Hawaii sweeps Pack

Jamie Houston's 18 kills lead the Rainbow Wahine past Nevada and into first in the WAC

Emotion is highly overrated.

Three matches in four days requires energy conservation and efficiency.

Hawaii    Nevada 3 0 Next up vs. Boise St., today

No. 15 Hawaii got both yesterday by sweeping Nevada in a matinee match at the Stan Sheriff Center. Sophomore Jamie Houston soared for 18 kills and the Rainbow Wahine took over sole possession of the Western Athletic Conference lead via a 30-23, 30-20, 30-25 victory over the Wolf Pack.

It lasted 91 minutes, with a turnstile crowd of 5,103 (7,118 tickets) witnessing some history in the middle of Game 3. Senior setter Kanoe Kamana'o not only reached the 5,500-assist mark but also moved into second place on the WAC career assist list.

Both happened within minutes of each other as Hawaii (11-4, 5-0) turned back the toughest challenge of the afternoon by Nevada (10-7, 4-1). The Wahine looked to be comfortably on cruise control, with Kamana'o connecting with Houston for a 14-11 lead, moving the setter to No. 2 in WAC assists.

Kamana'o's second milestone came after the Wolf Pack rallied from an 18-14 deficit to pull ahead at 22-19. She set junior middle Kari Gregory for career assist 5,500, pulling UH to 22-20, and the Wahine pulled away for their 112th straight conference win with a 10-3 run.

Kamana'o, with 5,505 assists, continues her pursuit of the WAC record of 5,873 when Hawaii hosts Boise State (8-9, 2-3) at 7 tonight. The Broncos won their second straight match Saturday when sweeping Fresno State behind senior Cameron Flunder's 16 kills.

"We haven't done a scouting report on Boise," Kamana'o said. "We're going one match at a time and now we're done with Nevada.

"We've trained ourselves to last for the long run, mentally and physically. Our bodies are in shape for the next week."

The concerns over Nevada yesterday were with offense-minded senior setter Tristin Johnson and the Wolf Pack's tough serves. For the most part, the Wahine handled both; Johnson had five kills on 13 attempts and Hawaii won the serve battle with a 7-1 edge in aces.

"Hawaii is a fantastic team," said Nevada coach Devin Scruggs, 0-18 against UH. "They are very complete. I know people say they have injuries, but the lineup they put out on the court looks pretty healthy to me.

"They did have a little bit of a breakdown (in Game 3) but we didn't capitalize on it. How many times do we get aced off the court? Their serving really killed us and where they crushed us was Houston."

Houston hit .417 and added a team-high 10 digs. Gregory was also efficient, hitting .391 with 12 kills, and was in on four blocks. Sarah Mason added 11 kills and had four of the team's aces.

"I think we played well but not as good as we can," Houston said. "Our energy was not as high, but I never felt we were losing control."

Karly Sipherd led Nevada with 13 kills and Teal Ericson 10.

"We didn't have a lot of emotion and that was OK," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "We have a tough week ahead of us and it was good we could win without having to expend a lot of energy.

"That was a good team across the net and, most nights, hitting 25 percent will win it. (Nevada hit .256)."

Shoji said he did talk to his team about letting down, reminding them that the Hawaii football team had a 41-21 lead on Nevada with 9 minutes left Saturday. The Warriors hung on, 41-34.

"I hoped we wouldn't put it on cruise control, stop playing hard," Shoji said. "They got a little lead (in Game 3) and we made some nice plays at the end to win it.

"It was nice to see we could get into another gear."

Hawaii will switch to travel mode tomorrow when flying to Louisiana Tech for Wednesday's match with the Lady Techsters. The Wahine will be at New Mexico State on Friday then return home for a Monday-Tuesday series with Notre Dame.

Note: Hawaii nearly had two consecutive matches without giving up an ace. Nevada's lone ace yesterday was in Game 3 by Carly Sorensen, giving the Wolf Pack a 21-19 lead.

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