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Wahine roll

Hawaii has no trouble with Utah State without Victoria Prince in the lineup

The goal is to stay in system, regardless of who is in the lineup.

That is the mark of an elite volleyball program.

Hawaii: 3 Utah State: 0 Next Up vs. SJSU tomorrow

Your All-American can't start because of a stomach virus? No problem. Plug in a backup who hasn't started since last season and watch her have her best outing in 14 months.

Losing senior blocker Victoria Prince for last night's match against Utah State didn't faze Hawaii. The change in the lineup did nothing to alter the outcome as the No. 11 Rainbow Wahine won their 99th consecutive Western Athletic Conference match last night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Sophomore Kari Gregory, Prince's replacement, put down her first six swings, finishing with eight kills, as Hawaii swept WAC newcomer Utah State 30-20, 30-28, 30-19 in front of 4,458 (6,415 tickets).

Junior hitter Sarah Mason again led the Wahine with 15 kills, including three straight slams back on overpasses in Game 3, to help seal the victory. Sophomore middle Juliana Sanders and sophomore hitter Tara Hittle each added 10 kills in keeping Hawaii (14-6) perfect in conference play at 8-0.

The Wahine will go for their 100th consecutive WAC win tomorrow at 7 p.m. against San Jose State (9-10, 4-3). Last night, the Spartans upset visiting Nevada 28-30, 25-30, 30-16, 30-28, 15-9.

"I hope that will get our team's attention," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said of San Jose State's victory. "Craig (Spartan coach Choate) is a good coach and he always gets the most out of his players.

"It just shows how balanced the league is."

And just how dominant Hawaii continues to be.

Ever since the Oct. 1 match at New Mexico State -- where the Wahine had to scramble to win in five after being down 2-0 -- Hawaii has made the most of its opportunities. The Wahine have not dropped a game in the five matches since.

The Aggies (13-9, 5-3) gave the Wahine fits last year in Logan, with then-No. 1 Hawaii having to rally in five after losing the first two. Last night, Utah State didn't show up until Game 2, leading for the most of the way before faltering.

The Wahine finally caught the Aggies at 23-23 on Susie Boogaard's first serve of what would be a five-point run. Her last serve was an ace, giving Hawaii a 27-23 lead.

Utah State climbed back to within 29-28 on Zuzana Cernianska's ninth kill, but Mason's 12th kill ended any chance of the Aggies tying the match.

"Our kids don't play in this kind of environment and it is a little overwhelming," Utah State coach Burt Fuller said. "I think we settled down a little bit, started to show we can compete in Game 2, but did not do enough to sustain it.

"We put ourselves in position to win Game 2, something we didn't do in Games 1 and 3. We didn't serve effectively, at inopportune times we'd drop (the serve) into the net. We didn't make the plays to get it done."

Cernianska led the Aggies with 13 kills. Beth Hodge and Ingrid Roth added 10 apiece.

Although Mason wasn't on the team last year when Hawaii won at Utah State, she knew enough about the Aggies to respect them.

"We had a lot of pride going into this game, had a lot to prove to them," she said. "We're a different team than last year."

The teams will meet in Logan on Nov. 9. Shoji expects the same kind of battle as last year.

"They've got five girls who go out and bang hard," Shoji said. "The scores don't indicate how close it was, how hard-fought this was. Being at home helped a lot.

"They're a good, solid team. We had trouble blocking them the whole match and I'm sure they'll play better at home."

Hawaii outblocked Utah State 7-4 with Sanders and Kanoe Kamana'o in on four blocks each. The Wahine had been averaging 3.48 blocks per game in the WAC.

"They hit the ball really hard and really smart," Gregory said of the Aggies. "We hadn't come up against that in the WAC. They were hitting high and hard.

"It was exciting for me to get to start tonight. I just wanted to play hard, have fun and play with confidence."

Ashley Watanabe led UH in digs with 13 and Hittle added 12. Kelsi Peterson had a match-high 15 digs for the Aggies.

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