UH discards Aggies with ease

The Rainbow Wahine stay focused as they open a tough run of seven matches in 11 days

In a word, efficient.

No. 15 Hawaii went solar last night, opening up its seven-matches-in-11-days marathon volleyball schedule with a HECO-approved sprint. Led by Jamie Houston's 23 kills, Sarah Mason's double-double (14 kills, 18 digs) and an impressive team hitting percentage of .448, the Rainbow Wahine disposed of Utah State last night 30-14, 30-23, 30-18 in 85 minutes.

Hawaii    Utah St. 3 0 Next Up vs. Nevada, tomorrow

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,264 (7,040 tickets) saw Hawaii (10-4, 4-0) win its 111th consecutive Western Athletic Conference match, setting up a battle of the WAC unbeatens at 4 p.m. tomorrow against Nevada (10-6, 4-0).

"We didn't think of Nevada tonight," said junior middle Kari Gregory, who added 12 kills, hitting .524, with just one error. "We know the next two weeks will be tough and we'll play some tough teams.

"We just want to play each play with a purpose. We know that if we take care of our side of the net, the rest will take care of itself."

It was a rude welcome for first-year coach Aggie coach Grayson DuBose, who saw his team lose its third match in four outings -- all against the league's top teams -- to fall to 10-10 overall, 3-3 in WAC.

"The thing that disappointed me was our effort," said DuBose, a BYU men's assistant the past four years. "We came out like a deer in the headlights.

"It's such a great environment, but the bulk of our kids have never played in front of a crowd like this. We don't see as many people in a whole season as you get here in a single night.

"Houston is as physical as a lot of guys I've coached. They're as good as anyone we've seen this year."

And the Wahine were as good as they've been this year with a near-flawless performance in Game 1, hitting .500 during 16 minutes. Hawaii put down 10 of its first 17 swings without an error in racing to an 18-8 lead.

The Wahine's only hitting errors of the game came on consecutive plays when Gregory hit wide and Utah State got its lone block when stuffing Houston to pull to 18-10.

Mason bombed one from the back row for a 19-10 lead and Gregory served for five points, including two of her career-high three aces to push it to 24-11. The Wahine closed it out with a 6-3 run, holding the Aggies to the fewest points in a single game of any opponent this season.

The Aggies stayed in Game 2, helped by Hawaii's six serving errors.

"We did miss too many serves to allow them to get 23 points," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "They were able to close the gap on us and you don't like to see that. But other than that, I thought we did a nice job all three games.

"We had several highlights. Sarah Mason playing without a hitting error and her 18 digs, Houston's 23 kills and having no reception errors is a big highlight."

It was the first time this season an opponent did not have an ace against Hawaii. Last week, the Wahine gave up a combined 18 aces at Fresno State and San Jose State.

"If you saw us play last week, you'd know this was a major breakthrough," Shoji said. "It's a major step forward, not to give them a free point."

The .448 was the highest hitting percentage of the season for the Wahine.

Mason added two aces, while Gregory was in on seven blocks.

Amanda Nielson and Beth Hodge each had eight kills for Utah State. Kahuku product Monarisa Ale had five kills and no errors in 10 attempts.

It was the 18th straight time Hawaii has defeated Utah State, dating back to a 1981 five-game loss in Logan.

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