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Wahine sweep Bulldogs
Arnott’s 15 kills lead No. 2 Hawaii
to a 30-24, 31-29, 30-17 victory
over visiting Fresno State
Second-ranked Hawaii used a diverse attack, led by Alicia Arnott's 15 kills, to sweep Fresno State 30-24, 31-29, 30-17 in front of 6,619 (8,048 tickets) at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Rainbow Wahine, one of two undefeated teams left in the country, needed only 100 minutes to improve to 21-0 overall and 11-0 in Western Athletic Conference play. The victory, Hawaii's 101st in a row over a WAC opponent, all but clinched the top seed in the conference tournament later this month in Reno, Nev. Fresno State (12-12, 5-7) likely will be the fifth seed when play opens Nov. 19.
Freshman Tara Hittle added 10 kills for the Wahine, winning their 36th straight at home. Victoria Prince added nine kills on 19 swings with no errors, hitting .474, and was in on 10 of Hawaii's 12 blocks.
Christianna Reneau led Fresno State with 14 kills and Kahuku High product Tuli Peters had 14. Peters also had 12 of the team's 45 digs for her 13th double-double of the season.
"It was great to be back home," Arnott said. "We had some really good practices this week. Tonight everyone did their job. What we need to work on is staying disciplined and do our assignments."
That was the key to Hawaii winning Game 2 when the Bulldogs refused to go quietly into the night. A kill by Tiffany Bishop gave FSU game point at 29-28 in Game 2.
Susie Boogaard's fourth kill tied it at 29-29 and her fifth gave the Wahine their first chance at the game. It was the only one they needed as Prince and Kanoe Kamana'o blocked Reneau to end it; the Wahine are now 8-2 when games go past 30.
"We were fortunate to win Game 2," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "We had some mental breakdowns and those are lapses we seem to have almost every match. And we had trouble timing their outside hitters. Reneau is a smart player. Tuli did a nice job and keeps getting better. And Mounia (Kamehameha graduate Nihipali) is doing well for being a true freshman."
At times there were up to six former island prep players on the court. They included Fresno State's Peters, Nihipali and La'akea Campbell (Iolani) and Hawaii's Arnott (La Pietra), Kamana'o and Raeceen Woolford (Iolani) and Juliana Sanders (Castle).
"Those are the funnest games, when you have that many local girls on both sides," Arnott said.
The local connection also included Bulldog coach Lindy Vivas, a Punahou graduate. After the sweep, she is hoping for the sun to come out tomorrow ... literally.
"We promised them some beach time," Vivas said. "As for tonight, we had our chances. We served tough at times but needed to serve tougher.
"We competed well and Tuli had one of her best matches on offense. We just need more experience. And Kamana'o is so good with her young players. It's good to have a setter of her capability who is able to fix plays and give her hitters a chance."
Hawaii finishes out the WAC season at home next week against San Jose State on Friday and Nevada on Saturday. It will be the final regular-season home match for seniors Melody Eckmier and Teisa Fotu.
"We need to have a good, hard week in practice," Shoji said. "We have two tough matches. Nevada gave us everything we could handle at their place (a match that went five)."
Note: In Top 25 upsets last night, No. 12 Stanford swept No. 4 Southern California 30-18, 30-24, 30-27, and No. 6 Penn State topped No. 5 Minnesota 32-30, 30-28, 22-30, 30-26.
Hawaii def. Fresno State
30-24, 31-29, 30-17
Bulldogs (12-12, 5-7 WAC) g k e att pct. bs ba d Bishop 3 5 6 21 -.048 0 2 2 Keune 3 2 1 8 .125 0 0 8 Peters 3 13 3 29 .345 1 3 12 Reneau 3 14 6 36 .222 0 1 2 Nihipali 3 8 4 32 .125 0 1 6 Magalei 3 1 2 3 -.333 0 3 1 Mori 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 11 Sam Fong 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 McKee 2 1 1 2 .000 0 0 1 Campbell 1 1 0 2 .500 0 0 1 Totals 3 45 23 133 .165 1 10 45 Rainbow Wahine (21-0, 11-0 WAC) g k e att pct. bs ba d Boogaard 3 9 1 27 .296 0 3 9 Hittle 3 10 4 22 .273 0 1 7 Gregory 1 2 2 5 .000 0 1 0 Arnott 3 15 5 30 .333 0 1 9 Kamana'o 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 6 13 Prince 3 9 0 19 .474 0 10 0 Sanders 2 4 1 7 .429 0 0 1 Eckmier 1 1 1 3 .000 1 0 0 Watanabe 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 7 Fotu 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Thurlby 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Woolford 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 Totals 3 51 14 114 .325 1 22 50 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- FSU (3): Bishop, Mori, Nihipali. Hawaii (5): Prince 2, Arnott, Boogaard, Watanabe. Assists -- FSU (41): Keune 36, Reneau 2, McKee, Peters, Sam Fong. Hawaii (48): Kamana'o 40, Boogaard 3, Hittle 2, Watanabe 2, Arnott.
T -- 1:40. Officials -- Ken Kitade, Denice Hansen. A -- 6,169.
