Wahine take on NMSU's challenge

UH advances to another WAC final by sweeping SJSU

RENO, Nev. » When they pass well, they are very, very good.

When they pass poorly, they are average.

Which Hawaii team will show up tonight at Lawlor Events Center? If the Rainbow Wahine want to win their seventh straight Western Athletic Conference tournament volleyball title, they can't pass on the passing.

HAWAII -- 3 SAN JOSE ST. -- 0 NEXT UP vs. NMSU today

Not if the 12th-ranked Wahine want to prove they are still the team to beat in the WAC. Not if they want to beat a very good New Mexico State squad.

A pro-Hawaii crowd of 824 saw a bit of both sides of the Wahine's passing game last night. The fans also saw Hawaii rise to the occasion when needed in sweeping undersized San Jose State 30-26, 30-27, 30-24 in the 1-hour, 49-minute semifinal.

The top-seeded Wahine (25-5) earned their ninth consecutive tournament title-game appearance and will face the second-seeded Aggies (5 p.m. Hawaii time). In the earlier semifinal, New Mexico State (33-2) served Idaho off the court with eight aces, including a tournament-record five by setter Jackie Choi, in the Aggies' 30-19, 30-19, 30-13 win that lasted just 85 minutes.

It's the first time the top two seeds have met since the 1998 tournament, when Hawaii outlasted Brigham Young in the longest NCAA match in history (3 hours, 31 minutes).

Tonight could be another marathon. Or it could be over quickly, with either team emerging with the NCAA's automatic berth.

"I think physically Hawaii is a more gifted team, but New Mexico State has that unknown magic where they're playing great as a team," said San Jose State coach Craig Choate, his team possibly done for the season at 19-12.

"New Mexico State serves better than any team I've seen. If they get Hawaii in trouble, it will be a match."

Who blinks first?

"There is a little bit of pressure on our shoulders," Wahine senior setter Kanoe Kamana'o said. "But we have done a great job of mentally preparing and continue to follow the scouting report.

"Tonight, all my hitters made themselves available and that's what we'll need tomorrow."

Most of Kamana'o's sets went to her left-side hitters, Jamie Houston and Sarah Mason. Houston put down 25 kills in 46 attempts, hitting an efficient .391; Mason had 16 kills on 48 swings.

But the Hawaii offense involved the other three attackers, with middle Juliana Sanders putting down seven kills to go with six blocks; right-side hitter Amber Kaufman a career-high six kills, as well as five blocks; and middle Kari Gregory with four kills and seven blocks.

The Wahine had no aces but made up for it with 17 blocks, including four solo by Mason. They also kept numerous rallies alive, converting on the off plays, thanks to 72 digs, 21 by libero Jayme Lee and 14 by Mason.

Niki Clement led San Jose State with 18 kills and Jennifer Senftleben added 10. Libero Jessie Shull helped keep the smaller Spartans in the game with 16 digs.

"We played about as well as we could play tonight," Choate said, his team outblocked 17 to 8.5. "But when you play the big teams, you have to play perfect because we're so little. I think we were really, really good all night, but at the end (of each game), we'd shoot ourselves in the foot (with errors)."

Shoji hopes his team doesn't do the same against the Aggies. Last night, Hawaii found another gear at the end of each game to pull away.

"At times we played really well tonight," Shoji said. "We will have to play better to win tomorrow. New Mexico State looked awesome. We're going to have to execute all our skills: passing, blocking, serving.

"We're going to try to take away some of the things they like to do because we can't play them straight up and beat them"

New Mexico St. 3, Idaho 0

Amber Simpson put down 11 kills, hitting .625, and Kim Oguh added 10 in hitting .444. But the Aggies' most effective weapon was their serve, which had the Vandals' offense struggling (.055).

"Choi and Simpson hit some nasty serves," NMSU coach Mike Jordan said. "Jackie does it to us all the time in practice. It was nice to see her do it to an opponent.

"The match was really about us serving well and us being very efficient in attacking the ball. Any time we do that we're a threat. It was one of the best games we've played. It's been a while since we've been this efficient."

The Aggies had just 12 errors in hitting .352. The Vandals nearly gave a whole game away on hitting errors, committing 27.

"It got to a point where our kids were trying too hard," Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said. "You could tell the seniors were tight, with the potential of them playing their last game.

"New Mexico State is a great team. They played a much stronger match (than Wednesday's 3-1 quarterfinal win over Boise State). It's going to be a close match (championship) tomorrow. If both teams are playing at their level, it will come down to five. If New Mexico State plays like tonight, it will be very interesting."

Aggies sophomore libero Krystal Torres is looking forward to the rematch.

"We hold our future in our hands," said the Honolulu-born Torres, who had a match-high 12 digs.

Hawaii def. San Jose State 30-26, 30-27, 30-24

SPARTANS (19-12)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Tsukano	3	1	0	1	1.000	0	0	8
Christensen	3	3	1	14	.143	0	3	9
Conrad	3	0	1	4	-.250	0	1	5
Biddle	3	3	4	17	-.059	0	5	1
Senftleben	3	10	7	41	.073	0	2	4
Burke	3	6	6	20	.000	0	3	3
Clement	3	18	8	54	.185	0	3	4
Crow	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	2
Shull	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	16
Totals	3	41	27	151	.093	0	17	52

RAINBOW WAHINE (25-5)

	g	k	e	att	pct.	bs	ba	d
Sanders	3	7	1	13	.462	0	6	2
Gregory	3	4	3	15	.067	0	7	7
Houston	3	25	7	46	.391	0	3	9
Kamana'o	3	1	0	5	.200	0	5	7
Duggins	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	7
Mason	3	16	7	48	.188	4	0	14
Kaufman	3	6	3	11	.273	0	5	3
Kitaguchi	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Thurlby	1	0	0	2	.000	0	0	1
Woolford	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Lee	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	21
Totals	3	59	21	140	.271	4	26	72

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

Aces -- San Jose State (4): Christensen, Conrad, Senftleben, Burke. Hawaii (0). Assists -- San Jose State (37): Conrad 31, Shull 4, Tsukano, Christensen. Hawaii (55): Kamana'o 50, Lee 2, Gregory, Duggins, Kaufman.

T -- 1:49. Officials -- Kent Kitade, Margie Ray. A -- 824.