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ASSOCIATED PRESS Hawaii's Sarah Mason, left, blocked a kill attempt by Nebraska's Amanda Gates during yesterday's match in Omaha, Neb.

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Huskers dominate

A crowd of 10,028 is on hand
to witness top-ranked Nebraska’s
sweep of UH

OMAHA, Neb. » The gap between No. 1 and No. 4 felt as wide as the 4,000 miles between Honolulu and here.

NEBRASKA 3 HAWAII 0 NEXT UP vs. Penn St., today

In the five short months since seeing Nebraska in a spring exhibition, Hawaii has gone from feeling it should have beaten the Huskers to being beat up by them in every phase of the game.

The lesson took a mere 98 minutes. Top-ranked Nebraska used a confusing multi-prong attack, a two-setter system and demoralizing big block to sweep No. 4 Hawaii 30-23, 30-26, 30-21 in last night's second match of the AVCA/NACWAA Volleyball Showcase. A record crowd of 10,028 -- the largest to see a women's athletic event in this city -- saw the Huskers advance to tonight's title match with defending NCAA champion Stanford.

The third-ranked Cardinal rallied to top fifth-ranked Penn State 30-24, 30-24, 28-30, 23-30, 15-10 in last night's first match. The Nittany Lions face the Wahine for the consolation title today (noon Hawaii time).

It was the first time Hawaii had been swept since the 2003 NACWAA final against USC at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Wahine had gone 65-2 since then. It also marked the first time the Wahine had lost consecutive matches since falling to the Huskers to end the 2000 season and start the 2001 campaign.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Nebraska's Melissa Elmer, right, tried to smack the ball past Hawaii's Juliana Sanders yesterday.

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The Huskers, whose starters average a physical 6-foot-2, finished with 11 blocks and "they did seem even bigger than when we played them in spring," said UH setter Kanoe Kamana'o. "We couldn't put a ball down. They were always up there.

"Every aspect we had trouble with. Had a hard time running off transition. It was tough. We didn't pass well, and if you don't have a pass, it makes it pretty obvious what we're going to do."

And Hawaii could do very little in being held to a .123 hitting percentage, compared with Nebraska's .306. The Wahine had no one in double-figure kills, while the Huskers had four -- led by Christina Houghtelling's 14 and former UH recruit Jennifer Saleaumua's 12; freshman Jordan Larson just missed being the fifth, finishing with nine.

Melissa Elmer, who led the nation in blocks last season, was in on eight stuffs last night, one more than the entire Hawaii team managed. Alicia Arnott led the Wahine with nine kills, hitting .000, and Victoria Prince added eight kills, hitting .421 with no errors.

"It was a much better team than we saw last spring," said Hawaii coach Dave Shoji, referring to the 3-2 exhibition loss in March. "They've added to their personnel, and their system gave us a lot of problems. It took a long time for us to adjust.

"They whipped us in every phase. We were not ready to play at that level."

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Sarah Mason of UH got a kill past a row of Nebraska blockers.

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The Wahine led only once the entire match, at 6-5 in Game 3. The Huskers regrouped with a 7-0 run en route to handing Hawaii its first loss in a season opener since 2001, also to Nebraska, also in the NACWAA.

Nebraska becomes the fifth team to lead a series with UH with a 6-5 edge. The others are Florida, 3-2; Wisconsin, 2-1; and Penn State and Michigan State, both 1-0.

"There was a lot of pressure on our players with the big crowd and I thought they responded well," said Nebraska coach John Cook, whose team has sold out the Coliseum (4,030) on the school's Lincoln campus for the last 59 matches. "It was a really good effort on our part.

"It's a big weight off our shoulders. To come in with that big of a crowd and disappoint them with a loss would have been devastating for us."

Prince said it was the worst loss for her personally since her Washington State team got hammered by eventual NCAA champion USC in Los Angeles her sophomore season.

"I'm upset that we lost," said Prince, who saw her signature step-out move taken away by the Nebraska block. "But you can't make any more of it than what it is ... a loss. We know what we did wrong and we need to fix it."

The Wahine will have to do it without one of last night's starters.

Junior Sarah Mason turned her right ankle in Game 2, coming down on the foot of Nebraska's Houghtelling. Mason's kill had just pulled Hawaii to 24-20. The Wahine got as close as 25-24 before losing the game 30-26.

Mason was to have X-rays taken today but is doubtful for tonight's match. It appears to be the same injury as that of sophomore hitter Tara Hittle, who suffered a grade-2 sprain during practice Aug. 12. Hittle, last year's conference freshman of the year, hasn't practiced since but is expected to be back for next week's Hawaiian Airlines Classic.

Hawaii is 7-11 all-time against a top-ranked team, including losing the last four meetings with a No. 1. Three times it has been Nebraska.

Stanford 3, Penn State 2

The Cardinal saw two freshmen combine for 38 kills in downing the Nittany Lions in 2 hours and 18 minutes.

Cynthia Barboza had 22 kills and 12 digs, and Foluke Akinradewo added 16 to lead Stanford. Cassy Salyer and Nicole Fawcett each had 17 kills for Penn State.

"We'll be playing a veteran team," Penn State coach Russ Rose said of today's match with Hawaii. "It's a veteran, disappointed team who will come in with a bad attitude."

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Nebraska def. Hawaii

30-23, 30-26, 30-21

Rainbow Wahine (0-1)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Sanders	2	2	1	5	.200	0	0	0
Arnott	3	9	9	29	.000	0	0	6
Kamana'o	3	0	2	7	-.286	0	2	12
Ong	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Prince	3	8	0	19	.421	0	3	2
Mason	2	4	5	21	-.048	0	2	4
Boogaard	3	5	2	14	.214	0	1	4
Gregory	2	4	1	8	.375	1	3	1
Keefe	2	0	0	2	.000	0	1	0
Houston	3	2	0	8	.250	0	0	0
Thomas	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Watanabe	3	0	0	1	.000	0	0	9
Thurlby	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	2
Totals	3	34	20	114	.123	1	12	42
Huskers (1-0)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Griffin	3	1	2	3	-.333	0	0	2
Houghtelling	3	14	3	25	.440	0	5	7
Elmer	3	10	2	19	.421	2	6	2
Pavan	3	10	5	26	.192	0	2	6
Larson	3	9	4	28	.179	0	1	12
Saleaumua	3	12	1	16	.688	0	1	14
Schwartz	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Gates	3	3	4	7	-.143	0	3	0
Busboom	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	5
Totals	3	59	21	124	.306	2	18	48

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (1): Thurlby. NU (0). Assists -- Hawaii (33): Kamana'o 32, Arnott. NU (53): Busboom 25, Griffin 24, Houghtelling, Pavan, Larson, Saleaumua.
T -- 1:38. Officials -- Kathy Ferrarracio, Verna Kublinukik. A -- 10,028.