Cowgirls no match for Wahine

A dozen Hawaii players saw the Stan Sheriff Center court last night as the Rainbow Wahine basically used two teams to sweep Wyoming 25-15, 25-10, 25-18.

A turnstile crowd of 3,710 (5,551 tickets) saw No. 11 Hawaii need only 84 minutes to improve to 3-2, 2-0 in the Volleyball Challenge. The crowd also saw senior hitter Jamie Houston not in the lineup for the first time since the Sept. 23, 2006, match here against Fresno State.

Unlike that disciplinary action two seasons ago, Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said last night was more about giving redshirt freshman hitter Stephanie Ferrell - as well as sophomore middle Amanda Simmons - more match repetitions.

Ferrell came through in her first start, finishing with a match-high 13 kills, with seven digs, three blocks and even two assists. Junior hitter Aneli Cubi-Otineru added eight kills in playing just two sets and freshman hitter Kanani Herring had seven kills, hitting .400 with six digs, also in two sets.

"No, Houston wasn't suspended or anything," Shoji said. "This was all about Ferrell getting as comfortable as she can out there. She's the first sub for any of the outside hitters and she needed to take some swings on the right and the left.

"She's close to being an every-day player."

Besides the normal substitutes being rewarded with playing time, senior Tara Hittle took some swings when moving from libero to outside hitter in Set 3. Hittle finished with five kills to go with a match-high 12 digs.

"It's a completely different mind-set," Hittle said. "I go from not being able to jump as a libero to being an outside, where I can do whatever I want.

"And it was nice to see (Ferrell) as a starter. She's a very good athlete and she's been working hard on her game. She has a lot of power. You should see her in the weight room. I think they run out of weights to put on for her."

No question Ferrell hits a heavy ball. But so do Cubi-Otineru and Herring. Add Houston to the mix and "Cincinnati will have to play real well to beat Hawaii," Wyoming coach Carrie Yerty said. "They'll have to shut down Hawaii's outsides, and that will be tough."

The Cowgirls (0-5, 0-2) conclude the Challenge against No. 12 Minnesota today after Minnesota faces Cincinnati at 11 a.m.

Hawaii has a light practice today before facing the Bearcats tomorrow at 5 p.m.

"It will be nice to basically have the day off and regroup," Hittle said.

One of the most impressive statistics from last night was Hawaii siding out at 100 percent (11-for-11) in Set 2. That means Wyoming did not score more than one point at a time and "that's awesome any time a team has 100 percent efficiency," Yerty said.

"Hawaii has a lot of weapons and they stayed focused. It would have been easy for them to float in and out, but they didn't."

Jenna Arneson led Wyoming with nine kills and 11 digs.