Rainbow Wahine sweep Pack

Prince hits .545 for the Wahine, as Kamana'o prepares for assault on school assists record

RENO, Nev. » With 100 consecutive regular-season conference victories under its belt and playing an injury-plagued University of Nevada team that scored only 40 points on its Oct. 8 visit to Honolulu, nobody could blame the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team if it stubbed its toe.

Which it did -- but only slightly.

UH held off a late Wolf Pack rally and took a 30-22, 30-22, 30-27 victory yesterday over Nevada in front of 918 fans at the Virginia Street Gym. With the win, Hawaii improved to 16-6 overall and remained in first place with a 10-0 record in Western Athletic Conference play.

Second-place Nevada slipped to 13-9 overall, 7-4 in the WAC.

"We had trouble siding out and Hawaii is a great team," said Nevada coach Devin Scruggs, in her ninth year. "We didn't put the ball away at the end. We need to hold on to second or third place and get healthy for the WAC tournament."

Nevada's emotional leader, middle blocker Salaia Salave'a, played only sparingly and was never a force.

The Wolf Pack smelled blood and took a 27-24 lead late in the third game, but the UH trio of senior middle blocker Victoria Prince, junior setter Kanoe Kamana'o and freshman outside hitter Jamie Houston stepped up and ended any thoughts of a Nevada comeback.

"Nevada got that spark and when a team gets that spark, you have to shut them right down," Prince said. "Houston came in with a big kill (putting Hawaii up 28-27 after tying it with a block) and Kanoe got a block (closing it to 27-26) and we were right back in the game."

Prince led all players with 14 kills, had a .545 attack percentage and came up big at the net with a game-high eight blocks. Junior outside hitter Sarah Mason added 12 kills and five digs, and Kamana'o led all players with 43 assists.

Now in fourth place all-time with 4,295 assists, Kamana'o is within nine of Cheri Boyer for third, 18 behind Robyn Ah Mow for second and 342 away from Martina Cincerova's UH record of 4,637.

"I think we all take (Kamana'o) for granted," said Dave Shoji, in his 31st year as Hawaii's coach. "You expect big sets from her, which gives players chances to get the ball down. But other coaches and the media remind us how special she is. She is special."

Prince also heaped praise on the 5-foot-8 Kamana'o .

"She did an awesome job," Prince said. "She was getting slides. Every time she got it up in the air I was drooling. Kanoe and her passing were the reason I had a good night. She was money with her sets."

Prince also played well, extending the Rainbow Wahine lead to 29-27 with one of her four third-game kills, before Nevada gave up the ghost with a net violation to end the match.

"That's how she plays. She gets a lot of (shots) over the net for us," Shoji said of Prince. "She was slowed by the flu this last week. She's getting her strength back. It's nice to have her back full strength. The big key is her jump serve. She struggled with it last year."

Hawaii dominated Nevada at the net (12-4 in team blocks) and in attacking percentage (.307 to .104) and sophomore outside hitter Tara Hittle continued to battle back from an ankle injury. Hittle had a game-high 11 digs to go with eight kills, and senior libero Ashley Watanabe added 10 digs.