Wahine sweep Santa Clara
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Friday, the 12th-ranked University of Hawai'i Wahine beat 20th-ranked Santa Clara with raw power. Last night, they blew by the Broncos, 30-20, 30-19, 30-16, with balance.
The balance of power witnessed last night by 3,789 at Stan Sheriff Center rocked the Wahine's volleyball world.
"Just about everything went right tonight," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "That was our best match of the year, by far. We were very efficient in blocking and defense. Margaret (Vakasausau) ran the show and spread the sets out more. It looked like fun."
Unless you were Santa Clara (7-3), which was never in this sequel after chasing Hawai'i (6-4) non-stop for four games Friday. Only career efforts from UH sophomores Kim Willoughby and Maja Gustin denied them an upset then. Last night, every Wahine took a turn blasting the Broncos.
USC coach Jon Wallace basically told his players after that "stuff happens," and they needed to find a positive from the pounding, and a way to compete when "you only have your B game."
"We have four freshmen and sophomores carrying a pretty heavy load and they didn't step up tonight," Wallace said. "They wanted to win so bad it paralyzed them.
"We needed to win Game 1, needed to have a lead to give us confidence. We never got it, and we buried ourselves."
Santa Clara's hitting — or was it Hawai'i's blocking and defense? — provided the shovel. The Broncos, who have been to the second round of the NCAA Tournament the last two years, hit .022 for the night.
They were awful in Game 1, getting out-hit .327 to .087 by a Hawai'i offense with suddenly infinite options. Then things really got bad.
Against a team that opened with four sophomores and two first-year starters, the Broncos hit negative .064 in Game 2. They trailed 23-9 before the Wahine appeared to get bored.
Santa Clara's only lead, in 1 hour and 34 minutes, came at 3-2 in the third. It lasted for as long as it took Willoughby to land after crushing a ball from the back row.
Oddly, Hawai'i's initial surge last night came with Willoughby serving. After giving the Rainbows the lead for good with two early aces, she served five straight to put them up, 22-13, in Game 1.
Already, the Bronco block — it had two stuffs all night — was baffled. Willoughby, who went for 35 spectacular kills Friday, was the least effective of the UH hitters early. Meanwhile Tanja Nikolic and Nohea Tano, in her first collegiate start, were all but untouchable and Gustin (7-for-11) was playing on other planet. Again.
Tano, a Kamehameha graduate who transferred home this year, finished with a career-high nine kills and five blocks.
"Nohea is really fast, she closes the block," Shoji said. "She gets up very early offensively, just makes herself available to the setter. When the setter can sense that, she'll go to her a lot more."
Tano and Lauren Duggins, the Wahine's two sophomore middle blockers, were in on all 11 Hawai'i stuffs. Willoughby (16 kills) and Gustin (13) still anchored the attack, but this time their teammates pulled their offensive weight.
"Hawai'i had a nice little kick in its step tonight," Wallace said. "It wasn't from Kim Willoughby the way it was last night, when she got the team out of trouble quite a bit. Tonight she didn't have to. They looked a lot smoother, their offense was running better, they were able to spread the court better.
"They'll be more successful because of that. And their defense and passing was phenomenal."
Hawai'i opens conference play Saturday at Louisiana Tech. Santa Clara has defeated San Jose State and Nevada — picked to finish right after UH in the WAC — this season, sweeping the Spartans and outlasting the Wolf Pack in five games.
"I hope that means we've improved," Shoji said. "I think we have, think it's obvious we have. And I think we can get better too."
QUICK SETS: Second-ranked Long Beach State held off 18th-ranked UC-Santa Barbara, 15-8 in the fifth, Friday. The Gauchos were swept by Santa Clara two weeks ago. ... Also Friday, fifth-ranked Southern California blitzed eighth-ranked UCLA, 30-27, 30-21, 30-12. ... After Louisiana Tech, the Wahine play at Houston (Oct. 3), Rice (Oct. 4) and Tulsa (Oct. 6). All but Houston are WAC matches and all are scheduled to be broadcast on 1420 AM. ... Hawai'i's next home match is Oct. 12 against Texas-El Paso.
