Hittle leads Wahine
victory
Hawaii opens its WAC season on
the road by beating Fresno State
FRESNO, Calif. » Tara Hittle's rosy cheeks reflected her performance yesterday. The freshman Hawaii hitter blasted 22 kills and had the hottest hand for the sixth-ranked Rainbow Wahine, who opened Western Athletic Conference play the same way they have ended it the previous four seasons.
Before an announced crowd of 2,458 at the Save Mart Center, Hittle helped Hawaii grind out a 30-17, 26-30, 30-27, 30-23 victory over Fresno State for the Wahine's 79th consecutive conference win. Hawaii (11-0, 1-0 WAC) handled its first road test well and answered yet another question in a season that began with plenty of uncertainty.
"It was our first away game and it was very different obviously," said Hittle, who had a solid all-around match with 10 digs and seven assists. "We're not really used to having people boo. It was a good experience, so I'm happy with the win. We're all happy with the win, but I think we could've all played a little better. Maybe we were all a little sluggish."
There were multiple mistakes on both sides of the court, but the Rainbow Wahine made the most of FSU's errors. Hawaii played outstanding defense, cleaning the floor for 89 digs, and hit well off those digs in transition.
The Wahine struggled at times with Fresno State's short serves early but picked up the offense and defense to outlast Fresno State. The Bulldogs -- picked in the preseason poll to finish second -- never found any competitive consistency and Save Mart Center didn't provide the home-court advantage sought by Fresno State.
The Bulldogs' (8-6, 1-2) first practice in the arena was Wednesday and their PA announcer started the match by welcoming the crowd to the North Gym, the regular site of FSU's home games.
"I thought we competed well," said Fresno coach Lindy Vivas, a Punahou alum. "We've been struggling with that a little bit with a lot of new faces and a lot of different lineups on the court.
"Hawaii is a team that doesn't make many errors. I know (Hawaii coach Dave) Shoji might not agree with that. (But) they don't make many errors, and if we give them anything easy, they will make you pay for it. Right now we're not consistent enough to keep pressure on them all the time. We made errors. It was all our side errors.
"We did a nice job defending the left-side attack, but Hawaii pretty much outplayed us on the right side. Their right-side attack is tough. Victoria (Prince) has a great arm. She hits that slide (set) so fast. And Hittle over there hits real well. Anything she did on that side helped a lot."
Prince hit .484 with 16 kills and had six of Hawaii's eight blocks. Setter Kanoe Kamana'o dished out 63 assists, had 16 digs and helped Hawaii neutralize preseason WAC Player of the Year Kristen Fenton with five blocks. Fenton led Fresno with 15 kills, mostly on an assortment of tips and roll shots that Hawaii didn't pick up.
The Bulldogs got double-digit kills from Kahuku grad Tuli Peters (14 kills, six digs, three blocks), middle Tiffany Bishop (14 kills) and freshman Christianna Reneau (12 kills, 13 digs).
Despite the Bulldogs' balance, FSU got into trouble when it had to rely too much on its outside hitters, as shaky passing forced several sets to the outside.
Hawaii took the early lead in Game 1 behind the hitting of Prince and sophomore outside hitter Alicia Arnott (17 kills, 14 digs) who combined for eight of UH's first 11 kills. The Bulldogs battled back to even the game at 15 when Peters stuffed junior outside hitter Susie Boogaard (14 kills, two aces) twice. But Boogard blitzed the Bulldogs with a nine-point serving run. Vivas burned two timeouts before FSU finally sided out after Boogaard served into the net. By then the damage was done, as the Wahine led 27-16. Hawaii closed out the game on Arnott's sixth kill of the game and two hitting errors by the Bulldogs.
The Rainbow Wahine dropped into a 9-5 hole in Game 2 behind a wicked roundhouse float serve from libero Yuko Mori and Bishop's short serving. Fresno led 20-13 when Hittle heated up and scored all of Hawaii's points on a 5-1 run. Hittle put down seven kills on 11 swings with no errors in the game. The Wahine pulled to within 26-21, but the Bulldogs halted Hawaii's rally and closed out the game with a block by Bishop.
Hittle continued her hot hitting in Game 3 as Hawaii surged to leads of 13-7 and 25-17. The Wahine weathered everything the Bulldogs threw at them as Fresno fought back one last time. The Bulldogs closed to 29-27 before Boogaard ended the game with a kill.
The Wahine pulled away from a 15-13 lead in Game 4, and freshman Juliana Sanders closed out the match with two kills.
"It was mainly our unforced errors getting us in trouble," Shoji said. "We started taking care of the ball eventually. ... I was really happy we could win the first one. It kind of sets the tone for Saturday. The players know we can win on the road. It was definitely a question mark in my mind having so many new players. They responded like I thought we could."
Hawaii plays Nevada tomorrow at 4 p.m. Hawaii time.
Notes: Yesterday's crowd was the second-largest in Fresno school history. The Bulldogs set the school record last season against Hawaii. ...The Wahine were without associate coach Charlie Wade, who remained in Hawaii with his wife, Tani, who is due to give birth this week. ... Fresno's Polynesian dance group performed in between Games 2 and 3. The dance troupe wore bright yellow grass skirts and head dresses.
Hawaii def. Fresno State
30-17, 26-30, 30-27, 30-23Rainbow Wahine (11-0, 1-0 wac)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Sanders 4 6 2 18 .222 0 1 2 Boogaard 4 14 8 37 .162 0 1 17 Hittle 4 22 2 32 .625 0 0 10 Arnott 4 17 8 47 .191 0 1 14 Kamana'o 4 2 0 2 1.000 1 5 16 Prince 4 16 1 31 .484 0 6 3 Eckmier 1 0 0 2 .000 0 0 0 Watanabe 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 23 Fotu 1 0 1 1 -1.000 0 0 2 Thurlby 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Woolford 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 77 22 170 .324 1 14 89 Bulldogs (8-6, 1-2 wac)
g k e att pct. bs ba d Bishop 4 14 5 29 .310 0 3 3 Keune 4 2 0 10 .200 0 1 8 Fenton 4 15 4 40 .275 1 1 20 Peters 4 14 3 40 .275 0 3 6 Reneau 4 12 7 49 .102 1 0 13 Magalei 4 5 2 18 .167 1 2 0 Mori 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 17 Sam Fong 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 62 21 186 .220 3 10 67 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (5): Boogaard 2, Hittle, Kamana'o, Watanabe. FSU (6): Reneau 2, Mori 2, Fenton, Bishop. Assists -- Hawaii (73): Kamana'o 63, Hittle 7, Sanders 2, Boogaard. FSU (57): Keune 52, Fenton 2, Peters, Reneau, Mori.
T -- 2:06. Officials -- Verna Klubnikin, Bob McCarthy. A --2,458.
