Rainbows play Huskies, winner goes to Nebraska

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

With a performance that scared no one but itself, second-ranked Hawai'i swept Sun Belt champion Western Kentucky, 30-18, 30-25, 30-21, last night in the first round of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship.

Hawai'i's Lily Kahumoku launched a spike against the lone block of Western Kentucky's Amanda Schiff last night. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Hawai'i (31-1) ended the Hilltoppers' finest season at 33-5. It was WKU's first loss since Sept. 21 and it did not go down easily before 5,501 at Stan Sheriff Center. Its in-your-face effort was the first thing UH coach Dave Shoji talked about.

"They played very hard, very spirited, great defense," Shoji said. "Their hitters went up and took an honest swing at it, which a lot of teams that come in here don't do. I was very impressed with their spirit and heart.

"Us, on the other hand, we played a little loose. Our skills were not where we want them, but like I said yesterday, the trick now is to win and advance. We're not going to look back. We know we can play better and we must play better if we're going to win tomorrow night."

While the Hilltoppers dug in for their volleyball lives against a much bigger and more talented team, the Rainbows could not block consistently, passed erratically and sprayed shots around the arena. This was not the look of a team intent on winning its fifth national championship.

But it was — by far — the best Western Kentucky had seen. UH All-Americas Lily Kahumoku (17 kills) and Kim Willoughby (11) put the biggest numbers up, also contributing 12 hitting errors. Middles Maja Gustin (9 kills) and Lauren Duggins (8) were less prominent but more proficient, hammering 17 kills without an error and dropping in on a dozen blocks. In her last four matches, Duggins is hitting .609.

UH captain Margaret Vakasausau refused to be discouraged by the ragged nature of the match.

"I thought our energy and spirit was great," she said. "But sometimes things don't work the way you want them to, they just don't happen the way you think they're going to happen. I think our energy carried us and we did a good job. Tomorrow we're going to come out and play a good team in Washington and we'll have to rely on the skills we've acquired during the season. ...ÊThis was a good opening round, but we can only get better."

The beginning did not bode well for the Rainbow Wahine, who blamed their bad start on a new formation. They gave Western Kentucky its first four points — all on hitting errors by their All-Americans — and fell into a 7-2 hole before they remembered who they were playing. Coincidentally, Willoughby was serving at the time.

She launched two jump-serve aces that caused the Hilltoppers to scatter and Hawai'i was on the way to a 28-11 surge to close out the game. It shredded the WKU block for a nine-point run with Hedder Ilustre serving. Kahumoku began to rally by planting three of her eight first-game kills. UH scored four in a row when Willoughby went back to serve; the final two points came on Kahumoku and Gustin kills that struck WKU libero Tracy May in the sneakers.

But the Hilltoppers, who took 20 hours to get to their first NCAA appearance, weren't going home so soon. Every time the Rainbow Wahine made a move in Games 2 and 3 they countered. They matched Hawai'i nearly dig for dig — particularly May — and gave themselves a chance to win Game 2, closing within 23-21 on Crystal Towler's seventh kill.

But in the final 11 points, WKU shanked three serves and gave another one away on a ballhandling error. Its 10 service errors and passing breakdowns, along with a .106 hitting percentage, eventually sent it back to Bowling Green. WKU's under-sized and unorthodox hitters squeezed enough kills off and through the UH block to make it interesting, but ultimately could not perfect the skills they controlled.

"We pride ourself on handling the ball well the first contact — serve and serve receive," WKU coach Travis Hudson said. "In Games 2 and 3 I thought if you took those mistakes out ... the margin of error is so slim when you're playing a team of Hawai'i's caliber and you really can't throw five or six of those in a game."

The Hilltoppers lose only one senior — setter Sara Noe, who was clearly the catalyst for their success this season. They lost three all-conference hitters from last year and started four underclassmen yet came into the postseason with more wins than anyone in the country. They'll be back, but have a prominent puka to fill.

"This was obviously the greatest experience I've had playing — my first time in the NCAA and coming here to play someone that is so well-respected through the nation," Noe said. "I was very proud of our team. We came out and gave it everything we had and played well in stretches."

In the opener, Washington ousted Mountain West Conference regular-season champion Colorado State, 26-30, 30-25, 30-22, 30-27. The Huskies (20-10), who tied for fifth in the Pac-10, got 23 kills from Paige Benjamin, who ranks among the top 15 nationally.

The Rams (22-10) ended the last three seasons in the regionals. This was their earliest NCAA exit since 1995 — the first of eight straight postseason appearances. They were led by Michelle Knox, their only senior, who had 19 kills.

Washington's only non-conference loss this season came to Hawai'i here three months ago, when Willoughby set a school record with 38 kills in four games. Since then, Benjamin believes the Huskies have made "more improvements than maybe any team in the country." They are in their first NCAA Tournament since 1997 and come into tonight's sub-regional final battle-tested by a conference that sent eight teams to the postseason.

"They are a legitimate top 20 team," Shoji said. "They gave everybody trouble. They just have a style and a great coach who has got them playing very well. They don't have overpowering talent but what they do, they do very, very well."

QUICK SETS: Candace Lee, a freshman libero for Washington, has Hawai'i ties. Her parents, Mike and Maria, grew up here. Lee earned a place on the six-member Pac-10 All-Freshmen team. She ranked fourth in the conference in digs (3.53). ... Washington is 7-6 in seven NCAA appearances. ... Colorado State is now 0-6 in Hawai'i. ... UCLA swept three-time NCAA champion Long Beach State, 30-25, 30-27, 30-21, in a West sub-regional last night. The Bruins play ninth-seeded Pepperdine tonight. ... Hawai'i is 47-17 in the NCAA Tournament, with three championships. It also won the AIAW title in 1979. ... The Rainbow Wahine are 18-0 in matches to advance to regionals. ... Sara Noe finished her WKU career with 5,172 assists — some 500 more than Martina Cincerova, Hawai'i's career leader.