FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Jamie Houston slammed a kill between two Cal State Northridge players last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Wahine work
out kinks

Hawaii warms up for UCLA
with a near-perfect sweep
of Cal State Northridge

HAWAII 3 NORTHRIDGE 0 NEXT UP vs. UCLA tonight

It's Round 62 tonight when No. 7 Hawaii takes on No. 10 UCLA in the finale of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Challenge, a storied series featuring two of the coaching legends in women's college volleyball.

It's been a measuring stick for both teams ever since their first meeting in 1974 in the AIAW national championship, the first year of the Rainbow Wahine program. They've met every year since, with Hawaii taking a 33-28 edge into tonight's match, which will decide the Challenge title at the Stan Sheriff Center.

"It's a good rivalry," said UCLA's Andy Banachowski, who is 11 away from becoming the first women's coach to earn 1,000 wins. "Hawaii is a really talented team. Win or lose, we always learn a lot about ourselves."

What Banachowski learned last night about Hawaii was just how scary the Wahine could be. Hawaii hit an incredible .625 through the first two games -- a school-record .573 for a rally-score match -- en route to a 30-17, 30-22, 30-24 sweep of freshman-heavy Cal State Northridge (2-6).

An announced crowd of 4,761 (6,529 tickets) saw Hawaii (4-3) move ahead of the .500 mark for the first time this season in taking 89 minutes to beat an unranked opponent for a 204th consecutive time. Freshman hitter Jamie Houston had 12 kills with no errors in 19 attempts (.632) and senior middle Victoria Prince added 10 kills with no errors on 11 swings (.909), both playing in only Games 1 and 2.

Sophomore middle Juliana Sanders also had 11 kills in playing all three games, not committing an error until her 15th attempt, when she was blocked by Val Kepler late in Game 3. The Wahine had just five errors all night, three by Susie Boogaard in the first two games, the other by junior hitter Sarah Mason.

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Hawaii's Victoria Prince went up to block a shot by Cal State Northridge's Darla Donaldson.

It was Mason's first appearance since spraining her ankle in the season-opening loss at Nebraska. It meant that all 16 on the Wahine roster saw action, a complete-team win in a complete-team effort.

"We were almost perfect tonight," Mason said. "We were very patient, hit very smart.

"It was a lot of fun to be back out on the court with my team and very nice to be able to compete again."

While Hawaii goes for its fourth consecutive win over UCLA, Mason is going for her first -- she was 0-4 vs. the Bruins in her two seasons at Oregon.

"I'm very excited to see them," Mason said. "We just need to focus on our side of the net and play our game."

Overall, UH coach Dave Shoji was pleased with the team's effort.

"We played at a high level for us, which is good against a team where we could have had a letdown," Shoji said. "We think we're a top-five team. We'll see if (the Bruins are)."

The Matadors, mostly going with seven freshmen, were led by Darla Donaldson's 15 kills and Jenn Probert's 12.

UCLA 3, Cincinnati 2

It would have been the biggest win ever for the Bearcat program, according to coach Reed Sunahara. Instead, it will become a big learning experience, punctuated by the memory of how an 8-6 lead in Game 5 slipped away in a 25-30, 32-30, 30-22, 27-30, 15-9 defeat. UCLA goes to 5-0 and Cincinnati falls to 1-4.

"I thought we did a pretty good job of controlling the game, but then we made some crucial errors at the end," said Sunahara, a former UCLA All-American facing his alma mater for the first time as a head coach. "I'm happy with our progress from last night to tonight ... but it would have been really nice to beat the Bruins."

The end of the match was basically a replay of UCLA's win at Nevada last week in which the Bruins trailed 14-9 in Game 5 against the Wolf Pack. Following a sideout, UCLA held off another four match points behind a 6-0 serving run by sophomore Meghan Schoen to pull out the victory in Reno.

Last night, it was too much Nana Meriwether at the end. The junior middle had a role in five of UCLA's final six points, putting down two of her match-high 18 kills and in on three of her nine blocks.

The Bruins could have easily been down 2-0 after wilting in Game 1 (up 20-17) and nearly having it happen in Game 2. They served for the game three times, beginning at 29-26, only to have the Bearcats score four straight and take a swing at ending it at 30-29.

Colby Lyman had one of her 12 kills and was in on a block, and Rachell Johnson capped the 3-0 run with one of her 14 kills to even the match.

Maria Pongonis led Cincinnati with 15 kills and 19 digs. Jessie Nevitt added 14 kills and was in on eight of the team's 12 1/2 blocks.

Note: Wahine sophomore middle Kari Gregory tweaked her left knee early in Game 3. It did not appear to be a serious injury.

Hawaii def. CS Northridge

Matadors (2-6, 0-2 wbmc)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Brinkman	1	1	0	2	.500	0	1	0
Hultner	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	3
Burdine	3	5	6	24	-.042	0	0	3
Kepler	3	7	0	11	.636	1	0	1
Donaldson	3	15	8	31	.226	0	2	1
Wright	3	2	0	4	.500	0	0	1
Hanson	3	7	2	14	.357	0	1	7
Crawford	3	0	1	1	-1.000	0	0	8
Probert	3	12	3	28	.321	0	0	0
Totals	3	49	20	115	.252	1	4	24

Rainbow Wahine (4-3, 2-0 wbmc)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Boogaard	3	7	3	17	.235	0	0	5
Kamana'o	3	1	0	2	.500	0	3	7
Watanabe	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	6
Thurlby	2	1	0	1	1.000	0	2	4
Ong	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Prince	2	10	0	11	.909	0	4	4
Sanders	3	11	1	15	.667	0	4	0
Hittle	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	5
Gregory	1	1	0	1	1.000	0	0	0
Blood	1	1	0	1	1.000	0	0	0
Keefe	1	1	0	3	.333	0	3	0
Arnott	1	5	0	7	.714	0	0	2
Houston	2	12	0	19	.632	0	0	2
Thomas	1	3	0	3	1.000	0	3	0
Woolford	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Mason	3	3	1	9	.222	0	3	1
Totals	3	56	5	89	.573	0	22	37

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.

Aces -- CSUN (3): Donaldson, Hanson, Wright. Hawaii (2): Thurlby, Ong. Assists -- CSUN (43): Wright 40, Burdine 2, Brinkman. Hawaii (53): Kamana'o 49, Arnott, Boogaard, Mason, Thurlby.

T -- 1:29. Officials -- Dan Hironaka, Dickson Chun. A -- 4,761.