UH hammers Nevada

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

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UH WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL WHO: Hawai'i (21-0) vs. Boise State (1-21) today and Stanford (22-3) tomorrow WHEN: 7 p.m. today and 6 p.m. tomorrow WHERE: Stan Sheriff Center TV/RADIO: All matches live on KFVE (5) and 1420 AM PARKING: $3 TICKETS: Today $12 lower bowl, $9 upper, $8 senior citizens, $5 students. Tomorrow sold out. AUTOGRAPHS: Today's match will be preceded by a 5 p.m. alumnae contest. Tomorrow is Senior Night, honoring Jennifer Carey, Hedder Ilustre and Margaret Vakasausau.

The Rainbow Wahine, celebrating their first week at No. 1 and newfound status as the country's only unbeaten team, pounded the Wolf Pack, 30-17, 30-11, 30-17, before a crowd of about 6,100 at Stan Sheriff Center.

That they won was no surprise. Hawai'i (22-0, 10-0 WAC) has captured its past 68 WAC matches and 51 straight games — 18 short of the NCAA record. Why Nevada (18-6, 7-4) never challenged from 6-all in Game 1 was a mystery. Especially to Nevada, which is ranked ninth in the West Region and probably headed to the NCAA Tournament.

"Our team was good for the first 11 points," Nevada coach Devin Scruggs said. "When Kim (Willoughby) ripped off eight in a row it was like it completely deflated us and we never bounced back."

Willoughby's latest all-America exhibit was a 17-kill, nine-dig, three-block, three-ace performance where she hit .500. It was complemented by Lily Kahumoku's double-double (11 kills, 12 digs), Lauren Duggins' nearly flawless showing (.875 hitting, four stuffs) and yet another inspired match by a team that must know by now that it does not have to be inspired to thrash some foes.

The Rainbow Wahine were still sacrificing their bodies in the 78th minute of the 79-minute match.

"One of the true signs of a great team is to be able to play tough regardless of who you are playing," Scruggs said. "And I have yet to see them come down to any level of their opponent. Our players actually made a comment to me when we played lesser teams, saying look what Hawai'i does, they just hammer whoever they're playing. It doesn't matter.

"That's hard to do. I know they were probably bored at times tonight, and they still played hard."

The only question from early on was if last week's pounding of the Pack in Reno had taken its fight away, or if Nevada has simply hit a road bump in what was a surprisingly good season until a week ago.

Duggins believes the 'Bows might have taken Nevada out of this one with last week's lopsided win. "How can you think you can win when we have Kim and Lily?" she said with a shrug.

Scruggs attributed it to a slump she says has been simmering for awhile. Her team has lost its past three and its offensive futility was defined in round numbers last night as it hit zero. There were also a dozen serving errors.

"Offensively, we were not able to do any of the things that we normally would like to do," she said. "Granted, their defense is very good, but most of the things we couldn't do had nothing to do with them. When Michelle More can't hit a single ball with any power that's a problem."

More, among the national leaders in kills and hitting percentage, had just four kills and hit .000 as the Rainbow Wahine tracked her every move.

Laura Wooley, the Pack's next-best threat, had three kills with seven errors.

"Our team is really good," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "Our defense is good. Our block is not great but it's pretty solid. It's like pick your poison. You can get dug or you can get blocked or you can hit out. That's what a lot of these teams have been doing.

"Devin was the kind of player who would rather rip into the block and put it down or get blocked. But it seemed tonight they just didn't want to get blocked. If they hit around the block we dug it. Then they'd try a radical angle and hit it out."

From 11-all in Game 1, that's about all Nevada did.

Willoughby's kill put Hawai'i ahead — for the night, it turned out — at 12-11. Then she launched four bullets from the back line that Nevada never came close to handling. She served seven straight points.

Game, set and match. The Pack back-pedaled in Game 2, hitting negative. Meanwhile, the Rainbow Wahine pounded at a .435 clip for the night.

"Technically our players are very solid and they play hard every night. Our players just love to play volleyball," Shoji said for about the 22nd time this season. "It's not a chore to go out there and things look pretty positive right now. We're having fun."