UH storms back

The Wahine edge Pepperdine in the opener after falling behind 2-0

Pepperdine's youth began showing right about the time Hawaii showed up last night.

Hawaii    Pepperdine 3 2 Next up vs. Pepperdine, today

The No. 7 Rainbow Wahine dodged a bullet -- 13 of them in the form of aces -- to turn back the young Waves, 25-30, 26-30, 30-25, 33-31, 17-15 in a nonconference volleyball match at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A turnstile crowd of 6,567 saw the Rainbow Wahine defeat the 19th-ranked Waves for the fifth straight time, upping their series edge to 23-3. Hawaii also avoided losing its second consecutive season opener, as well as its first home opener since a 1978 loss to UCLA at Blaisdell Arena.

"We had a pretty balanced attack, five people in double figures (in kills)," UH head coach Dave Shoji said. "It's nice to see a comeback this early in the year, especially after we played so poorly in Games 1 and 2. It would have been easy to feel sorry for ourselves."

Sophomore hitter Jamie Houston put down a team-high 21 kills and junior hitter Tara Hittle added 17 for Hawaii. Coming in off the bench for an injured Nickie Thomas, junior middle Juliana Sanders added 15 kills, hitting .609 with one error, while junior middle Kari Gregory had 12 kills, with one error, hitting .407.

Impressive in their collegiate debuts for the Waves were hitter Rachel Lumsden (match-high 23 kills) and Kiah Fiers (59 assists), the first freshman setter to start for Pepperdine since 1998.

Julie Rubenstein added 18 kills and six aces and Sophia Milo had 17 kills for the Waves, who started three freshmen and two sophomores.

The teams meet again at 7 tonight.

"I thought our freshmen were superb," Pepperdine coach Nina Matthies said. "I'm pretty proud of my kids, the way they played in this atmosphere. (After Game 2) Hawaii started settling down with their passing, which changed their game and it changed ours.

"Hawaii is very athletic. Game 5 could have gone either way."

Hawaii forced a fifth game when rallying from a 26-23 deficit in Game 4 to tie it at 26. An ace by Houston gave the Wahine a brief 27-26 lead, but the Waves scored three straight for match point at 29-28.

Hawaii held off three Pepperdine attempts before getting its first swing at finishing it on a kill by Houston. Houston then tapped back a blocked ball to tie the match.

Game 5 was another roller-coaster ride, with the Wahine going up 4-1 only to see the Waves take the lead at 5-4. It was tied six times before Gregory and Jessica Keefe teamed to block the 6-foot-4 Rubenstein and Sanders put down her 15th kill.

Shoji was just happy to be playing Game 5.

"Yes, we were happy we were in that situation, to still be in the match after the way we started," Shoji said. "Their serving got us in trouble right off the bat and we haven't been challenged like that in practice. Jayme Lee stabilized our passing, and I think it changed the game from there. She was a pleasant surprise, she's been playing well but not like that in practice. I think it will give her a big boost of confidence and maybe she wins the (libero) job."

Lee had little notice that she was going to play.

"I was a little surprised when Dave said I was going to be the libero, but once I got on the court everything was fine," Lee said. "This team has so much heart we were not going to lose this match. It's our home."

The concern had been Pepperdine's height -- the Waves are the tallest team in the country according to RichKern.com -- but Hawaii won the battle at the net with a 16-10 advantage in blocks. Sanders finished with a match-high seven (2 solo, 5 assist).

Hawaii hit .306 to Pepperdine's .182 in Game 1 ... and still lost by five. The Wahine gave up 13 points on serves, seven on Wave aces -- including a career-high four by Rubenstein -- and six service errors.

It was 8-8 in Game 2 and then basically it was over as the Waves roared out to a 27-16 lead, committing no errors in their first 29 swings and putting down 18 kills.

Two Pepperdine errors combined with tough serving from Raeceen Woolford and Cayley Thurlby helped Hawaii close to 28-23. At 29-23, the Wahine held off three game points before Milo ended it with her sixth kill.

Note: Starting sophomore middle Thomas was injured during Game 1 and did not return to the match. A UH policy, put into effect yesterday, did not allow for any disclosure of medical information. Information only will be released as "cleared to participate" or "not cleared to participate."

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