Rainbow Wahine blow by Gaels

Hawaii brushes aside St. Mary’s in opener

It wasn't exactly the homecoming former Hawaii associate coach Charlie Wade had hoped for. When he first agreed to bring his Pacific volleyball team to the Chevron Invitational, his opening opponent was supposed to be Cincinnati.

Instead Pacific opened up with No. 9 Washington last night, getting swept in 65 minutes.

"We're not looking ahead to Washington (tomorrow), we need to take care of Pacific." Dave Shoji Rainbow Wahine coach

Next up, his 0-6 Tigers take on No. 10 Hawaii (5-2), with "about 10 players on the roster I am very familiar with," said Wade, who either coached or recruited more than half of the current Rainbow Wahine roster.

Wade, along with 3,706 others at the Stan Sheriff Center, saw Hawaii put on a show in last night's second match when wearing down St. Mary's 25-22, 25-16, 25-8 in 105 minutes. Wahine starting middles Nickie Thomas and Amber Kaufman combined for 12 kills with no hitting errors on 22 swings.

Leading Hawaii's balanced attack was freshman hitter Kanani Herring, who picked up her third double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs. Senior hitter Jamie Houston added eight kills and freshman hitter Stephanie Ferrell had six kills on seven swings in playing less than half the match.

"Our girls were ready to play and we started out well," St. Mary's coach Rob Browning said after his team's first loss. "Hawaii made good adjustments, played much better than we did as the match went on. They were not just more physical than us, they made the little plays that we pride ourselves on."

The Gaels (6-1) started three local players in sophomore setter Kapua Kamana'o, freshman hitter Chanteal Satele and junior middle Megan Burton. St. Mary's had quite a cheering section and "we heard them," Thomas said. "It was fun. You don't usually get a rivalry here like that. The local girls have a lot of fire.

"One thing we didn't want to have were highs and lows. We wanted to stay consistent and not get frustrated."

Instead, it was the Gaels who were frustrated at the end of Set 1. St. Mary's led 22-20 when a kill by Herring sparked a 5-0 run that gave Hawaii the win and the momentum.

"I think we were playing at our level," sophomore setter Dani Mafua added. "Everyone was patient and calm. It paid off."

The Hawaii block moved in a bit and shut down Shannon Lowell, who had eight of her 11 kills in Set 1. The Wahine finished with a 9-1 edge in blocks, with Thomas in on five.

Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said he was concerned toward the end of Set 1.

"My first thought was if they play like this the whole night we're going to have a 3-hour match," he said. "We couldn't stop them, couldn't score on them. They were playing awfully well.

"I'm really happy we stayed with them and were steady at the end of Set 1."

As for seeing Wade, his longtime assistant, "They're probably the best team in the country that hasn't won a match," Shoji said.

Hawaii faces UOP at 7 tonight. The opener has St. Mary's against Washington (7-0) at 5 p.m.

Washington 3, Pacific 0

It was a very successful return for Husky libero Tamari Miyashiro (Kalani '05), who had a match-high 10 digs in the 25-13, 25-11, 25-13 sweep of the Tigers.

"It was fun being back in a familiar place and having fans cheering for you, even though you're not playing for Hawaii," Miyashiro said. "It was weird because they cheered for both teams. They just love and support volleyball."

Jill Collymore led the Huskies with 13 kills on 23 swings with no errors. Kindra Carlson added 11 kills. Mallori Gibson had 11 kills for the Tigers.

"We're not looking ahead to Washington (tomorrow), we need to take care of Pacific," Shoji said. "Washington is a quality team. I'd like to find a weakness but I haven't seen it yet."

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Hawaii def. St. Mary's