Fresno finds hope in last loss to UH

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

SAN JOSE — Fresno State's win over fourth-seeded Rice in yesterday's second quarterfinal of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament took nearly twice as long as Hawai'i's destruction of Tulsa.

When it was over, Rice's nine-match winning streak had ended along with its season by a 31-33, 27-30, 30-17, 30-20, 15-7 score. And Hawai'i, which needed most of Thursday to fly 2,400 miles, discovered it came all this way to play the team it beat last Friday — with a coach who graduated from Punahou.

Lindy Vivas, the Bulldogs' coach the last 11 years, put her team's fate in its hands after it lost the first two games yesterday.

"We're still young," said Vivas, whose only senior is all-conference blocker Shauna McQuaid. "Looking back, that has played a bigger role than I had hoped for. But the team has always responded. ... We just said, 'Here, it's up to you to decide the match.' "

Vivas went through three lineups, ending with the original that has McQuaid, the WAC's best blocker, in the middle. She finished with 20 kills and seven stuffs. Last Friday, Hawai'i saw McQuaid on the right, where she pestered Kim Willoughby into one of her worst hitting nights.

Vivas says her team benefited from that hard-fought 30-23, 30-20, 30-27 loss.

"We competed really well in Hawai'i," she said. "That might be the best thing we have going in. The team knows if they can play at the top of their game, that's when we might have an opportunity."

QUICK SETS: In the latest national statistics, Hawai'i's Kim Willoughby remains the country's kill leader, averaging 6.95 a game. Houston's Jennifer Wittenburg is second at 6.15. ... The Wahine are fourth in assists per game (15.75) and 10th in hitting percentage (.305). ... Hawai'i freshman Melody Eckmier started yesterday's third game for Nohea Tano, but suffered a Grade 2 sprain of her right ankle on the sixth serve. Eckmier will probably not play again this weekend.