Hawaii wins in Utah
to finish unbeaten
SALT LAKE CITY » The match-time temperature at Crimson Court was 67 degrees. It's not ideal volleyball playing conditions, but Hawaii managed to keep warm with thoughts of seeing Honolulu's city lights this evening after a week-long road trip.
The Rainbow Wahine faithful chanted, "Let's go, 'Bows." The words could just have easily been "Let's go home."
No. 1 Hawaii returned to Honolulu with its record still unblemished following a 30-28, 18-30, 30-16, 30-26 victory over No. 19 Utah. It took 1 hour and 56 minutes and double-digit kill efforts from Victoria Prince (18), Susie Boogaard (12) and Alicia Arnott (10) for the Wahine to run their record to 28-0 against the Utes (23-6).
It was the second time in the program's history that the team went undefeated during the regular season, the only other time being 1995, when the Wahine went 29-0.
"I don't know what to say about being undefeated," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji, who rejoined the team Tuesday night after attending his father's funeral in Honolulu. "This is probably the most unlikely team to say they'd be undefeated. I don't think anyone would have thought that it would happen.
"The coaching staff has coached hard, but it's nothing we haven't done before. I have to give the players the credit. Every player has gotten better and contributed to the team. I haven't changed the way I've coached except doing more mixing and matching."
Perhaps the biggest lineup change came in Game 3, when the Wahine traded freshman middle blockers, with Juliana Sanders replacing Kari Gregory. Sanders put down her first three attempts for the team's first three points.
Hawaii led the swing game at 15-13 before running away with 12 unanswered points, 11 behind the serves of Teisa Fotu. During the run, Prince had four kills and Boogaard three, and the Utes' hitting woes magnified.
Utah would finish Game 3 hitting .000, with eight kills and eight errors. The Utes basically gave Hawaii an entire game, finishing with 34 hitting errors.
"We made a ton of errors, a ton of unforced errors," said Utah coach Beth Launiere. "We do have bad rotations, but we're usually able to get through them."
A loss wouldn't have come as a surprise since Hawaii was playing its fifth match in six days.
"It has been a long trip, but it's been a great experience for us," Fotu said. "We have grown stronger from it. After five games in six days, I feel like we can accomplish anything now.
"We're ready for the postseason."
Hawaii has the Western Athletic Conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament and will learn its fate Sunday (ESPNews, 1:45 p.m. Hawaii time). The Wahine, ranked first in their region, likely will host first- and second-round matches next Thursday and Friday.
"We're ready to go home," said Sanders, finishing with seven kills on eight swings with no errors. "It's been long, but it was a crucial road trip. We had to win these games.
"The focus was on that, on the game, get that done and then we could think about getting back to Honolulu and the warm weather."
Should Hawaii win the next two matches, the team will end up in another cold climate. The regional sites are Seattle, Minneapolis, Green Bay, Wisc., and Louisville, Ky.
Hawaii def. Utah
30-28, 18-30, 30-16, 30-26
Rainbow Wahine (28-0) g k e att pct. bs ba d Boogaard 4 12 4 41 .195 0 8 4 Hittle 4 2 3 12 -.083 0 0 5 Gregory 2 5 2 8 .375 0 2 1 Arnott 4 10 6 32 .125 0 1 8 Kamana'o 4 1 0 5 .200 0 4 9 Prince 4 18 2 32 .500 0 9 1 Sanders 2 7 0 8 .875 0 3 0 Eckmier 1 2 0 2 1.000 0 0 0 Watanabe 4 0 0 0 .000 0 0 17 Fotu 4 2 2 7 .000 0 2 5 Thurlby 2 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Woolford 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 59 19 148 .270 0 29 50 UTES (23-6) g k e att pct. bs ba d Toone, A. 4 2 3 7 -.143 1 4 2 Sommerfeldt 4 14 8 47 .128 2 1 8 Kartchner 4 11 5 25 .240 0 0 11 Neumeier 4 2 0 5 .400 0 0 2 Leichliter 4 6 2 11 .364 0 0 4 Henderson 4 13 9 27 .148 1 1 3 Bortoto 4 16 4 29 .414 0 1 11 Dangerfield 4 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 17 Toone, E. 4 6 2 15 .267 2 3 1 Webb 1 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 Totals 4 70 34 169 .213 6 10 59 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (2): Boogaard, Fotu. Utah (4): Kartchner 2, Neumeier, Henderson. Assists -- Hawaii (56): Kamana'o 52, Watanabe 2, Fotu, Thurlby. Utah (67): Neumeier 30, Kartchner 28, E. Toone 4, A. Toone, Sommerfeldt, Henderson, Bortoto, Dangerfield.
T -- 1:56. Officials -- Tom Given, Maile Jewkes, Quinnette Dunn. A -- 826.
