UH opens tourney tonight against San Francisco
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
There is no longer the pressure of perfection for the University of Hawai'i in the Aston I mua Wahine Volleyball Challenge. A year ago, Southern California stuck the Rainbow Wahine with their first Challenge loss.
UH goes into the seventh annual event today with a 20-1 tournament record. The Rainbows face San Francisco, San Diego State and Washington the next three nights at Stan Sheriff Center.
The visitors were a combined 36-45 last season. San Diego State advanced to the NCAA Tournament, and took a game off UH last October in San Diego. Washington comes in unbeaten.
Hawai'i plans to rest starting middle blocker Maja Gustin, who is suffering from plantar fasciitis, which has caused an inflammation on the bottom of her left foot. The injury is caused primarily by repetitive jumping.
Gustin played in seven of the Rainbows' 10 Hawaiian Airlines Classic games last weekend. Her only start came Monday.
Hot ticket: Individual match tickets went on sale last week and fans are focusing on the Nov. 10 meeting with top-ranked, defending NCAA champion Stanford.
That is the Rainbow Wahine's final home match of the regular season. The Cardinal is the only ranked team Hawai'i has on its home schedule, aside from the three teams that opened here.
Approximately 6,400 tickets have been issued for the Stanford match. That includes the nearly 5,700 season tickets sold. Stan Sheriff Center holds 10,300.
Exhibition update: The Russian team that will play the Rainbow Wahine in an exhibition Sept. 17 is called Samorodok, which means "nugget." The team is owned by Russian Gold-Mining Joint Stock Company AMUR and is based in Khabarovsk.
Samorodok's roster has players in their teens and 30's. The team is 2 years old. It advanced to Russia's High League after its first year and finished 12th.
Rising fast: After two years and three matches, Kim Willoughby is in the Top 10 on the UH kills list, with 1,207. She was 11th entering the season, but passed Kenyatta Lovelace Sunday.
Willoughby could be as high as seventh by Saturday. She needs 13 to catch No. 9 Jessica Sudduth, 25 to catch No. 8 Karrie Trieschman and 59 to catch No. 7 Diana Jessie. Olympian Teee Williams is first, with 1,873 in her three-year career.
More brings more: Nevada middle blocker Michelle More is the AVCA/Sports Imports Division I National Player of the Week. The senior is the first WAC volleyball player to earn the honor since Willoughby took it twice last season.
More had a career-high 26 kills in a four-game loss to Washington State. She beat that with 31 kills in a five-game victory over then-No. 23 Brigham Young, which dropped out of the rankings.
More is hitting .373 after the first week and averaging a WAC-best 6.25 kills a game. Hawai'i's Kim Willoughby (4.90) and Lily Kahumoku (4.50) are next. Kahumoku had a career-high 26 kills Monday.
Last word: UCLA scored seven straight points to pull ahead of Hawai'i, 27-24, in Game 1 Monday, only to see the Rainbows score the final five points and win 30-28.
UH scored on three Lily Kahumoku kills, its only block of the game (by Maja Gustin) and a hitting error caused by a Rainbow defense that gave UCLA no place to go but out of bounds. The final two points were long, lively rallies that showcased Hawai'i's defense at its best.
"That was a rush," Kahumoku said. "That was for ratings."
QUICK SETS: Third-ranked USC (3-0) upset second-ranked Nebraska, 30-26, 30-19, 32-30, Monday to win the Radisson Hotel Roberts/Nike Classic in Muncie, Ind. The 'Huskers (2-1) led the third game, 20-9. ... Arizona, ranked sixth last week, was swept by unranked Louisville. The Wildcats dropped to 11th while the Cardinals entered the poll at No. 22 this week.
