ASSOCIATED PRESS Wisconsin players celebrated after defeating Hawaii 3-2 yesterday in the NCAA regional.

Wahine headed
home early

No. 22 Wisconsin hands
No. 2 Hawaii a 3-2 defeat in
the NCAA tournament
regional

GREEN BAY, Wis. » The snowball that rolled up 30 straight victories melted into a pool of tears last night, 4,100 very cold miles away from home.

Road-weary Hawaii will make one final trip back to the islands today, nine days sooner than hoped and two time zones away from a shot at a fifth national championship.

The No. 2-ranked Rainbow Wahine saw their perfect season fall two wins shy of their third consecutive trip to the final four. The 31-29, 30-23, 22-30, 28-30, 21-19 loss at the hands of No. 22 Wisconsin took 2 hours and 38 minutes.

It was only the second time Hawaii took an unbeaten record into the postseason. For the second time, the lone blemish that ended a magical ride came courtesy of the Big Ten.

In 1995, it was Michigan State that ruined the road to the NCAA championship with a 3-2 win in the regional final in Honolulu. Hawaii finished at 31-1.

Last night, it was Wisconsin in front of a partisan red-clad crowd of 2,169 at the Resch Center.

The Badgers (22-9) advance to take on No. 6 Stanford (27-6) for today's regional championship (11 a.m. Hawaii time). In yesterday's first match, the Cardinal made No. 10 Texas their 12th consecutive victim, sweeping the Longhorns 30-28, 30-26, 30-27.

For the Wahine (30-1), it was the first time in seven Game 5s they couldn't pull it out. They had been down 0-2 twice before this season "and we kept thinking, 'One game at a time,' " Hawaii setter Kanoe Kamana'o said. "We gave whatever we had left."

"I felt I was going to war and in Game 5 everything is on the line," added senior Teisa Fotu, who played both libero and right-side hitter. "We just didn't execute."

Hawaii had its chances to win it. The Wahine were two points away from today's regional final when leading 13-11.

Freshman Kelly Ong, whose tough serve in Game 3 closed out last Friday's win over Purdue, served long, one of UH's 10 critical serving errors. Badger senior Jill Odenthal put down one of her career- and match-high 25 kills to tie it at 13 and the battle was on.

The Wahine had one match point at 14-13 and then fended off four by the Badgers, the last at 18-17. Freshman middle Juliana Sanders put down two of her career-high 14 kills to give Hawaii its second swing at ending it at 19-18.

Odenthal refused to let her career end. She had told her teammates during a timeout in Game 5 , "You'd better want this as much as I do" and then proceeded to lead the way.

Her 25th kill tied Game 5 for the 14th and final time at 19-19.

Maria Carlini and Taylor Reineke teamed to stuff Sanders for Wisconsin's 17th block, giving the Badgers another shot to win. Odenthal blocked Susie Boogaard to put Wisconsin into its fourth regional final, the first since 2000.

Boogaard finished with a team-high 20 kills, followed by Alicia Arnott's 19 and 15 from an ailing Victoria Prince. Wisconsin had three others with double-figure kills: Aubrey Meierotto and Sheila Shaw with 16 and Carlini with 13.

Hawaii was outblocked 18-17 and outdug 90-78. Badger freshman libero Jocelyn Wack had a career-high 35 digs.

"I told my players that this was one of the best volleyball matches I've ever been involved with, as a player or a coach," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "Both the Hawaii and Wisconsin players put their hearts out on the line. It is what college athletics is all about, two teams battling, good sportsmanship, great plays. Emotionally, it was unbelievable.

"I'm disappointed for the team, but I'm not disappointed in my team. Technically and tactically, we couldn't stop Odenthal. She got the key sideout at the end and that was the key to the match. We had our chances to win the match. We just couldn't make the two plays to do it."

Hours earlier, Stanford coach John Dunning had called Shoji the "master of adjustment and the best game coach in the country." Last night tested Shoji, as he used all the tricks up his sleeve and in his bag to make something happen against Wisconsin.

With starting libero Ashley Watanabe out with a season-ending injury, Shoji used three liberos: Fotu and two who hadn't played the position before in Ong and Raeceen Woolford. It forced Arnott into an unfamiliar position as a passer "and I thought she did a great job," Shoji said.

There was other juggling going on, including Fotu on the right for a struggling Tara Hittle.

It nearly worked.

"The thing is, we knew what was coming (from Wisconsin) and we couldn't stop it," Shoji said. "We needed to convert two more plays at the end and we couldn't."

The same thing happened in Game 1 when Hawaii had its chances to take an early lead and quiet the crowd. Despite five service errors -- three in a row at one point -- the Wahine were able to tie it at 29-29. Shaw put down a one kill and Marian Weidner another on the service line to give Wisconsin Game 1.

This is the third-best record for a Hawaii team in its 31-year history. In 1982 the Wahine were 33-1 and they were 31-1 in 1995.

Wisconsin is now 4-0 in five-game matches.

"This team has been pretty good about taking it one game at a time," Badger coach Pete Waite said. "I don't think they're afraid of anyone at this point."

Stanford 3, Texas 0: Wisconsin will next have to deal with Cardinal senior hitter Oganna Nnamani, who continues to make a strong case for Player of the Year honors.

Nnamani, the only 2004 Olympian playing in college this season, finished with 28 kills -- half of her team's 56. She had 10 in both Games 1 and 2 and ended up hitting .411.

It was only the second time Texas had been swept this year, the other coming at then-No. 2 Nebraska on Nov. 24. The Longhorns had been down 0-2 only once and they were able to rally past Colorado in five.

Wisconsin def. Hawaii

31-29, 30-23, 22-30, 28-30, 21-19

Badgers (22-9)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Odenthal	5	25	6	56	.339	2	3	13
Simpson	5	7	1	12	.500	0	3	7
Meierotto	5	16	6	41	.244	0	3	9
Carlini	5	13	6	37	.189	1	4	18
Reineke	5	5	2	15	.200	1	6	2
Shaw	5	16	8	38	.211	1	6	2
Weidner	4	2	0	4	.500	0	0	4
Bladow	2	0	0	0	.000	0	1	0
Wack	5	0	0	0	.000	0	0	35
Totals	5	84	29	203	.271	5	26	90
Rainbow Wahine (30-1)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Boogaard	5	20	11	66	.136	0	2	16
Hittle	5	2	4	10	-.200	0	1	12
Gregory	2	3	2	8	.125	1	1	0
Arnott	5	19	6	58	.224	2	1	13
Kamana'o	5	3	0	4	.750	1	6	11
Prince	5	15	6	38	.237	0	6	3
Sanders	5	14	2	24	.500	0	5	0
Eckmier	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Fotu	5	5	2	10	.300	0	4	17
Thurlby	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Ong	5	0	0	0	.000	0	0	4
Woolford	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Totals	5	81	33	218	.220	4	26	78

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- UW (1): Carlini. Hawaii (5): Boogaard 2, Prince, Fotu, Ong. Assists -- UW (75): Simpson 64, Odenthal 7, Carlini 2, Wack 2. Hawaii (74): Kamana'o 66, Boogaard 2, Fotu 2, Hittle, Arnott, Thurlby, Ong.
T -- 2:38. Officials -- Eric Asami, Richard Bleau. A -- 2,169.