Hawaii bounces Nevada in 3
POSTED: Friday, October 09, 2009
Too many weapons. Too much talent. Too much Amber Kaufman.
Even without senior captain Aneli Cubi-Otineru (sprained ankle), No. 4 Hawaii had few problems in taking care of Nevada last night. Kaufman had a career-high 15 kills, hitting .700, to lead the Rainbow Wahine over the Wolf Pack, 25-12, 25-17, 25-16 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 4,093 watched Hawaii improve to 14-2 overall, 5-0 in Western Athletic Conference play. It took the Wahine 77 minutes to win their 10th straight and beat the Wolf Pack (5-12, 1-3) for the 32nd consecutive time.
“;Considering our health issues, and the way we've been playing, I thought we did OK,”; said Nevada coach Devin Scruggs, who left two starters in Reno (flu) and had several others playing new positions. “;I'm not pleased we lost and I would have liked for the scores to be a little closer, but we were not making the dumb errors that we had.
“;Hawaii has phenomenal players and Kaufman was just fun to watch. It's amazing how high she jumps. We had no block to stop their hitters and they were hitting on an open net a lot.”;
Kaufman, the two-time WAC high jump champ, wasn't alone in her success. Sophomore Kanani Danielson had 12 kills, hitting .346, and the Wahine hit .381 as a team.
Junior hitter Kylie Harrington (Saint Francis '07) led Nevada with nine kills.
“;I thought Dani (setter Mafua) was in really great rhythm the first two sets,”; Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. “;It got a little sloppy in the third, but she was flicking things out there nicely.
“;And Amber ... they don't have a big enough left side to match up with her. It did seem pretty easy.”;
Kaufman said she didn't care about bettering her career high of 13, but “;it was more of a joke when I told Dani I was at 12 (kills),”; Kaufman said.
That was at 21-15 in Set 3, when Nevada called a timeout. Kaufman put down two quick ones for a 23-15 lead and then ended it on Hawaii's first aloha ball.
“;She jumps so high,”; Nevada freshman defensive specialist Kelly Chang said of Kaufman. “;Her head gets so high above the net, she hangs up there so long, looks around and chooses where she's going to hit it.
“;I think we did the best we could with what we had. Hawaii was what we expected, great defense by Liz (Elizabeth Ka'aihue) and Jayme (Lee). It was nice to come back home and play in front of so many people.”;
Chang was one of four Hawaii prep products who played for Nevada last night.
On several plays in Set 3, Chang (Hawaii Baptist '09) passed to sophomore setter Tatiana Santiago (Kamehameha '08), with junior hitter Harrington putting down a kill. Elissa Ji (Maryknoll '09) also suited up for the Pack.
“;We weren't very crisp tonight,”; Shoji said. “;Our blocking was pretty average. We have things we want to keep working on.”;
The Wahine don't have long to wait. They look to give Shoji his 999th victory tonight when hosting San Jose State (0-13, 0-3) at 7 p.m.
“;We could be more crisp,”; Mafua said. “;We need to take care of the little things.
“;People stepped up and filled their roles.”;
Last night, it didn't take Hawaii long to assert itself, powering to a 9-2 lead behind the serves of Danielson. The Pack stayed close until 13-8, when the Wahine simply ran away.
At 18-11, the Wahine put together a 7-1 closing run that included two kills by Stephanie Ferrell and her set-ending ace.
The Pack finally got out of a negative hitting percentage toward the end of Set 2, helped by several Wahine net violations. Hawaii led by as many as 10 — the last at 23-13 — when Nevada's mini-run closed it to 23-16.
Ferrell pounded her seventh kill through and, one sideout later, Kaufman's ninth kill gave the Wahine a two-game lead.
The Pack had not taken a set off the Wahine since the 2005 WAC tournament. The futility continued when Hawaii extended its 12-11 lead to 15-11.
Note
Sophomore Corinne Cascioppo made her first start last night, replacing Cubi-Otineru. Shoji said he hopes to use Cubi-Otineru tonight in some capacity.
WAC standings
| W | L | Pct. | GB | All | |
| Hawaii | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | — | 14-2 |
| New Mexico State | 4 | 1 | .800 | 1 | 9-6 |
| Idaho | 3 | 1 | .750 | 1 1/2 | 7-9 |
| Fresno State | 2 | 2 | .500 | 2 1/2 | 9-7 |
| Louisiana Tech | 2 | 3 | .400 | 3 | 12-9 |
| Utah State | 2 | 3 | .400 | 3 | 10-7 |
| Nevada | 1 | 3 | .250 | 3 1/2 | 5-12 |
| Boise State | 1 | 4 | .200 | 4 | 1-15 |
| San Jose State | 0 | 3 | .000 | 3 | 0-13 |
Yesterday
Hawaii def. Nevada, 25-12 25-17, 25-16
New Mexico State def. Boise State, 25-19, 25-17, 25-20
Fresno State def. Utah State, 25-19, 5-25, 25-20, 25-13
Idaho def. Louisiana Tech, 25-22, 25-15, 25-17
Today
San Jose State at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
Tomorrow
Louisiana Tech at New Mexico State
Boise State at Idaho State
Idaho at Fresno State
Utah State at Nevada
Monday
Boise State at Idaho
Tuesday
Utah Valley at Utah State
San Jose State at Sacramento State
New Mexico State at New Mexico
Wednesday
Louisiana Tech at Hawaii
Thursday
Utah State at Fresno State
San Jose State at New Mexico State
Nevada at Boise State
NO. 4 Hawaii def. nevada 25-12, 25-17, 25-16
WOLF PACK (5-12, 1-3 WAC)
| S | K | E | ATT | PCT | D | BS | BA | PTS | |
| Garvey | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | .000 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Batista | 3 | 6 | 6 | 14 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Vance | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Harrington | 3 | 9 | 5 | 25 | .160 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Santiago | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ji | 2 | 2 | 4 | 12 | -.167 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Chang | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sei | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1.000 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Baldwin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Link | 3 | 2 | 0 | 10 | .200 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Yates | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Staker | 3 | 6 | 1 | 15 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6.5 |
| Totals | 3 | 27 | 19 | 90 | .089 | 26 | 1 | 4 | 30 |
Rainbow Wahine (14-2, 5-0 WAC)
| S | K | E | ATT | PCT | D | BS | BA | PTS | |
| Kaufman | 3 | 15 | 1 | 20 | .700 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 17.5 |
| Hewitt | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | .600 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.0 |
| Danielson | 3 | 12 | 3 | 26 | .346 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 14.0 |
| Brandt | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
| Mafua | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .500 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2.5 |
| Lee | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ferrell | 3 | 9 | 4 | 19 | .263 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Cascioppo | 3 | 4 | 3 | 9 | .111 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.5 |
| Kaaihue | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fowler | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -.333 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Robins | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 4 | 50 | 19 | 114 | .272 | 48 | 4 | 16 | 54.0 |
Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills plus blocks plus aces)
Aces — Nevada (0): None. Hawaii (5): Kaufman, Danielson, Brandt, Mafua, Ferrell. Service Errors — Nevada (5): Sei 2, Garvey, Harrington, Santiago. Hawaii (6): Kaufman, Danielson, Mafua, Lee, Ferrell, Cascioppo. Assists — Nevada (23): Santiago 10, Sei 10, Staker 2, Harrington. Hawaii (44): Mafua 41, Kaaihua 2, Danielson.
T — 1:17. Officials — Ron Stahl, Dan Hironaka A — 4,093.
rainbow wahine volleyball
» Who: San Jose State (0-13, 0-3 WAC) at No. 4 Hawaii (14-2, 5-0)
» When: 7 tonight
» Where: Stan Sheriff Center
» TV: KFVE, Ch. 5
» Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM
» Series: Hawaii leads 60-4
