Beavers bring back painful memories

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Ouch.

Growing pains were expected. But this?

Oregon St.    Hawaii 3 0 Next Up vs. Kansas State on Friday

Unable to finish for the second time in three matches, No. 10 Hawaii found itself finishing third in its ASICS Rainbow Wahine Invitational last night by losing to Oregon State.

Oregon State ... which went 0-18 last year in the Pac-10, 3-24 overall.

The Beavers, anchored by the imposing 6-foot-5 Rachel Rourke, proved that size can trump athletic ability in sweeping the Wahine 33-31, 30-21, 30-26 in the finale of the three-day tournament.

The what-ifs will certainly haunt Hawaii this week as the Wahine prepare for a tough Hawaiian Airlines Classic that features Louisville, Kansas State and No. 5 UCLA. Some lineup questions are also in dire need of answering.

Catch more updates on the UH Sports Extra blog

"The three teams coming in are probably better than the three we just played," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "We've got to improve or the outcome will be the same.

"We're way down right now but were pretty low last year about this time and we ended up being a pretty good team. Things look bad, but we have the chance to do something about it. Obviously we have to come back and work harder in practice. And I have to have a better plan to put the best team out there."

Michigan senior libero Stesha Selsky was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player as the unranked Wolverines went 3-0 to earn the championship.

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Coach Terry Liskevych on the bench.

The opposition wearing orange and black.

All-Tournament Most Outstanding Player: Stesha Selsky, Michigan Mekana Barnes, Colorado State; Juliana Sanders, Hawaii; Beth Karpiak and Lexi Zimmerman, Michigan; Rachel Rourke and Jill Sawatzky, Oregon State

Take away the air conditioning, the comfortable seats and the additional 2,000-plus fans and it could almost be 1984 -- back when Liskevych and Pacific got the better of Hawaii in three on a muggy night in Klum Gym.

Some 23 years later, the scenario was replayed in the Stan Sheriff Center as Liskevych's Oregon State team stunned No. 10 Hawaii -- and the turnstile crowd of 4,196 (6,134 tickets) -- 33-31, 30-21, 30-26. It would be tough to find a worse home loss to an unranked team in the program's history.

"Wow."

It was a shared reaction from Liskevych and Hawaii coach Dave Shoji, both shaking their heads over the outcome of the match that lasted an hour and 47 minutes.

Finishing third in their ASICS Rainbow Wahine Invitational was not Hawaii's game plan. Finishing second exceeded the expectations of the Beavers.

"We're a work in progress, and you need matches like this to define yourselves," Liskevych said. "It's very difficult to beat Hawaii in Hawaii. And beating Hawaii 3-0 doesn't happen very often.

"This is a big, big win for Oregon State. Yes, the biggest in the program's history. It's a testament to how hard the kids have worked, especially after a season like last year."

Hawaii (1-2) will go back to the practice gym tomorrow, remembering that they were 5-4 to open last year and finished 29-6, one win away from the final four.

"We do have the skills, we do have the talent, we're just not playing like a team," junior captain Tara Hittle said. "We're missing that flow and the confidence isn't there.

"We'll learn from this. We don't want to feel like this."

Jamie Houston led the Wahine with 16 kills, over a third of the team's total of 44. She had little help.

The outcome might have been different if Hawaii had been able to put away Oregon State in Game 1. The Wahine led 29-26 and 31-30 but couldn't put down any of three game-ending attempts.

The Beavers camped out on Houston, who took the Wahine's last seven swings; she put down two of them but was blocked on her last two, giving OSU the win.

"We lost our composure at the end of Game 1," Shoji admitted. "We relied on Houston and were pretty one-dimensional. But when the game's on the line, you have to go to your best player.

"And we couldn't stop (Rachel) Rourke. She's almost half their offense. Every time they got in trouble, they went to her and we couldn't stop her."

The 6-foot-5 Rourke had team highs of 17 kills, 11 digs and seven blocks. The Beavers outblocked the Wahine 13-5.

Michigan 3, Colorado State 1

The unheralded and undefeated Wolverines (3-0) slipped out of the arena early, with 90 minutes to catch the flight back home following their 25-30, 30-24, 30-25, 30-22 win over the Rams (0-3).

Michigan also had some extra baggage to pack after picking up the championship trophy. Going 3-0 against a strong field was an accomplishment for his team, Michigan coach Mark Rosen said, especially with the team's fate in the hands of freshman setter Lexi Zimmerman.

"We saw three different types of teams here, were presented with three different problems," Rosen said, "and we were able to adjust.

"Oregon State is a big team, Colorado State is a really good 'system' team and Hawaii is very athletic. Extremely athletic. And Hawaii is trying to find itself. They'll figure it out. They have too much athletic ability not to. I'm glad we got them early."