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FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Alicia Arnott, left, Tara Hittle and Cayley Thurlby celebrated during last night's win over Eastern Michigan.

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Broncos wake up
Wahine

Hawaii rebounds from an emotional
loss to Penn State with a win over
Western Michigan

The wake-up call wore black and gold.

HAWAII 3 W. MICH. 1 NEXT UP vs. Cincinnati, Thursday All-Tournament MVP: Sam Tortorello, PSU » Kanoe Kamana'o, UH » Victoria Prince, UH » Nicole Fawcett, PSU » Christa Harmotto, PSU » Bibiana Candelas, USC » Shaylen Jackson, WMU

Western Michigan may have been the only unranked volleyball team Hawaii faced in its first five matches, but the Rainbow Wahine may have gotten more out of yesterday's match against the Broncos than they got from splitting their Hawaiian Airlines Classic contests against No. 5 Penn State and No. 7 Southern California earlier in the week.

No. 4 UH overcame the letdown from its emotional 3-2 loss to the Nittany Lions on Friday, rebounding for a 30-27, 28-30, 30-18, 30-24 victory over Western Michigan (2-3) in the Classic finale at the Stan Sheriff Center. Freshman hitter Jamie Houston continued to impress, putting down 22 kills and hitting .405 to lead the Wahine (2-3) to their sixth runner-up trophy in the 18 years of the event.

It lasted 2 hours and 6 minutes, about 30 minutes longer than most of the 4,171 on hand expected, given the Mustangs' lack of national reputation. The Wahine felt it was extra time well spent as they slowly begin their return to full strength health-wise.

"What was important was we finished strong," said junior setter Kanoe Kamana'o, alluding to Friday's fizzle after being up 2-0 against Penn State. "We want to work on closing out teams.

"(The Broncos) played tough. We knew they would. They had nothing to lose."

WMU led for most of Game 1, only to have Hawaii tie it at 20, then go ahead for good at 25-22. The Mustangs didn't let it happen in Game 2, even after the Wahine rallied from being down by as many as six (19-13) to tie it at 28.

Schea Fissel put down one of her 12 kills, and a hitting error by Houston gave the Mustangs hope and their first game win in three matches. But Hawaii came out of the locker room stronger, determined to start a new home winning streak.

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FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Jamie Houston, right, tried to hit the ball past Western Michigan's Shannon Jackson.

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Leading 20-18 in Game 3, junior hitter Alicia Arnott made her first appearance of the night after sitting out the Penn State match with a virus. She had three kills, and Cayley Thurlby served for 11 straight during a 12-0 run that closed it out.

Arnott again entered late in Game 4 with the Wahine holding on to a 23-22 lead. She added another kill and was in on a block as Hawaii finished off Western Michigan with a 7-1 run.

Whether Arnott will be back in the starting lineup Thursday when Hawaii takes on Cincinnati will be determined during this week's practice. At the moment, Houston -- who had 55 kills in the past three matches -- has gone ahead of both Arnott and sophomore Tara Hittle (ankle sprain) on the left-side depth chart.

"Because of injuries and Alicia's virus, we've been forced to play Houston more than we expected," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "I thought we'd be going with our older, experienced players, but she has accelerated her growth over the weekend. She's a terminator and, for the moment, the (starting) job is hers."

Hittle played in the back row last night, changing into the libero jersey for Games 3 and 4, and finished with 11 digs. Shoji said he wanted to have the sophomore on the court for all six rotations "because she is a spark, has good energy, makes plays. She's a fiery player and we need that."

The same goes for Thurlby as a spark. The junior reserve setter started her second consecutive match as a hitter and finished with nine kills -- as many as she had in her previous two seasons combined -- and eight assists.

In all, Hawaii used 13 players. Western Michigan coach Colleen Munson said it was a great challenge for her team to adjust to the different Wahine rotations.

"We showed that we could compete with Hawaii throwing different people at us," the first-year coach said. "Our goal was to be able to compete with the teams here and I feel we did. Our kids were talking about it in the locker room, about playing at this level."

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Hawaii def. Western Michigan

30-27, 28-30, 30-18, 30-24

Broncos (2-3, 0-3 Hal)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Jackson, Shay.	4	13	5	25	.320	0	1	1
Babcock	4	16	4	50	.240	0	1	8
Sulewski	4	3	1	9	.222	0	3	7
Jackson, Shan.	4	5	4	19	.053	0	0	6
Fissel	4	12	3	26	.346	0	1	12
Gephart	4	10	11	32	-.031	1	4	2
Duffy	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	17
West	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Totals	4	59	28	161	.193	1	10	54
Rainbow Wahine (2-3, 2-1 hal)
	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Sanders	2	7	1	12	.500	0	1	0
Boogaard	4	17	7	46	.217	1	1	11
Houston	4	22	5	42	.405	0	2	1
Kamana'o	4	0	1	3	-.333	0	2	15
Thurlby	4	9	3	18	.333	1	0	2
Prince	4	13	2	23	.478	2	2	1
Hittle	4	1	0	2	.500	0	0	11
Gregory	3	7	2	13	.385	0	3	1
Keefe	1	1	2	3	-.333	0	0	0
Arnott	2	4	0	6	.667	0	1	2
Thomas	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Watanabe	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	13
Ong	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	2
Totals	4	81	23	168	.345	4	12	59

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- WMU (5): Duffy 2, West, Fissel, Jackson, Shan. Hawaii (3): Watanabe, Thurlby, Prince. Assists -- WMU (58): Sulewski 50, Duffy 3, Jackson, Shan. 2, Babcock, Fissel, West. Hawaii (75): Kamana'o 66, Thurlby 8, Houston.
T -- 2:06. Officials -- Wayne Lee, Ernest Ho. A -- 4,171.