -- UCLA's first block of the game -- gave the Bruins their only chance at the win at 30-29.
Hittle's third kill tied it at 30 and a block of Murphy by Boogaard and Kari Gregory gave the Wahine their fourth shot. And it was a shot, by Arnott, a hard angle that landed just in.
It was the first game UCLA lost since Game 2 of its opener against Cal State Northridge. The Bruins had won 17 straight since.
UCLA more than responded in Game 2, breaking away from a close game (8-7) with a 4-0 spurt to take control. When Teisa Fotu aced Ringel, it brought the Wahine to within 17-15, but the Bruins answered with two aces and three blocks in a 10-3 run to pull away.
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In Game 3, Hawaii finally began touching Meriwether, who had put down 10 kills with no errors in 20 attempts. Meriwether -- a high jumper with a best of 5 feet, 8 inches -- had two errors in her next two swings, putting the Wahine ahead at 6-3.
At 13-13, a kill by Boogaard and a block of Becky Green by Kamana'o and Prince put Hawaii ahead for good. It was one of six blocks in Game 3 for the Wahine, who finished with a 15-12 edge in stuffs.
The Bruins took over late in Game 4, coming from an 18-21 deficit to a 21-21 tie. Cullen had four kills as UCLA raced out to a 29-25 lead.
Hawaii held off three game points while closing to 29-27, only to have Meriwether end it with her 18th kill.
Santa Clara 3, SMS 0: The Broncos (4-2) finished third, finishing off the Bears (5-2) in just 85 minutes. Kim McGiven and Anna Cmaylo each had 12 kills for Santa Clara, which held SMS to a .019 hitting percentage.
Typifying the match for the Bears was their start in Game 2. SMS tied it at 3-3 only to lose the next serve when being out of rotation. They never really threatened again.
Cmaylo was in on seven of the Broncos' 11 blocks. Sabrina Apker led the Bears with six kills, hitting .500.
All-Tournament Team: Arnott, Prince and Kamana'o from Hawaii; Meriwether and Chrissie Zartman from UCLA; Kim McGiven of Santa Clara and Sabrina Apker from SMS.
Notes: The other Top 25 teams still unbeaten are No. 6 Washington (7-0), No. Penn State (5-0), No. 13 UC Santa Barbara, No. 16 Illinois (5-0) and No. 23 Long Beach State (4-0). ... Yesterday in Champaign, Ill., the Fighting Illini snapped USC's NCAA-record 52-match win streak, 24-30, 30-24,12-30, 30-27, 15-8. The Women of Troy had not lost since Nov. 2, 2002. ... California, Santa Clara, Louisville and Purdue also lost for the first time this season.
Hawaii def. UCLA
32-30, 20-30, 30-23, 27-30, 15-13Bruins (6-1)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Ringel 5 14 8 47 .128 0 4 10 Meriwether 5 19 5 41 .341 2 6 1 Murphy 5 23 6 41 .415 0 4 5 McFarland 5 4 1 16 .188 0 4 19 Green 5 13 6 38 .184 0 0 14 Cullen 3 12 5 37 .189 0 0 7 Lyman 4 7 4 16 .188 0 2 10 Fine 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 6 Zartman 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 30 Kroneberger 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 5 92 35 236 .242 2 20 102 Rainbow Wahine (6-0)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Boogaard 5 19 3 55 .291 1 4 21 Hittle 5 11 9 37 .054 0 2 11 Gregory 5 7 3 22 .182 1 8 1 Arnott 5 20 6 58 .241 0 3 10 Kamana'o 5 3 1 7 .286 0 4 18 Prince 5 16 1 39 .385 0 5 3 Sanders 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Eckmier 1 0 1 1 -1.000 0 0 0 Watanabe 5 0 0 0 .000 0 0 23 Fotu 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Thurlby 1 0 1 1 -1.000 0 0 1 Woolford 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Ong 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 5 76 25 220 .232 2 26 90 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces --UCLA (4): Murphy 2, McFarland, Green. Hawaii (5): Watanabe 2, Prince, Fotu, Ong. Assists -- UCLA (88): McFarland 76, Zartman 7, Ringel 3, Murphy 2. Hawaii (75): Kamana'o 60, Watanabe 3, Thurlby 3, Boogaard 2, Gregory 2, Arnott 2, Hittle, Prince, Fotu.
T -- 2:46. Officials -- Denice Hansen, Ernest Ho. A --6,854.
