Hawaii's Sarah Mason slammed a kill past Washington's Sanja Tomasevic for a point during last night's match.
New Wahine in town
Visiting Washington shows Hawaii
what it lacks from last year
The roller-coaster ride that is Hawaii women's volleyball was derailed for a second night in a row by a Washington team that eerily resembles last year's Rainbow Wahine squad.
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Nothing flashy or spectacular. Just good, solid volleyball.
Just as it described Hawaii 2004, it describes Washington 2005. The No. 2 Huskies (9-0) continued their undefeated season with another sweep of the Rainbow Wahine (5-5), 30-28, 30-20, 30-28 in an hour and 44 minutes.
A crowd of 6,817 (8,322 tickets) saw something that no other Stan Sheriff Center crowd has seen since the arena opened in 1994: Hawaii falling in straight sets to the same opponent for a second match in a row. The last time UH dropped two matches in a row at home was in 1997, when the Wahine lost three straight.
"It's very frustrating to come so close and not finish it," said sophomore Tara Hittle, back in a full-time rotation at hitter for the first time this season. "We think of ourselves as a great team, but when stuff like this happens, it puts a damper on having fun playing.
"It's like having a rainstorm when you want to go out and play."
Washington soaked Hawaii at the end of Games 1 and 3, and stormed out to a big lead in Game 2. Losing in both fashions was equally disappointing, Wahine coach Dave Shoji said.
Hawaii's Cayley Thurlby hit over a block attempt by Washington's Brie Hagerty, left, and Alesha Deesing.
"You may be close in the score, but you're not close when you don't win one. We had our chances to win and we didn't."
Brie Hagerty led four Huskies in double-figure kills with 15. Victoria Prince was the only one to hit double figures for the Wahine, putting down 13 with no errors in 22 swings.
Hawaii appeared poised to become the first team to take a game off of UW in Game 3, thanks in part to some spectacular defense and Prince's error-free hitting. It was 27-24 ... 5 minutes later, the Huskies were headed out for their red-eye flight with their perfect record intact.
Three kills by Christal Morrison helped UW go on a 5-0 run that set up match point at 29-27. Kari Gregory and Kanoe Kamana'o finally stopped Morrison, bringing the Wahine to 29-28.
Sanja Tomasevic ended any hopes of the comeback with her 13th kill.
"Our frustration is over making the mental errors, especially at the end of the games," Prince said. "It shouldn't be happening at that point of the game."
Just like Hawaii was able to keep its undefeated record through 30 matches last year, Washington uses being unbeaten in games (now 27-0) as motivation.
"It's our little thing," Tomasevic said. "We want to see how long we can keep that up.
"We needed a game like this before the Pac-10 opens. The difference is our team stayed composed at the end."
Hawaii opened the match in comfort mode, using a starting lineup last seen on Nov. 24 in a victory at Utah. With Ashley Watanabe back at libero, and Hittle and Alicia Arnott both in the front row, the Wahine enjoyed an 18-13 lead in Game 1.
It wouldn't last long. Washington launched runs that gave the Huskies the lead for good at 22-20.
"We need to be able to close games out," Shoji said. "We're going to start focusing on that more starting with Monday's practice."
Hawaii opens Western Athletic Conference play Thursday with Boise State followed by matches Friday and Saturday against Loyola Marymount.
Notes: Hawaii has now lost more matches (four) at home this season than in the previous three years combined. ... The last time the Wahine lost twice to the same team at home was in 1993, in a Thanksgiving week series against USC in Klum Gym, 3-2 and 3-1. Only one other team has won 3-0 two nights in a row -- UC Santa Barbara in UH's injury-plagued 1992 season.
Washington def. Hawaii
30-28, 30-20, 30-28
Huskies (9-0) g k e att pct. bs ba d Deesing 3 12 2 22 .455 1 4 3 Thompson 3 0 1 2 -.500 0 4 9 Morrison 3 13 5 36 .222 0 1 11 Hagerty 3 15 7 39 .205 0 0 2 Myhre 3 4 1 10 .300 0 1 0 Tomasevic 3 13 6 34 .206 0 1 11 Aratani 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 2 Lee 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 21 Danicic 3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 8 Collymore 1 1 2 3 -.333 0 0 0 Totals 3 58 24 146 .233 1 11 67 Rainbow Wahine (5-5) g k e att pct. bs ba d Sanders 2 6 2 24 .167 0 4 0 Boogaard 2 1 3 14 -.143 0 1 3 Hittle 3 9 4 41 .122 0 3 13 Arnott 2 3 3 10 .000 0 0 1 Kamana'o 3 1 0 2 .500 0 6 11 Prince 3 13 0 22 .591 0 3 2 Gregory 1 2 1 5 .200 0 3 0 Keefe 2 3 0 5 .600 0 0 0 Thomas 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Watanabe 3 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 16 Thurlby 2 1 1 2 .000 0 0 3 Ong 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Woolford 3 0 1 1 -1.000 0 0 3 Mason 2 4 2 12 .167 0 0 1 Totals 3 44 17 139 .194 0 20 53 Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- UW (3): Danicic 2, Tomasevic. Hawaii (2): Hittle, Kamana'o. Assists -- UW (53): Thompson 51, Lee 2. Hawaii (42): Kamana'o 39, Boogaard 2, Watanabe.
T -- 1:44. Officials -- Wayne Lee, Denise Hanson. A -- 6,817.
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