Hawai'i sweeps UNC, faces Nebraska in final
| • | 2002 Women's Volleyball Championship bracket |
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
LINCOLN, Neb. — After warming up on pretenders in the Central Regional semifinals, second-ranked Hawai'i and fourth-ranked Nebraska get a contender tonight. They play each other, which is what everyone has been waiting to see.
Associated Press
The Rainbow Wahine (33-1), seeded sixth in this NCAA Volleyball Championship, play the third-seeded Cornhuskers (31-1) in the regional final at Nebraska Coliseum. Hawai'i swept 11th-seeded North Carolina (32-4) last night, 30-21, 30-23, 30-22. The Cornhuskers took out unseeded Miami (27-6) just as easily, 30-18, 30-17, 30-21, before a sellout of 4,341.
The Rainbow Wahine, including Jennifer Carey (4) and Maja Gustin (12), celebrate their three-game victory over North Carolina at Lincoln, Neb.
The Tar Heels' first visit to the Sweet 16 — and second look at a ranked team this season — was short and anything but sweet. North Carolina passed as well as it has all year, served tough enough to take options away from the Hawai'i attack and still was smothered by All-Americans Kim Willoughby (22 kills), Lily Kahumoku (16) and the relentless Rainbow defense.
The Tar Heels knew the the All-Americans were coming. The defense, something they did not "anticipate," did them in. UH had a phenomenal 77 digs; the other three regional teams did not reach 60.
"We passed well, we were in a good flow," said UNC setter Eve Rackham, who had her team's highest hitting percentage. "We just had a hard time putting the ball down. That was all Hawai'i."
UH out-hit UNC 2-to-1 (.345-.161) in a match that quickly turned into 2-on-6. By the end of the first game it was clear the Tar Heels' only weapons were outside hitters Laura Greene — the ACC Player of the Year — and Molly Pyles. And by then, even Pyles was questionable.
• Who: Hawai'i (33-1) vs. Nebraska (30-1) • When: Today, 3 p.m. Hawai'i time • Where: Lincoln, Neb. • TV: Live, Oceanic-16 • Radio: Live, 1420-AM
In the second game, she took 19 swings and came up with just one kill and five errors as the Rainbow Wahine completely shut down North Carolina's back-row attack. Meanwhile, Willoughby was carving the Tar Heels up, hitting radical cut shots in front of the block that dropped untouched inside the 10-foot line. They never adjusted and Willoughby went 10-for-19 in the game without an error.
• What: Central Regional final
"Defensively we played pretty well but their offense was one level higher than we're used to," North Carolina coach Joe Sagula said. "Kim hit some amazing angles the second game. We looked at each other and said, 'If she's going to hit those angles she's going to score well against anybody in the country.'
"We tried three blockers against her, tried two blockers and defense behind them. She had just another level."
Opposite Willoughby, Kahumoku was killing North Carolina with soft stuff. She finessed her eight first-game kills off, through and around the Tar Heel block, then got six more subtle kills in Game 3.
The better North Carolina served, the worse it got.
"Serving well was probably a mistake," Sagula admitted. "That just made them set Willoughby and Lily more."
Hawai'i hit the Tar Heels hard when it reached the 20's, ripping off 6-0 streaks in each of the first two games, and allowing the Tar Heels to self-destruct in the third.
Maja Gustin buried the first point of the Game 1 surge, then served the next five. Greene and Pyles hit the first two out and Nohea Tano followed with her first two kills after long rallies. Willoughby got the last point on a rare roll shot to make it 26-17. Kahumoku finished it off with three kills in the final seven serves.
Willoughby collected seven kills and nine digs in the opening game. Halfway through the second she had her 18th double-double. It came in the midst of the second 6-0 run that pulled the Rainbows ahead 16-12.
The next surge nearly took Hawai'i home. Lauren Duggins' fourth kill of the game got Kahumoku the serve at 24-22 and she scored five points with Willoughby contributing three kills and a stuff, and Jennifer Carey shoving down an overpass. Greene's fifth kill of the game —her teammates had but eight — delayed game point for only a moment. Willoughby crushed it.
The Tar Heels hurt themselves most in the final game, serving five balls out to extinguish rallies and forgetting Duggins, who got nearly half her 11 kills.
Even with a win that was WAC-like in its dominance — against a team that started four seniors — UH coach Dave Shoji saw plenty of room for improvement.
"Our team did a nice job of concentrating on what we had to do, which is win," Shoji said. "We weren't real sharp, but at this point it doesn't matter. Our passing could have been better and we're a much better blocking team than we showed, but our defense played very well behind the block. That's the reason we won."
That won't be enough tonight. Nebraska has blasted Hawai'i the last two times the teams have played.
"It's not realistic to think Kim will hit .500 again," Shoji said. "But I wouldn't mind if she did — and Lauren hit 42 percent again. ... We didn't look great at times tonight, but right now you just need to move on and try for perfection the next night. We're right where we want to be."
