Short-handed UH sweeps Fairfield

It was odd, to say the least. Kanoe Kamana'o sitting on the sidelines, while setters Cayley Thurlby, a senior, and redshirt freshman Dani Mafua ran warm-ups.

Hawaii   Fairfield 3 0 Next up vs. Northwestern tonight

Kamana'o missed the first start of her Hawaii career last night, the first time in 109 matches that No. 10 was not on the court. The Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,888 (6,311 tickets) -- sparse by Rainbow Wahine volleyball standards -- saw a little bit of history ... and were as surprised as the Stags.

No. 9 Hawaii, however, did not miss a beat, sweeping Fairfield 30-19, 33-31, 30-18 behind Thurlby's setting and Sarah Mason's 15 kills, 11 digs and school-record nine aces.

Jamie Houston led Hawaii's attack with 17 kills.

The Wahine (4-2) take on Northwestern (2-2), a 30-27, 30-27, 30-17 loser to Stanford yesterday, in tonight's second match. The No. 8 Cardinal (4-1) face Fairfield in today's 4:30 p.m. opener.

The Wahine's stunning lineup change was not done to throw off the scouting reports of Northwestern and Stanford. Both Kamana'o and junior hitter Tara Hittle (boot on right foot) were not cleared to play by the UH medical staff just hours before the match.

Federal law now enforced by UH does not allow release of personal medical information. All Wahine coach Dave Shoji would say was Kamana'o and Hittle may or may not see action the rest of the week and that their situation would be evaluated Monday.

Thurlby did not find out she was starting until 3 p.m. yesterday.

"I don't get many opportunities and I'm not going to lie, it wasn't the best job I could have done," she said. "It was a real roller-coaster ride, but I do seen signs of hope. We played volleyball out there instead of doing a lot of thinking, having that hesitation."

Mason, who was up against three of her former St. Joseph High teammates, agreed.

"It wasn't too pure out there," she said. "But it was more fun not to think about technique, to go out and play."

Hawaii survived a ragged Game 2 in which Fairfield held off five game points before Houston's kill ended it.

"Pulling out Game 2 would have been amazing," said St. Joseph alum Lindsey Lee, a 5-foot-4 hitter who had seven kills. "We would have been a lot closer in Game 3. We were down ... and we would have been up."

Instead, the Stags got way down when Mason's kill broke a 13-13 tie and jump-started her 6-0 serving run that included four aces.

Jazmin Pa'akaula led Fairfield with 10 kills.

Stanford 3, Northwestern 0

Cynthia Barbosa put down a match-high 19 kills and Kristin Richard 12 in the Cardinal's 88-minute sweep of the Wildcats 30-27, 30-27, 30-17.

But Stanford's win did not come as easy as the scores would indicate. And that speaks to the parity in the sport.

"It's amazing how the sport has grown," said John Dunning, a successful club coach before taking over the Pacific program in 1985. "At every level. It's been a real grass-roots growth."

Julie Purcell led Northwestern with 12 kills.

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