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Hawaii dishes
another first loss
UC Irvine is the latest victim
as the Rainbow Wahine
improve to 8-0
Seventh-ranked Hawaii swatted unranked UC Irvine from the unbeaten ranks of college volleyball last night, getting 21 kills from Susie Boogaard and 19 from Alicia Arnott to clinch the title of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Invitational. The Rainbow Wahine needed 2 hours and 20 minutes to keep their perfect record, 30-27, 28-30, 30-28, 30-17.
It wasn't easy, but Hawaii again rose to the challenge when pushed. In front of 5,588 (6,926 tickets), the Wahine (8-0) pushed back before finally shoving the Anteaters (7-1) out of the Stan Sheriff Center.
UCI and Cal (4-3) conclude the tournament today at 3 p.m.
"We played efficient at the end and let them make the mistakes," said senior middle Teisa Fotu, who keyed an 8-0 run early in Game 4 with seven straight serves. "We capitalized when we needed to.
"We needed to stay mentally focused and give them (UCI) the respect they deserved."
The Anteaters more than earned it. Former Wahine assistant Charlie Brande was happy just for the experience to compete on the same court as his former team.
"It's a plus for us to be here and for us to be so close ... I'm just so thankful that Dave (UH coach Shoji) invited us to be a part of this," said Brande, the Wahine assistant in 1980-81. "A win tonight would have been huge, maybe the program's biggest ever.
"Coming in, I thought we had a shot (at winning). The teams are very similar. Both teams play hard and know how to score points even if they're getting out-hit or out-dug."
The Wahine managed an 87-86 edge in digs, led by libero Ashley Watanabe's 23 and Boogaard's 20.
Senior All-American Kelly Wing led the Anteaters with 22 digs and 22 kills but hit .109. She had just one kill in Game 4, when Hawaii used long service runs to pull away.
Fotu provided the spark for the first run, putting down a kill before settling in on the back line for seven consecutive serves to give the Wahine a 14-6 lead. It was then Victoria Prince's turn, serving for four straight and a 20-8 margin.
UCI did not go quietly. Wing did her own damage from the serving line with four in a row as the Anteaters closed to 21-14.
Another kill by Fotu jump-started a 7-0 roll by the Wahine, punctuated by two of Arnott's three aces, to put UH up at 28-14. Freshman middle Juliana Sanders capped her first double-figure kill night but putting down the Wahine's last two points.
Prince added 12 kills and was in on four blocks. Sami Cash, who came into the week as the nation's leader in kill percentage (.615), was held to .407 after putting down 13 kills.
Moanalua High product Amanda Vasquez added 11.
"We're happy to get out of here with the win," Shoji said.
Game 1 set the tone for most of the match, close and tight. The Wahine's biggest lead was three, the Anteaters' two.
UCI scored four straight points to go ahead at 18-16 only to see the Wahine tie it at 19. It would be knotted four more times, the last at 27-27 on a kill by Vasquez.
Boogaard nailed two line shots from the left to give the Wahine game point. Wing could do nothing with a low set except hit into the net to end it.
Wing helped UCI get off to a quick 3-0 start in Game 2. Hawaii enjoyed a brief 11-9 lead only to see UCI use a 5-1 run to take the lead for good at 14-12.
Wing's 16 kills gave the Anteaters game point at 29-27. The Wahine held them off for one serve to close to 29-28, but Arnott was blocked by Vasquez and Dana Kurzbard to even the match.
The Anteaters refused to fold even when finding themselves down by as many as seven, the last at 24-17. Behind Wing (a kill and a service ace) UCI pulled back to a 28-28 tie. The Wahine closed it out on a UCI hitting error and a block by Fotu and Prince on Sarah Norman.
Hawaii def. UC Irvine
30-27, 28-30, 30-28, 30-17Anteaters (7-1, 0-1 WBMI)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Hain 4 4 0 8 .500 0 0 20 Moser 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Wing 4 22 15 64 .109 1 2 22 Pavlik 4 2 1 4 .250 0 0 7 Vasquez 4 11 3 31 .258 0 8 6 Cash 4 13 2 27 .407 0 4 1 White 4 6 4 34 .059 0 0 2 Kurzbard 4 5 1 18 .222 0 10 0 Conom 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Featherstone 4 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 20 Norman 2 1 2 8 -.125 0 0 0 Totals 4 65 28 195 .190 1 24 86 Rainbow Wahine (8-0, 2-0 WBMI)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Boogaard 4 21 6 53 .283 1 0 20 Hittle 3 3 1 19 .105 1 0 6 Gregory 1 1 2 5 -.200 0 2 1 Arnott 4 19 10 61 .148 1 2 15 Kamana'o 4 3 0 5 .600 0 4 11 Prince 4 12 5 28 .250 0 4 3 Sanders 4 10 1 19 .474 0 1 0 Eckmier 1 1 2 7 -.143 1 1 0 Watanabe 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 23 Fotu 4 4 1 8 .375 0 3 8 Thurlby 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Woolford 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 74 28 205 .224 4 17 87 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces --UCI(5): Moser 2, Featherstone, Vasquez, Wing. Hawaii (5): Arnott 3, Prince, Watanabe. Assists -- UCI (59): Hain 51, Pavlik 3, Kurzbard 2, Featherstone, Moser, Wing. Hawaii (66): Kamana'o 61, Fotu 2, Hittle 2, Watanabe.
T -- 2:20. Officials -- Wayne Lee, Denice Hansen. A --5,558.
