Wahine advance to regional semifinals
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
PULLMAN, Wash. — Three months ago, the Sweet 16 was a distant volleyball dream for the University of Hawai'i Wahine. Today it is sweet reality.
Kevin German • Special to The Honolulu Advertiser
The Wahine continued their run by defeating Eastern Washington in the second round of the NCAA Championship yesterday. A crowd of 625 at Bohler Gym saw UH prevail, 30-22, 28-30, 30-20, 30-28.
The University of Hawai'i volleyball team celebrates its 30-22, 28-30, 30-20,30-28 win over Eastern Washington.
Ninth-seeded Hawai'i (29-5) plays eighth-seeded UCLA (20-8) in a West Regional semifinal Thursday at Long Beach State's Pyramid. The Bruins swept the Wahine three months ago. Hawai'i has gone 27-2 since, with a lineup totally reconstructed after last year's final four appearance, and tweaked several times since playing UCLA.
"We made it a goal to try and get to a regional, actually to a regional final," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "I thought that would be realistic. I thought we could do it. I think our players never doubted we would be there. They still think we're going to the finals and who am I to doubt them at this point?"
Getting there was about as easy as navigating this winter wonderland, which hasn't hit 40 degrees since the Wahine landed.
Twelve hours of travel during the season's first snowstorm brought them a first-round date with host Washington State. A sweep brought on the Eagles (21-5), upset winners of the Big Sky Conference. Hawai'i is 46-16 in the NCAA Tournament, with three championships.
"I know the people in Hawai'i were probably saying who are they, it's not going to be much of a match," Shoji said. "But I knew from last night (Eastern Washington's victory over Oregon State) it was going to be a match and it was."
He estimated it "had about 100 ups and downs." Shoji called his first timeout with UH down 8-11 in Game 1. Eastern Washington had three kills at the time, with eight UH errors making up the difference.
The Wahine woke soon after, going ahead 28-19 on a 12-2 tear anchored by five of Kim Willoughby's 35 kills. They cruised home only to find Eastern Washington waiting again.
The Eagles' bench wildly celebrated every block and dig, even as rallies continued. But that was nothing compared to their outburst when they scored the final two points of Game 2. Hawai'i hit .188 in the game, and without Lauren Duggins (5-for-7) it would have been much worse.
"On the positive side," Eastern Washington coach Wade Benson said, "I thought we really showed up and that was a big deal for us against a quality team like that.
"I still felt that the team had a great feeling it could win and that's a big deal against a high-ranked opponent like Hawai'i that has physical athletes who can awe you sometimes."
Willoughby was untouchable (11 kills, no errors) in Game 1, but a mere mortal moments later. She hit zero (6 kills, 6 errors) in Game 2, leading UH back from a 25-28 deficit only to get stuffed on the final point.
The Wahine blew away the Eagles in Game 3, but struggled to put them away in Game 4.
"They have a great team all-around," said Willoughby, now seventh on the NCAA single-season kills list with 815. "You hit the ball as hard as you want and they'll find a way to pop it up, even if they just pinball it. They have great blockers and their setters are very smart. They set everybody the ball."
But no Eagle had more than a dozen kills and only two got to double digits — quick hitters Robyn Felder and Lindsay Page. The rest of the team hit .122. The Wahine out-dug Eastern Washington 83-61, with Duggins, Willoughby and Margaret Vakasausau getting 17 apiece.
It was barely enough to send the Eagles home, which is a 70-mile drive. Game 4 was tied 22 times.
The last of Maja Gustin's 17 kills put Hawai'i ahead 29-28. Shoji called time to brief his frustrated block, but Nohea Tano rendered his percentage play useless by slapping an ace untouched into the middle of the court.
"That was one of the weakest serves I've ever seen to win a game," Shoji said, smiling. "That was not served to that spot on purpose. I think she missed it and it just fell in a fortunate place on the court."
It wasn't as if the Wahine hadn't earned some luck. Duggins had a spectacular match, hitting .579 with 13 kills and six stuffs to go with all her digs. Willoughby and Gustin rallied after Game 2 and Jennifer Carey had but one hitting error as Vakasausau set UH to a .283 percentage. UH hit better than .300 in every game it won.
But Hawai'i knew its performance lacked a lot.
"I would say it was a C-minus because I know we can do so much better," Gustin said.
QUICK SETS: UH coach Dave Shoji received a yellow card on Eastern Washington's 27th point in Game 2, when he argued Kim Willoughby's spike bounced off the digger's head and out of bounds. ... The Hawai'i-UCLA match will begin at 3:30 p.m. HST Thursday, with the other semifinal to follow. The winners play at 5:30 Friday in a regionally televised match, an NCAA spokesperson said last night. ... The Wahine will fly to Los Angeles today and stay. They have flown home from the West Coast the last two weeks. ... Willoughby moved from 11th to seventh on the NCAA single-season kill list last night. She needs 16 more to get to No. 6. ... In other West Regional second-round matches yesterday, UCLA defeated Penn State, 30-11, 30-28, 30-18; Northern Iowa stopped Minnesota, 26-30, 21-30, 30-21, 30-19, 17-15, and Long Beach State ousted San Diego, 30-28, 30-16, 30-13.
