Mason lifts Wahine

The senior from Hilo has a career night against Notre Dame

It seemed oddly appropriate that when the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine volleyball team needed a shift in momentum last night against Notre Dame, it came from a Big Island native.

Hilo-born senior Sarah Mason was the epicenter of key rallies for the 16th-ranked Rainbow Wahine, putting down a career-high 22 kills and coming up with four blocks and 11 digs to help defeat the Irish 30-28, 30-25, 22-30, 30-23 in 2 hours and 14 minutes.

HAWAII 3 NOTRE DAME 1 NEXT UP: VS. IDAHO, OCT. 27

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 3,645 (6,027 tickets) saw Hawaii win its seventh straight over Notre Dame as well as grind out its sixth victory in seven matches over the past 11 days. The Wahine (15-5) next take the court when hosting Idaho in a Western Athletic Conference match Oct. 27.

"There was fatigue out there but you had to push through it," said Mason, who left the interview session with ice packs on her right shoulder and ankle. "There was a sense of pride to end it, after getting to that fourth game to begin with when we should have won in three.

"I was just trying to stay efficient, find the holes on the court."

Mason was as efficient as they come in the first two games, putting down a combined 18 kills with no errors in 31 attempts. She also made the momentum-turning play in Game 1 when the Wahine found themselves trailing 28-25. Mason's solo block of Mallorie Croal -- the first Irish hitting error in 46 swings -- jump-started a 5-0 run that put Hawaii up 1-0.

Notre Dame didn't slow down Mason until early in Game 3 when she was blocked on her 32nd swing. She had just one kill in Game 3 and three in Game 4, but her two final kills helped close out the match on a 6-0 run.

It also was a big night for sophomore Jamie Houston, who added 21 kills. It was the first time Hawaii had two players with 20-plus kills since 2003 when Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku each had 21 against Florida in the national semifinal.

"Sarah has been an anchor," said UH freshman libero Jayme Lee, who shared match-high dig honors of 23 with Irish libero Danielle Herndon. "Her leadership on the court is really great. She's always fun to watch and tonight she was having fun, banging like she knows she can."

Debbie Brown said her team's goal was to win a match, not just take a game off Hawaii. Winning Game 3 was a start but "it's a different mind-set after we felt we gave away Game 1," Brown said. "We had a pretty good lead and let them come back on us. We talked about continuing to do the things we had been doing that were successful.

"I do think (the Wahine) were fatigued and that was the time to turn it up a notch."

Instead, the Wahine began to smell "rest."

At 17-17, Mason put down her first kill of Game 4 on an overpass to start a 3-0 spurt that gave Hawaii the lead for good. Notre Dame pulled to within 24-23 but an Irish service error gave the ball back to Lee, who served for the final five points.

Justine Stremick led the Irish (12-7) with 14 kills, hitting .636, with no errors on 22 attempts. Adrianna Stasiuk added 12 kills and Croal 11.

Kari Gregory added 10 kills for Hawaii, with just one error.

"We did hit the wall again in Game 3," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "We didn't have much energy. And Game 4 could have gone either way.

"I'm really proud of the team tonight. They were obviously tired and Sarah (50 attempts) and Jamie (59 attempts) hit a ton of balls. They hit a plateau at the end but found some energy at the end."

The Wahine will take the next two days off before returning to the practice gym Friday.

Hawaii has one impressive streak remaining, that of 87 consecutive home conference victories, which dates back to a Big West loss to UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 10, 1994. The Wahine, 76-0 in WAC matches at the Sheriff Center, next host Idaho Oct. 27.

Notes: The Wahine officially lost a third player for the season yesterday when it was announced that sophomore Jessica Keefe would undergo knee surgery within a few weeks. The right-side hitter dislocated her left knee after putting down the match-ending kill at Louisiana Tech last Wednesday, tearing both her ACL and MCL, as well as her medial and lateral meniscus. The Ames, Iowa, native had played in the first 17 matches for the Rainbow Wahine, averaging 1.38 kills and 0.88 blocks per game. Hawaii earlier lost junior hitter Tara Hittle (ankle) and sophomore middle Nickie Thomas (knee). ... With her 58 assists last night, senior setter Kanoe Kamana'o upped her career total to 5,739. She is 134 assists away from becoming the WAC career leader, a record of 5,873 held by Colorado State's Analisa Saylor. The NCAA record is 6,650, held by Tammy Robertson of Alabama-Birmingham.

WAC standings

	Conference	Overall
	W	L	Pct.	W	L
Hawaii	7	1	.875	15	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, 30-28, 30-25, 22-30, 30-23

Hawaii def. Notre Dame 30-28, 30-25, 22-30, 30-23

FIGHTING IRISH (12-7)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Phillips	4	9	2	25	.280	0	3	2
Kristoff	3	4	1	7	.429	0	0	5
Tarutis	4	2	0	3	.667	0	0	9
Fesl	2	5	5	24	.000	0	0	2
Stasiuk	4	12	7	37	.135	1	1	14
Stremick	4	14	0	22	.636	3	4	0
Clark	2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Croal	4	11	5	33	.182	2	2	5
Kaelin	2	5	3	16	.125	0	0	3
Herndon	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	23
Nicholas	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	5
Enzweiler	2	1	2	4	-.250	0	2	1
Totals	4	63	25	171	.222	6	12	69

RAINBOW WAHINE (15-5)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Sanders	4	9	3	20	.300	1	5	1
Gregory	4	10	1	20	.450	0	5	5
Houston	4	21	13	59	.136	0	2	7
Kamana'o	4	3	1	7	.286	0	2	8
Woolford	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	4
Mason	4	22	6	50	.320	1	3	11
Kaufman	4	5	3	15	.133	0	3	2
Thurlby	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	2
Duggins	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	7
Lee	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	23
Totals	4	70	27	171	.251	2	20	70

Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.

Aces -- Notre Dame (6): Herndon 2, Nicholas 2, Fesl, Tarutis. Hawaii (4): Mason 2, Houston, Lee. Assists -- Notre Dame (60): Nicholas 26, Tarutis 23, Stasiuk 3, Croal 2, Herndon 2, Fesl, Kristoff, Phillips, Stremick. Hawaii (65): Kamana'o 58, Lee 3, Kaufman, Mason, Thurlby, Woolford.

T -- 2:14. Officials -- Wayne Lee, Denice Hanson. A -- 3,645.