Wahine keep Waves at bay

Hawaii wins in five after a furious Pepperdine rally

The magic continued for Jayme Lee and No. 7 Hawaii last night.

Hawaii   Pepperdine 3 2 Next Up vs. Florida, Friday

In her first start as a libero, the freshman walk-on again solidified the passing game and the Rainbow Wahine again were good enough when they had to be, outlasting No. 19 Pepperdine 30-28, 30-26, 25-30, 23-30, 21-19 in a marathon nonconference volleyball match.

A turnstile crowd of 6,409 at the Stan Sheriff Center saw the Wahine defeat the Waves for the sixth consecutive time after 2 hours and 49 minutes.

Hawaii will take a 2-0 record and a boost in confidence into next week's 19th Hawaiian Airlines Classic, where the Wahine first face No. 4 Florida.

The young Waves (0-2), again starting three freshmen and two sophomores, head home feeling very good about the future.

"One point here, one point there, again it could have gone either way," Pepperdine coach Nina Matthies said. "These were two great matches and again I'm proud of my players. We could have been out in three, they could have just bagged it, but they didn't."

Matthies echoed Hawaii coach Dave Shoji's words from a night earlier. That's how evenly the teams were matched.

For the second night in a row, the Wahine held off five match points.

"It was another game of survival," Shoji said. "Our players had to dig way down. The big thing I'm proud of is we (faced) 10 match balls over the two nights and we converted on every one of them. That shows a lot of character.

"At the end, I think (Tara) Hittle and (Jamie) Houston sucked deep breaths of air and hit the ball as hard as they could. Houston had 74 swings and they both were taking big swings at the end. That's all about wanting to win."

But as big as the kills were -- Houston finished with 28, Hittle 15 -- it was the Wahine block that came up bigger against the taller Waves.

At 19-19 in Game 5, Pepperdine freshman setter Kiah Fiers was called for a lift, giving Hawaii its second chance of ending it. Kari Gregory and Jessica Keefe closed low and tight on the right to stuff freshman Rachel Lumsden for the match-ender.

"It was Jessica all the way, just a textbook block," said Gregory, who was in on a match-high 11 blocks. "(Lumsden) had been tooling us all night and we got it right.

"I think it gives us a lot of confidence. It reminds me a lot of two years ago, when we knew there was a possibility of losing, but we always thought we were in control."

The 2004 team went 30-1, winning six five-gamers before falling in the regional semifinal in five to Wisconsin.

Lumsden finished with 21 kills and sophomore Julie Rubenstein added 19 in a balanced Pepperdine attack.

Turning in another outstanding defensive performance for the Waves was senior libero Kekai Crabbe. The Kamehameha graduate had 31 digs last night, giving her 62 for the series.

Lee had 16 digs and three aces for Hawaii.

"Jayme's playing with no fear out there," Gregory said.

Game 5 was another nail-biter. It was tied six times before the Wahine gained separation on two kills from Hittle at 8-6. Pepperdine caught Hawaii at 12 on a Houston hitting error and a crosscourt shot by Lumsden.

Hawaii got to match point first at 14-13, on a kill by Hittle. But Hittle hit long on her next attempt and a kill by Sophia Milo gave the Waves their first shot at ending it.

Pepperdine had four more chances, but Hawaii would not give up, tying it at 19-19 before scoring the last two points.

On Friday, Hawaii had to dig out of a 0-2 hole before winning in five. The Wahine again had to rally last night, but started with Game 1. Spotting the Waves a 26-22 lead, Hawaii used a block, two kills by Houston, one of Lee's three aces and spectacular defense to help tie it at 27-all.

Pepperdine took a brief lead at 28-27 on a Lee service error only to have Hawaii score the final three points, two on kills by Houston and a block of Lumsden by Gregory and Keefe.

The Wahine pulled away early in Game 2, seemingly taking control at 23-16.

The Waves didn't fold, clawing their way back to a 24-24 tie partly behind the 5-0 serving run of Cassandra Chamberlain.

Houston slammed back an overpass to spark a 5-0 run that gave Hawaii game point. Pepperdine held off two UH attempts but couldn't stop Keefe from ending it.

Just as it had Friday, the momentum changed during the 10-minute break. This time it was wearing orange.

The 6-3 Lumsden had 10 kills over the next two games and the 6-4 Rubenstein seven to help force Game 5 for a second night.

Next up: No. 10 UCLA takes on Colorado in Friday's 4:30 p.m. Hawaiian Airlines Classic opener. The tournament continues Saturday with Florida-UCLA and Hawaii-Colorado.

Sunday's first match at 2:30 p.m. has Florida against Colorado, followed by Hawaii and UCLA in the 63rd meeting of the two teams.

Notes: UH sophomore middle Nickie Thomas, injured late in Game 1 Friday, was on the bench last night, wearing a walking book on her left foot. There was no official word as to when she'd be cleared to practice. ... Pepperdine wore orange jerseys for the first time since the 1970s, which will serve as the home uniforms this season. ... Waves senior reserve middle Kristin McClune took a red-eye flight last night to Los Angeles in order to work at the Emmy Awards show as part of her internship as a marketing/communications major. The rest of the team was to return today.

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