No. 1 Hawai'i overwhelms Boise St.
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
On a night when Boise State and volleyball were not priorities, top-ranked University of Hawai'i remained unbeaten going into tonight's soldout showdown with fourth-ranked Stanford, and honored Ann Goldenson Kang's impact on a generation of players with a compassionate show of support for her future.
Jeff WIdener • The Honolulu Advertiser
The pertinent numbers last night were 30-6, 30-23, 30-23 against the Broncos, and $6,000-plus to help with Kang's medical expenses.
Fans donated $6,000-plus to ex-Rainbow Wahine volleyball star Ann Goldenson Kang, who was escorted onto the court last night by her husband Alan.
Kang, 47, was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) this year. She played for Hawai'i in 1976 and '77 and married Alan Kang, head coach of the Rainbow Wahine in their first collegiate season (1974). Ann launched the Iolani girls' athletics program in 1979 and has taught and coached at the school since, guiding the Raiders to their first state high school volleyball championship a year ago.
UH collected donations for the Kangs during last night's alumnae and WAC matches and presented the collection to the family after the second Boise game.
"Obviously, it's a tragic happening, our players were shocked," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "We watched during the break in the locker room. Several of them were shaken. You feel like it could happen to anybody."
Rainbow senior Margaret Vakasausau has been aware of Kang's impact her entire volleyball career.
"It's amazing the way the people of Hawai'i can pull together for someone so special," Vakasausau said. "Everyone knows who she is when she steps in a gym and she always motivates her team to be better. She's willful and so motivating, and it's obvious people want to help her now in her time of need, because she's always been there for other people."
The touching tribute provided the emotion a ragged WAC match could not.
It didn't take long to realize the Rainbows' WAC winning streak would soon be 69, and their consecutive game streak 54.
Hawai'i (23-0, 11-0 WAC) played a nearly flawless first game that set a school record for dominance in its one-plus seasons of rally scoring. It was "nearly" flawless only because UH missed three serves. That was as many kills as Boise State (1-21, 0-10) could muster.
"I think that's Hawai'i volleyball, almost our 'A' game, minus those serves," Vakasausau said. "It's so scary to see no balls hit the floor and everyone go all out. But then they (the Broncos) did come back and play good, good volleyball."
Jeff WIdener • The Honolulu Advertiser
This was take-no-prisoners volleyball in every aspect as the country's top-ranked team terrorized the WAC's most vulnerable. Hawai'i did not have a hitting error and its .615 percentage was 800 points higher than the Broncos. All-Americans Lily Kahumoku and Kim Willoughby were a combined 9-for-14, with Willoughby contributing four aces.
Hawai'i's Hedder Ilustre digs a ball against Boise State at the Stan Sheriff Center. Hawai'i won the match in three games.
"The funny thing about Game 1 was they didn't hit a lot of balls out, and we had three service errors out of six points," Shoji said. "That was a little strange. ... Whenever anyone wins this badly there are usually a lot of hitting errors. In other words, they didn't self-destruct like Nevada (Friday), in that sense."
Hawai'i's clinical demolition was so complete the Stan Sheriff Center crowd of some 5,800 grew sympathetic toward the Boise State cause. That ended as soon as the Rainbows gave the Broncos a glimmer of hope in Game 2.
First-year Boise coach Scott Sandel told his players after the first game to look at the scoreboard and the crowd. "What did we have to lose in that situation?" he asked. "We got spanked. We were scared coming out. The first of the year we would have definitely caved in. But we came back and battled and kept going after it."
Willoughby and Lauren Duggins, who have only missed six games between them all season, rested in Game 2. The result was not in doubt, but the Broncos were no longer pushovers. Kahumoku and Maja Gustin took the third off and nothing changed against an opponent that was No. 250 in one power ranking this week.
UH freshman Susie Boogaard ended with a match-high 12 kills, on .550 hitting. Willoughby had a season-low six kills but still moved past Angelica Ljungquist into second on the UH career kills list, at 1,573.
QUICK SETS: Tonight's match against defending NCAA champion Stanford starts at 6 p.m., with the arena opening at 4:30. Seniors Jennifer Carey, Hedder Ilustre and Margaret Vakasausau will be honored after the Rainbows' final regular-season home match. ... Hawai'i's victory clinched at least a tie for the WAC Western Division championship, and the top seed in the WAC Tournament, Nov. 22-24. The 'Bows can win the top seed outright by winning at Fresno State Friday.
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