Rainbow Wahine win WAC volleyball title

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

RENO, Nev. — Second-ranked Hawai'i came to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament looking for a volleyball fight. It found one Saturday in a three-round knockout of feisty San Jose State. Yesterday, the Rainbow Wahine went four more rounds with Nevada.

Rainbows' Kim Willoughby and Maja Gustin enjoy their 30-19, 30-32, 30-13, 30-23 victory over host Nevada. Associated Press

The Rainbow Wahine's fifth consecutive WAC title came with a bonus. Hawai'i (28-1) actually had to absorb some shots and adjust. San Jose State, talented and terminally injured this year, landed enough laser serves to short-circuit the UH offense in a semifinal. Nevada, which barely showed up the last three times the teams met, continued to punish the UH passers yesterday.

The Wolf Pack (21-8) overcame a sluggish start to take the second game and went toe-to-toe with Hawai'i in the fourth before becoming the Rainbows' 74th consecutive WAC victim. UH blew through the WAC the last three seasons, but in the last 10 days it has faced opponents ready to rumble, no longer willing to lie down and suddenly more than able.

It came just in time. The Rainbow Wahine close the regular season tomorrow at Brigham Young and Wednesday at 24th-ranked Utah. Those teams met for the Mountain West championship Saturday, with the Utes winning. After resting over Thanksgiving, Hawai'i opens the NCAA Tournament the following weekend.

Yesterday's championship came with the WAC's automatic berth and a welcomed push from the opposition.

The experience was not always pleasant. Hawai'i rained hitting errors all over rocking Virginia Street Gym in Games 2 and 4, with All-Americans Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku sometimes flailing in frustration. They still launched 45 kills, with Willoughby getting 26, to deny any Wolf Pack dreams.

Lauren Duggins and Maja Gustin added more intrigue to a match played before 1,026 evenly divided fans. The Rainbow middles, who usually lurk in Willoughby's and Kahumoku's large shadows, were all but automatic yesterday. Duggins hit an outrageous 15-for-19 with seven stuffs and Gustin gathered kills (12) and blocks (6) in flurries before leaving in the fourth game after she "tweaked" her right leg.

Those performances more than neutralized Wolf Pack terminators Michelle More, ninth in the country in kills, and Salaia Salavea, the WAC Freshman of the Year. More, averaging more than five kills a game, had six in Game 2 and six more the rest of the match.

"Duggins always seems to have a record night when we play her," Nevada coach Devin Scruggs said. "Our middles were instructed to 'Stay with 14 (Duggins).' The ball is set high enough to Kim and Lily that they have time to get out there and block. But Lauren just was able to have her way with us."

Duggins disagreed. She attributed her .789 hitting to good connections with setter Jennifer Carey and "sometimes they were leaving me for Kim and Lily so it's easier when you're hitting 1-on-1." The setters also isolated her over Nevada's shortest blockers and Duggins easily elevated over them.

Hawai'i's Kim Willoughby, the WAC Tournament's MVP, slams one of her 26 kills over Nevada's Jill Couwenhoven. Associated Press

Hawai'i called time and scored three of the next four points. The Wolf Pack, who hit .400 in the game, didn't flinch. Laura Wooley got one of her team-high 15 kills by scoring off the net cord. Christine Harms squeezed a shot through the block and More buried another errant UH pass to give Nevada game point at 29-28.

Willoughby responded with her sixth kill of the game and got the 'Bows to game point when she tooled the ball off a triple block. More denied this game point and reserve Karen Adams stuffed Willoughby into one of her six hitting errors in the game. A wide set gave Nevada the game.

Hawai'i responded with devastating runs in the third game, scoring eight straight with Margaret Vakasausau serving — and Gustin blocking — and five more with Willoughby on the end line. The Wolf Pack put up one last, long challenge in Game 4, but Duggins and Carey fueled a 5-0 run to finish it off.

Those two, along with Kahumoku and Willoughby, earned spots on the 12-player all-tournament team. Willoughby was MVP. By the time all the trophies had been passed out, the Rainbow Wahine had moved on. The WAC championship has become a blip on their radar, though Nevada, Fresno State, San Jose and even Rice appear to be making moves to change that.

"Nevada really showed some heart last night (against Fresno State) being down 1-0, and playing really poorly, to come back and turn that match around," Shoji said. "I didn't know which way it was going at that point because they've been a little down and not played well, but I think they've got some confidence going now. I think they'll make the (NCAA) Tournament and I'm hoping they'll win one or two matches in it. ... I think Nevada turned its season around last night."

The Rainbows can now concentrate solely on preparing for the NCAAs. This weekend gave them plenty to think about. They hope to be eternally grateful.

"We need to face people that are challenging us and respond to that because that's what's going to happen in the tournament," Shoji said. "We didn't do that at times. In Game 2 we were not very good. We need to get better at that. If that's a final-four type game we probably won't win it. We're just not focused enough.

"Game 1 was really good for us, Game 2 was really loose, but you saw in Game 3 ... when we play like that we can win the national championship. But it takes an even effort and a real high level all the time to win the big games like that."

QUICK SETS: Hawai'i is 112-3 in its first seven WAC seasons, with all three losses to BYU. ... Nevada is 24-3 at home the last two years. All three losses have come against the Rainbows. ... WAC officials say they probably won't know until next month where the next WAC Tournament will be.

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