RAINBOW WAHINE VOLLEYBALL
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii's Juliana Sanders smacked a shot over the net during last night's victory over Notre Dame at the Stan Sheriff Center.
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Rainbow Wahine back on track
Hawaii knocks off Notre Dame in three games and will face the Fighting Irish again tonight
Finally, some light at the end of a long tunnel. And a chance to think about a little down time ... after tonight.
The 16th-ranked Hawaii volleyball team has just one more match in its brutal seven-in-11-days schedule, again hosting Notre Dame at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Notre Dame at No. 16 Hawaii
When: Tonight, 6 p.m.
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
TV: Live, KFVE (Ch. 5)
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
Series: Hawaii leads 6-1.
HAWAII 3
NOTRE DAME 0
NEXT UP VS. NOTRE DAME, TODAY
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The Rainbow Wahine (14-5) look to make it two in a row against the Irish (12-6) at 6 tonight, as well as to improve on the effort that led to last night's 30-27, 30-26, 30-27 victory.
A crowd of 3,658 (6,136 tickets) saw Jamie Houston post
her sixth double-double of the season (18 kills, 10 digs), and Juliana Sanders and Sarah Mason each put down 12 kills to lead the Wahine over the Irish for the sixth straight time. Helping Hawaii's effort were 57 digs, 15 by defensive specialist Raeceen Woolford and 14 by libero Jayme Lee.
The Wahine also were able to close out Notre Dame in 97 minutes, something they couldn't do Friday when losing at New Mexico State. Hawaii had big leads in both Games 2 and 4 vs. the Aggies, only to lose both and, eventually, the match in five.
"I think we played really tentative on the road," said middle Kari Gregory, whose 5-0 service run closed out Game 3. "Tonight, we stayed together, did things we knew we could do.
"Now it's feeling like you're on that last sprint. We know we're going to have a couple of days off, have time for ourselves and school work. It's a lot more fun to play when we know we're at the end of this stretch."
The Wahine also know they have to focus on the Irish, before being able to think about the following match (vs. Idaho on Oct. 27).
Notre Dame, getting 11 kills from Mallorie Croal, will also be refocusing, particularly on passing.
"We didn't pass well at the end," Irish coach Debbie Brown said. "We certainly would have liked to extend the match. We're young and we're learning a lot.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kari Gregory blocked a kill attempt by Notre Dame's Mallorie Croal during last night's match.
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"We have lots to improve on. No coach would be happy with how Game 3 went."
Both teams were hitting negative until the end of Game 3, with the Irish managing .059 to the Wahine's .018.
"It's pretty evident we had some tired legs out there," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "We started out real quick and then hit the wall.
"Tomorrow, I'd like to finish a little better. We had leads in all three games and then they made runs. I thought I was seeing New Mexico State all over again. But we did score the last five points."
Notes: The Wahine dropped five spots to 16th in yesterday's CSTV/AVCA Coaches Top 25, their lowest ranking since the final poll of 1997 when they were No. 25. ... UH assistant sports information director Pakalani Bello compiled additional statistics on the end of the Wahine's 114-match regular-season conference winning streak at New Mexico State on Friday. The streak spanned eight years and three days (2,923 days), dating back to the Oct. 10, 1998, loss at BYU. During that time, the Wahine defeated 17 different teams and logged 188,775 miles on 29 road trips and 58 road matches. ... Sophomore middle Nickie Thomas had knee surgery Friday and was not on the bench last night. There has been no official decision made on the status of sophomore hitter Jessica Keefe, who injured her left knee at Louisiana Tech last week.
WAC standings
|
Conference |
Overall |
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
W |
L |
| Hawaii |
7 |
1 |
.875 |
14 |
5 |
| New Mexico State |
5 |
1 |
.833 |
21 |
1 |
| Idaho |
4 |
1 |
.800 |
5 |
12 |
| Nevada |
4 |
2 |
.667 |
10 |
8 |
| Utah State |
3 |
4 |
.429 |
10 |
11 |
| San Jose State |
2 |
4 |
.333 |
11 |
8 |
| Boise State |
2 |
4 |
.333 |
8 |
10 |
| Fresno State |
1 |
5 |
.167 |
3 |
14 |
| LaTech |
0 |
6 |
.000 |
6 |
17 |
Yesterday
Hawaii def. Notre Dame, 30-27, 30-26, 30-27
Hawaii def. Notre Dame 30-27, 30-26, 30-27
FIGHTING IRISH (12-6)
|
G |
K |
E |
ATT |
PCT. |
BS |
BA |
D |
| Phillips |
3 |
5 |
3 |
18 |
.111 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
| Kristoff |
3 |
3 |
1 |
10 |
.200 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
| Tarutis |
3 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
| Fesl |
3 |
4 |
3 |
11 |
.091 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Stasiuk |
3 |
9 |
7 |
35 |
.057 |
0 |
3 |
11 |
| Stremick |
3 |
8 |
0 |
14 |
.571 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
| Clark |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Croal |
3 |
11 |
6 |
36 |
.139 |
0 |
3 |
7 |
| Kaelin |
1 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
-.200 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Herndon |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1.000 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
| Nicholas |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Totals |
3 |
43 |
23 |
134 |
.149 |
4 |
16 |
50 |
RAINBOW WAHINE (14-5)
|
G |
K |
E |
ATT |
PCT. |
BS |
BA |
D |
| Sanders |
3 |
12 |
2 |
19 |
.526 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
| Gregory |
3 |
7 |
3 |
20 |
.200 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
| Houston |
3 |
18 |
10 |
45 |
.178 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
| Kamana'o |
3 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
.000 |
1 |
3 |
6 |
| Woolford |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
| Mason |
3 |
12 |
5 |
37 |
.189 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
| Kaufman |
3 |
5 |
2 |
12 |
.250 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| Thurlby |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Duggins |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Lee |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
14 |
| Totals |
3 |
55 |
23 |
138 |
.232 |
1 |
12 |
57 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Notre Dame (4): Clark, Fesl, Nicholas, Stasiuk. Hawaii (4): Gregory 2, Lee, Mason. Assists -- Notre Dame (37): Tarutis 21, Fesl, Herndon, Kristoff. Hawaii (50): Kamana'o 47, Sanders 2, Mason.
T -- 1:37. Officials -- Dan Hironaka, Ernest Ho. A -- 3,658.
