900!

» Rainbow Wahine give coach Dave Shoji a milestone victory
» Seventh-ranked Hawaii gets the party started by beating Colorado in 101 minutes

His presents were the presence of consistent passing and the multi-pronged attack he knows his team is capable of accomplishing.

Colorado Hawaii 0 3 Next up vs. UCLA, today

Win No. 900 for Dave Shoji was rewarding in a number of ways, but particularly for how Hawaii rebounded from Friday's soul-shaking, core-rattling loss to Florida.

Led by Jamie Houston's 17 kills, 14 from Tara Hittle and a 17-4 edge in blocks, the seventh-ranked Rainbow Wahine stood their ground against unranked Colorado in the 19th Hawaiian Airlines Classic.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,953 (7,071 tickets) saw Hawaii sweep the Buffs 32-30, 30-23, 30-20 in 101 minutes. The faithful also saw the return of the Wahine middle attack, with Kari Gregory and Juliana Sanders combining for 18 kills and just one error, an unkind net that rolled a Gregory attempt out of bounds early in Game 3.

Hawaii (3-1) puts its four-match winning streak against UCLA (5-0) on the line at 5 p.m. today in the Classic finale, with the teams meeting for the 63rd time in their storied rivalry. The day starts with the 2:30 p.m. match between Florida (3-1) and Colorado (1-2).

The No. 10 Bruins stunned the No. 7 Gators in yesterday's first match 31-29, 30-28, 30-15 behind Nana Meriwether's 22 kills and the leadership of sophomore setter Nellie Spicer. It was just one of several upsets of the early season: No. 4 Stanford fell at unranked BYU on Friday and unranked Cal Poly San Luis Obispo -- the Wahine opponent in two weeks -- rallied from 0-2 to upend No. 9 Texas yesterday.

"There is a lot of parity," said UCLA coach Andy Banachowski, the only Division I women's coach ahead of Shoji in wins. "There are a lot of good teams out there."

Colorado is trying to become one of the Big 12 elite. Even though the Buffs are 0-6 in games, CU coach Pi'i Aiu said this tournament experience is what he wanted.

"We are getting what we came out for," the Kamehameha Schools graduate said. "I think Hawaii is a Big 12 team and this is a tough place to play. It's a good barometer of what we need to work on.

"We need to keep our hitting under control, play good, smart volleyball. We got real predictable and we fell into our old habits."

The key to the match was winning Game 1, where Hawaii played catch-up and then had to hold off Colorado's attempt to end it at 30-29. But the Buffs' Alex Buth hit long and the Wahine used a kill by Hittle and a setting error by CU's Ashley Nu'u to survive.

Hawaii broke up a tight Game 3, using a 9-0 run to loosen a 15-15 tie and take control at 24-15. The Wahine closed it out with a 6-5 spurt that included three kills from Hittle, a Colorado native.

"We knew we had to put last night behind us," Hittle said. "We had fun, started doing our thing. Kanoe (setter Kamana'o) distributed the ball well and the blocking was great."

Sanders was in on nine blocks and Gregory eight. Freshman libero Jayme Lee had a match-high 18 digs.

Amber Sutherland led Colorado with 16 kills and Mallori Gibson added 14.

Shoji's postgame celebration wasn't flashy, an announcement, a game ball, some leis. His postgame words to his team were straight to the heart.

"I told them that they would always be remembered as the team that gave me the 900th win," Shoji said. "But there were many players who came before who had a part in this. We're all going to share in the wins."

Note: Mira Costa senior Alix Klineman, the top prep prospect in the country, is in attendance this weekend as part of her recruiting visit to UH.

UCLA 3, Florida 0

UCLA coach Andy Banachowski doesn't remember that he won his 900th match of his career during the 2001 Classic. The Bruins coach won't forget win No. 1,009, an unlikely sweep of the Gators in 97 minutes, 31-29, 30-28, 30-15.

"We were able to stay in system and we passed well," Banachowski said. "And Nana (senior middle Meriwether) had an unreal night.

Meriwether finished with 22 kills and one error on 24 attempts (.875).

The Bruins made improbable comebacks in both Games 1 and 2, digging out of huge holes, riding the arm of their 6-1 senior middle. She had 14 kills with no errors on 15 attempts, hitting an outrageous .933 in the first two games.

The Gators opened equally hot in Game 1, cruising to a 24-17 lead after putting down 16 of their first 31 swings without an error (.516). Florida had three errors in the next eight attempts, including a solo block of Kristina Johnson by Rachell Johnson that helped UCLA pull to within 26-25. The Gators got to game point first (29-27) only to have the Bruins score the final four points, ending the game with an emphatic stuff of Kisya Killingsworth.

UCLA again rallied in Game 2, falling behind 25-19 and 26-21. Ali Daley's 6-0 serving run erased all that, giving the Bruins their first lead at 27-26.

Florida went ahead briefly at 28-27, only to see UCLA score the final three points to go up 2-0.

The Bruins brought the momentum back out after the break, pulling away from an 8-8 deadlock with an 8-1 run. Another 6-0 run, this one behind Johnson's serves, gave UCLA an insurmountable lead at 28-13.

The match ended aptly enough on Meriwether's 22nd kill.

Daley finished with 15 kills and Johnson 10 for UCLA. The Bruins outblocked the Gators 10.5-4, with Johnson in on five and setter Nellie Spicer four.

Marcie Hampton led Florida with 13 kills and 13 digs, while Amber McCray added 12 kills.

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