WAHINE VOLLEYBALL
Wahine open WAC road trip with a victory
RUSTON, La. » The longest road trip of the regular season was nothing more than a short speed bump last night for the No. 11 Hawaii Rainbow Wahine volleyball team.
Hawaii began Western Athletic Conference road play with a 30-14, 30-18, 33-31 victory over a much-improved Louisiana Tech team at the Thomas Assembly Center. It still wasn't enough for the Lady Techsters to take a game off Hawaii in six meetings, going down in straight sets again after 93 minutes in front of a crowd of 425.
Tara Hittle had 12 kills and Sarah Mason 11 as the Wahine improved to 8-6 overall, 2-0 in the WAC. Alicia Arnott added 10 kills -- nine in Game 1 -- to help Hawaii to its 93rd consecutive WAC regular-season win, 108th straight including tournament play.
The Wahine put their streaks on the line tomorrow (3 p.m. Hawaii time) at conference newcomer New Mexico State (7-3, 1-2), which defeated Fresno State last night 27-30, 30-20, 30-15, 30-28.
Aggie coach Mike Jordan said more than 6,000 tickets were sold for the match at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M., which would be three times more than what the team is averaging in home attendance.
"That's exciting if they have that many people there," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "We feel that it will be the more competitive of the matches on this trip."
LaTech was very competitive in Game 3, taking advantage of a revamped Wahine lineup. Junior hitter Ambra Hayes also got hot, putting down nine of her 17 kills to help the Lady Techsters to a 27-23 lead.
Hawaii tied it at 27 behind two kills by Hittle and two LaTech hitting errors. It was tied four more times, with the Lady Techsters holding off three Wahine attempts at match point.
Sarah Mason ended it on her 19th attempt, hitting .474 for the night. Arnott had no errors in 21 swings, hitting .476., Hittle had two errors to hit .417.
"I thought Alicia and Hittle had breakout nights," Shoji said. "That's what we needed from them. Alicia used their block well.
"I thought we played really well for two games. The good thing about Game 3 was there was a deficit at the end and we fought back and won."
Hayes was the only LaTech player in double-figure kills with 17, getting little help from her team, which hit .086 to Hawaii's .357. The Lady Techsters entered the match averaging two aces per game; last night, they had two, both coming in Game 3 by Annielle Da Silva.
"I thought we passed really well the first two games," Shoji said. "Then it got a little loose. They served well and they started to play better.
"We subbed a little (in Game 3), lost a little bit of momentum. Going to a fourth game we would have been OK. I thought we were in control of the match."
Ashley Watanabe had 16 of the team's 65 digs and Susie Boogaard 14. Boogaard and Victoria Prince were in on five blocks each.
Prior to the match LaTech coach Heather Mazeitis was asked what her team needed to do in order to beat Hawaii.
"I don't have an answer for that one," she said.
LaTech will have seven weeks to figure it out. The Lady Techsters finish out the regular season in Honolulu on Hawaii's Senior Night Nov. 19.
Note: Raeceen Woolford serving for 14 straight points against Boise State last week will go into the UH record book as the school's rally-score record shared with Lily Kahumoku. Kahumoku also served for 14 points against San Diego State on Sept. 6, 2002 ... The UH record is 15, set by Karolyn Kootnekoff, who held serve for all the points of Game 3 in a 15-12, 15-5, 15-0 victory at Air Force on Nov. 5, 1984.
WAC standings
Western Division
|
Conference |
Overall
|
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
W |
L
|
| Utah State |
3 |
0 |
1.000 |
10 |
6
|
| Nevada |
3 |
0 |
1.000 |
8 |
5
|
| Hawaii |
2 |
0 |
1.000 |
8 |
6
|
| San Jose State |
2 |
0 |
1.000 |
7 |
7
|
| New Mexico State |
1 |
2 |
.000 |
7 |
3
|
| Idaho |
1 |
2 |
.333 |
8 |
6
|
| Fresno State |
0 |
2 |
.000 |
2 |
10
|
| Louisiana Tech |
0 |
3 |
.000 |
12 |
5
|
| Boise State |
0 |
3 |
.000 |
4 |
6 |
Yesterday
Hawaii def. Louisiana Tech, 30-14, 30-18, 33-31
New Mexico State def. Fresno State, 27-30, 30-20, 30-15, 30-28
Nevada def. Idaho, 30-24, 30-23, 30-18
Utah State def. Boise State, 30-26, 30-19, 30-17
Tomorrow
Nevada at Boise State
Fresno State at Louisiana Tech
Hawaii at New Mexico State
Utah State at Idaho
Hawaii def. Louisiana Tech
30-14, 30-18, 33-31
Rainbow Wahine (8-6, 2-0 WAC)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
| Sanders |
2 |
5 |
1 |
11 |
.364 |
1 |
3 |
1
|
| Boogaard |
3 |
3 |
1 |
11 |
.182 |
0 |
5 |
14
|
| Hittle |
3 |
12 |
2 |
24 |
.417 |
0 |
0 |
8
|
| Arnott |
3 |
10 |
0 |
21 |
.476 |
0 |
1 |
8
|
| Kamana'o |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
.000 |
0 |
3 |
9
|
| Prince |
3 |
9 |
2 |
20 |
.350 |
2 |
3 |
2
|
| Gregory |
1 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
.333 |
0 |
4 |
0
|
| Houston |
2 |
4 |
3 |
10 |
.100 |
0 |
0 |
0
|
| Watanabe |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
16
|
| Thurlby |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
1
|
| Mason |
3 |
11 |
2 |
19 |
.474 |
0 |
1 |
6
|
| Totals |
3 |
57 |
12 |
126 |
.357 |
3 |
20 |
65 |
LADY Techsters (12-5, 0-3 WAC)
|
g |
k |
e |
att |
pct. |
bs |
ba |
d
|
| Clark |
3 |
5 |
3 |
19 |
.105 |
0 |
1 |
1
|
| Hayes |
3 |
17 |
10 |
55 |
.127 |
1 |
1 |
11
|
| Romanowski |
3 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
-.143 |
0 |
1 |
5
|
| Phillips |
3 |
3 |
3 |
12 |
.000 |
1 |
2 |
0
|
| Johnson |
3 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
.222 |
0 |
1 |
1
|
| Da Silva |
3 |
8 |
6 |
37 |
.054 |
0 |
0 |
9
|
| Haas |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
7
|
| Sims |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
7
|
| Nakamura |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
10
|
| Totals |
3 |
37 |
25 |
139 |
.086 |
2 |
6 |
51 |
Key -- g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.
Aces -- Hawaii (1): Prince. LTU (2): Da Silva 2. Assists -- Hawaii (53): Kamana'o 50, Watanabe, Thurlby, Boogaard. LTU (33): Romanowski 29, Phillips 2, Johnson, Da Silva.
T -- 1:33. Officials -- Ron Stahl, Sue Kennedy. A -- 425.
