Huskers stuff Wahine

By Lori Gilbert
Special to The Advertiser

STOCKTON, Calif. — The first six plays were things of beauty.

Hawai'i's Kim Willoughby spiked past the block of Nebraska's Greichaly Cepero, one her 15 kills in the match. Associated Press

The result was a 30-17, 30-27, 30-24 Cornhuskers' win in the opening round of the State Farm Volleyball Classic last night at the Spanos Center.

In the other first-round match, Pacific defeated Wisconsin 30-24, 33-31, 29-31, 30-25 to advance to today's championship.

The Rainbow Wahine will face Wisconsin, and coach Dave Shoji is looking for a better performance than he saw in the team's season opener, its first loss after 20 consecutive opening victories.

"They're an awesome team and we made too many unforced errors at critical times," he said. "Nebraska's too big, too strong and handles the ball too well and we couldn't stay with them offensively or defensively."

Hawai'i built a 6-0 lead in the opening game as Nebraska looked completely out of sorts, which took Huskers coach John Cook by surprise.

"I was thinking I couldn't coach anymore because we worked so hard to get them relaxed," the second-year coach said. "They needed time to get comfortable."

It didn't take much.

Setter Greichaly Cepero settled in, took advantage of her full arsenal and got the Huskers' offense rolling. She set them all.

Five different hitters took 10 or more swings.

Only returning All-American Nancy Metcalf, who sat out last season after spending the previous spring with the national team, reached double digits in kills, notching 11.

Nebraska looked very much like the team that was 34-0 last season and ended Hawai'i's season in the national semifinal. It hit well, blocked well, served well and defended with abandon.

But the Rainbow Wahine failed to conjure images of that match or to live up to their preseason No. 5 ranking.

"We have a lot of different personnel, but we should have made it closer," Shoji said.

The Wahine had their moments. After a rocky start, sophomore Kim Willoughby established herself as the go-to player she's expected to be, pounding a match-high 15 kills.

"Yeah, I had a positive game hitting wise, but I've been working on jump serves and my serving was totally opposite of what I did with my hitting," Willoughby said. "In order for my team to be successful 70, your whole game should be there."

It wasn't. For any of the Wahine, who hit .143 as a team, and were outblocked 10-4.

The offense was stagnant in the first game, which prompted Shoji to turn to junior Margaret Vakasausau in the second game.

"My plan was not to use two setters, but I thought Jen Carey got off to a slow start and I felt like Margaret could give us a lift, and she did," Shoji said. "The second game was much improved."

The team hit .256 in the second game and .290 in the third with Vakasausau setting after it hit minus .179 with Carey setting.

"That's my role, coming off the bench and giving them some gas. Tonight I was fortunate enough to give them a lot of gas, to have more time in there. That's where I want to be eventually," Vakasausau said.

Shoji said he didn't know which of his setters would start tonight, although the position is far from settled.

Carey has held the starting position for two years, but Vakasausau has caught up, Shoji said.

Hawai'i responded to Vakasausau's spark and made the final two games closer.

The Wahine just couldn't put many runs together, with either setter in the game.

"We got some offense out of Kim, but we didn't get much out of anybody else, which we had hoped for," Shoji said. "(Middle blockers Lauren Duggins and Melody Eckmier) have to give us more. Tanja (Nikolic) will give us more. It just didn't happen tonight.

"I still like the spirit of the team. We just didn't perform technically well. We had way to many unforced errors and some of them were at critical times."