Wahine grind out win over Boise State

Talk about solidarity.

No. 7 Hawaii then turned in a very healthy performance at the Stan Sheriff Center, sweeping Boise State 25-11, 25-18, 29-27 in a Western Athletic Conference match.

Kanani Herring put down 10 kills and Cubi-Otineru added nine kills and five aces as the Wahine (9-2, 2-0) won their eighth straight. Hawaii ran its record against the Broncos (3-8, 1-1) to 17-0.

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On Election Night, Hawaii often played as the leading candidate in the Western Athletic Conference volleyball race. At times, few would have voted the Rainbow Wahine No. 7.

Still, Hawaii was good enough when it mattered - at the end - in sweeping Boise State 25-11, 25-18, 29-27 at the Stan Sheriff Center. A turnstile crowd of 4,752 (6,485 tickets) saw the Wahine (9-2, 2-0) remain tied for the WAC lead with New Mexico State, Hawaii's opponent this Saturday.

"It was hard keeping our energy level up," junior middle Amber Kaufman said after the team won its seventh straight. "It was hard to stay excited. Things were moving a little bit slower out there. I know I didn't want to play a fourth game. We've been pretty good at closing it out."

It didn't feel like it when the Broncos (3-8, 1-1) appeared poised to force a fourth set. Boise State held off three match points when rallying from 24-21 to tie it at 24.

The Broncos had three swings at winning Set 3, the last at 27-26. But Hawaii closed it out after 81 minutes on Herring's 10th kill, a block of Elizabeth Griffin and Griffin's net violation on a tight set.

Herring finished with her sixth double-double, coming up with a team-high 15 digs. Junior Aneli Cubi-Otineru put down nine kills with just one hitting error and added a career-high five aces.

Senior Jamie Houston, playing in only the first two sets, also had nine kills.

Hawaii leaves on its first road trip Tuesday, a three-matches-in-five-days trek to Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State and San Jose State. The Wahine know they need to pack their block and a tougher mind-set.

"We have to have that mind-set that everyone is out to get us," Cubi-Otineru said. "We're taking the WAC too lightly. I knew that Boise was better than they played in the first and second. We need to work on our blocking. It's not what it should have been."

Neither was Hawaii's rhythm after coach Dave Shoji switched out half his lineup in Set 3. The Wahine struggled while the Broncos found some energy.

"Boise had some subs in who were excited to be out there and we had some starters who weren't excited to be out there," Shoji said. "We just weren't into it emotionally. We had a poor week of practice and it showed."

Broncos coach Robin Davis felt the key to his team beating the Wahine for the first time in 17 meetings was to serve tough and get Hawaii out of system.

"We knew we had to serve well," he said after his team committed 10 service errors. "We started three sophomores and a freshman and I think they were scared at first.

"We've been playing at a pretty good level the last two matches. I thought their serving was tough and it put us on our heels."