Hawaii’s hitters get back on track

The Wahine hope the win over Idaho starts a new streak

Hawaii's homecoming festivities had two block parties last night -- one on Merchant Street, the other at the Stan Sheriff Center.

HAWAII    IDAHO 3 1 Next Up vs. SJSU, tomorrow

Bringing the roof down on Idaho 13 times, the 15th-ranked Rainbow Wahine volleyball team started a new Western Athletic Conference winning streak with a 30-17, 25-30, 30-18, 30-22 victory over the Vandals. An arena crowd of 4,617 (6,629 tickets) saw junior middles Juliana Sanders and Kari Gregory in on six blocks each and senior setter Kanoe Kamana'o in on five as Hawaii improved to 16-5 overall, 8-1 in the WAC.

The Wahine, back into a tie for first place with New Mexico State, go for two in a row tomorrow when hosting San Jose State (14-9, 5-5) at 5 p.m.

Hawaii had three players in double-figure kills, led by sophomore Jamie Houston's 24 and senior Sarah Mason's 19. Sanders added 11, hitting .688 with no errors in 16 swings.

Senior Amanda Bowman led the Vandals (7-14, 6-3) with 17 kills and freshman Sarah Conwell added a career-high 11.

The match lasted 2 hours and 4 minutes, about a half-hour longer than most expected. But Hawaii's letdown in Game 2 helped extend it, with the Vandals pulling off some history in winning Game 2.

Not only was it the first time in five meetings that Idaho took a game off Hawaii, but Idaho is only the second WAC team this season to take a game from Hawaii. The other was New Mexico State, which defeated the Wahine 3-2 on Oct. 13.

"I think we got a little sloppy in Game 2," Sanders said. "Our communication kind of broke down. But the discussion in the locker room (between Games 2 and 3) was awesome. We knew Idaho would be a tough team. They have solid players."

They are players who are also very young, with 11 freshmen and sophomores on the 15-player roster.

"This team has been up and down this season, and some of it is youth," Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. "Hawaii played great defense tonight. When they came out in Game 3 and we had a big deficit, we took a step back instead of stepping forward.

"At the end, we did some good things, but we have to have more character."

The Wahine outdug the Vandals 72-53, led by Kamana'o's 18 and 13 by freshman libero Jayme Lee.

Mason's opening serving run set the tone for Game 1. The senior had three of her four aces to help Hawaii to an 8-0 advantage before the Vandals had a chance to serve.

The Wahine's hitting efficiency was such that they did not commit an error in their first 22 swings in taking a 16-9 lead. Hawaii ended up with more service errors (three) than hitting mistakes (two), finishing with a .548 percentage.

Idaho took the lead in Game 2 for good at 17-16 behind Conwell. The outside hitter, who came into the night with 10 kills for the whole year, had seven in Game 2.

"I think we lost focus (after Game 1)," Kamana'o said. "Our passing was really good and we were able to run our middles. We also emphasized blocking (during practice the past week) and that made playing defense a lot easier."

Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said he was disappointed in the lack of energy on the court.

"I thought we'd be a little more excited to play," he said. "Maybe Sunday, we'll turn that around against San Jose. Tonight our middles hit for a high percentage, but we're still too much left side."

Left-side hitters Houston and Mason combined for 101 of Hawaii's 144 attempts.

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