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Wahine keep growing
Seventh-ranked Hawaii remains
undefeated and makes quick work
of No. 14 California
How is growth measured?
By playing with a lead and holding it?
By playing from behind and still coming out ahead?
By playing with no fear?
When it comes to the Hawaii volleyball team this season, it's all of the above.
Sometimes things worked, other times it was just plain work. But after an hour and 46 minutes, the No. 7 Rainbow Wahine can say what just seven other ranked teams in the country can say: They are unbeaten.
Hawaii improved its record to 7-0 last night, sweeping No. 14 California, 30-20, 34-32, 30-26 in front of 5,538 (6,840 tickets) at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Wahine continue play in the Waikiki Beach Marriott Invitational at 7 tonight against unranked and undefeated UC Irvine (7-0).
The Golden Bears (4-3) and Anteaters conclude the tournament with a 3 p.m. match tomorrow.
"It could have easily gone four or five," said Cal coach Rich Feller, whose team ended its season last December here when losing to Georgia Tech in the regional semifinals. "I'm 0-2 here.
"You look at Hawaii's hitters and they had very few errors. I don't see much of a change in them from last year. They had big hitters bombing from the left side last year, they have big hitters bombing from the left side this year. The only difference is they're running the set to the outside a little faster."
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Last night, one of the left-side hitters was sophomore Alicia Arnott, who led a balanced Hawaii attack with 16 kills, hitting .389. Junior middle Victoria Prince was in on six of the Wahine's 11 blocks and added 14 kills. The transfer from Washington State didn't commit a hitting error against her former Pac-10 rivals until early in Game 3; she had 11 kills on 20 swings before being blocked by Cal's Angie Pressey and Camille Leffall to pull the Golden Bears to 4-3.
Junior hitter Susie Boogaard was also in double-figure kills with 14. She also had the most hitting errors of all the Wahine hitters (three) as UH hit .336 as a team.
Pressey led Cal with 15 kills and added 11 digs. Gabrielle Abernathy had 15 kills and Leffall 13 while hitting a team-high .600.
Cal stayed in the match thanks to its defense, finishing with a 53-39 edge in digs. Libero Jillian Davis had 19.
Hawaii was led by junior libero Ashley Watanabe's 13 digs and two service aces. Watanabe's service run late in Game 2 keyed a Wahine comeback that saw them rally from 23-20 to take the lead at 26-23.
"All you can do is just focus at that point," said Watanabe, who is allowed to serve as a libero due to a rule change. "There's just an aura with this team. We have faith in our game, faith in each other and we work hard."
At 29-27, the Bears made the Wahine work hard, holding off two game points to tie it at 29. Cal had its own game point at 30-29 following a kill by Pressey, but a net violation by the Bears tied it at 30.
It was knotted twice more, the last at 32-32 on a tip shot by Leffall. Arnott's 12th kill gave the Wahine their fifth chance at ending it. It came quickly when Abernathy hit into the net.
"I thought we were fortunate to win Game 2," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "I thought Ashley passed really well and her defense was really good.
"Cal's a good team. They had streaks, both good and bad. We didn't let them make a lot of runs on us."
Shoji's only concern is finding a second consistent threat in the middle to complement Prince. Both senior Melody Eckmier and freshman Juliana Sanders saw playing time as they came off injuries and freshman Kari Gregory has been effective.
"We still need to get a better attack out of our second middle," Shoji said. "When that happens, it opens things up for our other hitters."
The Wahine enjoyed one-on-one situations frequently last night as the Bears had to honor Prince in the middle, leaving the outside hitters open. Prince continues to make good use of her quickness on the step-out move and had extra incentive playing in front of her mother, Brenda, who is visiting from Washington State.
"I'm glad that the first game she saw in the Sheriff Center we won," Prince said. "When we were behind in Game 2, there seems to be an eighth man on the court. We stick together and, when it's crunch time, we fight as hard as we can. We don't give up."
Note: UC Irvine defeated Utah 3-2 two weeks ago. Last night, the unranked Utes upset No. 6 UCLA 3-2.
Hawaii def. California
30-20, 34-32, 30-26Golden Bears (4-3, 0-1 WBMI)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Carter 3 3 0 9 .333 1 0 4 Powers 3 8 9 22 -.045 0 1 8 Pressey 3 15 5 29 .345 0 1 11 Leffall 3 13 1 20 .600 0 2 0 Smart 3 3 2 12 .083 0 2 1 Abernathy 3 15 8 41 .171 1 2 6 Davis 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 19 Brown 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Nguyen 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Kollias 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 3 Totals 3 57 25 134 .239 2 8 53 Rainbow Wahine (7-0, 1-0 WBMI)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Boogaard 3 14 3 40 .275 0 3 3 Gregory 3 5 2 10 .300 1 2 1 Arnott 3 16 2 36 .389 0 0 7 Kamana'o 3 2 0 5 .400 0 4 7 Fotu 2 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 3 Prince 3 14 2 26 .462 0 6 2 Sanders 1 0 2 3 -.667 0 0 0 Hittle 3 7 1 14 .429 0 3 1 Eckmier 1 0 1 2 -.500 0 2 0 Watanabe 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 13 Thurlby 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Woolford 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 59 13 137 .336 1 20 39 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- UCB (0). Hawaii (3): Watanabe 2, Prince. Assists -- UCB (57): Carter 49, Davis 2, Kollias 2, Powers 2, Abernathy, Pressey. Hawaii (56): Kamana'o 54, Fotu, Watanabe.
T -- 1:46. Officials -- Ernest Ho, Dan Hironaka. A --5,538.
