Rainbow Wahine rally to clinch WAC title

No. 9 Hawaii defeats Utah State in five to net its 10th straight regular-season championship

LOGAN, Utah » Hawaii avoided the Wasatch Squash again.

Barely, again.

The Rainbow Wahine's second consecutive visit to Dee Glen Smith Spectrum resulted in a second consecutive five-game win over Utah State. No. 9 Hawaii got 21 kills from freshman Jamie Houston and a season-high 21 blocks to outlast the Aggies, 31-29, 32-34, 24-30, 30-24, 15-7 and preserve a number of impressive streaks.

It took 2 hours and 26 minutes before the Wahine (19-6, 13-0) were able to clinch their 10th straight Western Athletic Conference regular-season title. It was also their 104th WAC win in a row, 38th straight on an opponent's home court and 13th consecutive victory.

It was anything but easy.

For the first time in 10 matches, the Wahine not only found themselves trailing going into Game 4 but having to play a Game 4. Their last nine wins had come in sweeps.

"We had our hands full tonight," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "I don't think we played a poor match. I give (Utah State) a lot of credit. They really wanted to win.

"Their coach (Burt Fuller) prepared them well. They've got to feel good about how they played but they've got to get right back up again and play at New Mexico State (Saturday)."

The Aggies (17-10, 9-4) are tied for second with New Mexico State.

Hawaii will stay here today before traveling to San Jose State tomorrow. Saturday, the Wahine likely will take on the Spartans (11-13, 6-6) without junior hitter Sarah Mason, who reinjured her right ankle with UH trailing 21-19 in Game 1 last night.

Even without Mason, the team-leader in kills (4.04 kpg), Hawaii was able to eke out a win in Game 1. The Wahine trailed 29-28, held off one game point, tied it on an Aggie serving error then took their first lead at 30-29 on an Aggie hitting error.

UH seniors Victoria Prince and Susie Boogaard stuffed Carolyn Forbush to end it, starting what would be a very long night.

Hawaii was unable to close out Game 2 despite having three chances at game point. The Wahine saw their streak of 31 consecutive games come to an end when the Aggies were able to even the match on a block of Tara Hittle and one of Forbush's 13 kills.

Hawaii struggled toward the end of Game 3, seeing an 18-18 tie turn into deficits of 23-18 and 27-21. Minutes later, the Wahine knew they'd have to go to five if they were going to pull it out.

They did on the arms of Houston, who had 14 of her kills in the final two games, and of Prince, who finished with a season-high 11 block assists to along with her 14 kills.

Adding to the dynamics was a rejuvenated Tara Hittle, who had a shaky start but came back in the last two games to finish with 13 kills and 17 digs. Libero Ashley Watanabe led the defense with 24 of the Hawaii's 80 digs.

The Aggies were led by Zuzana Cernianska's 20 kills while Erin Graybill added 18.

"It always feels good to win when you're down 2-1," Shoji said. "Our kids were determined to win and came back very nicely. No one doubted that we couldn't come from behind and obviously our players feel good about being able to do it.

"It took a little too long to make adjustments. We prepared well, had a lot of energy, we just had a hard time stopping some of their hitters."

The victory, the 898th in the program's history, capped a satisfying day for Shoji. Earlier yesterday, both 6-foot middle Amber Kaufman of Branham High (San Jose, Calif.) and 5-10 setter Dani Mafua (Mid-Pacific) signed national letters of intent to play at UH.

Also signing a letter of intent was Shoji's son Kawika, the senior setter for Iolani, who is headed to Stanford. Kawika chose the Cardinal over a number of schools, including UCLA, USC, UC Irvine and Hawaii.

Dave Shoji was returning home today in order to watch sons Kawika and Erik (Punahou sophomore libero) play for the state boys volleyball championship tonight. The coach will rejoin the team in San Jose tomorrow, saying the jet lag was worth it.

Note: UH's only regular-season WAC loss came 125 miles down the road, to BYU in four on Oct. 10, 1998. The Wahine are 138-1 in WAC play.

Hawaii def. Utah State

31-29, 32-34, 24-30, 30-24, 15-7

RAINBOW WAHINE (19-6, 13-0 WAC)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Sanders	5	12	2	21	.476	0	7	0
Boogaard	5	7	3	19	.211	0	7	12
Hittle	5	13	6	49	.143	0	4	17
Kamana'o	5	2	0	5	.400	1	4	14
Prince	5	14	5	33	.273	0	11	1
Mason	1	2	4	9	-.222	0	1	0
Gregory	1	0	0	0	.000	0	2	0
Arnott	4	3	3	11	.000	0	0	8
Houston	5	21	7	36	.389	0	3	4
Watanabe	5	0	0	0	.000	0	0	24
Thurlby	2	0	0	0	.000	0	1	0
Totals	5	74	30	183	.240	1	40	80

AGGIES (17-10, 9-4 WAC)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Ale	2	4	2	12	.167	0	4	0
Orgill	5	9	7	28	.071	0	5	2
Arsenault	5	3	1	9	.222	1	3	15
Forbush	5	13	5	45	.178	0	2	10
Graybill	5	18	7	41	.268	1	4	4
Cernianska	5	20	8	46	.261	0	2	7
Zimmerman	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	8
Roth	4	11	5	25	.240	0	4	1
Larson	1	0	0	1	.000	0	0	0
Hillier	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Chick	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	3
Peterson	5	0	0	0	.000	0	0	17
Hodge	1	0	1	3	-.333	0	0	0
Totals	5	78	36	210	.200	2	24	68

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

Aces -- Hawaii (5): Houston 2, Hittle, Prince, Watanabe. Utah State (1): Forbush. Assists -- Hawaii (69): Kamana'o 65, Boogaard 2, Hittle, Thurlby. Utah State (70): Arsenault 62, Forbush 3, Peterson 2, Cernianska, Zimmerman, Roth.

T -- 2:26. Officials -- Syd Church, Tom Given. A -- 738.

WAC standings

	Conference	Overall
	W	L	Pct.	W	L
x-Hawaii	13	0	1.000	19	6
Utah State	9	4	.692	17	10
New Mexico State	9	4	.692	17	5
Nevada	8	5	.615	14	10
San Jose State	6	6	.500	11	13
Idaho	5	7	.417	13	12
Fresno State	3	9	.250	6	17
La. Tech	2	11	.154	15	14
Boise State	2	11	.154	6	15

x-clinched regular-season title

Yesterday

Hawaii def. Utah State, 31-29, 32-34, 24-30, 30-24, 15-7

Eastern Washington def. Boise State, 26-3, 31-29, 30-21, 30-12

NEXT UP at SJSU, Saturday