Wahine, next opponent both missing key players
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
This week, third-ranked University of Hawai'i will face a team even more anxious to have a healthy middle blocker.
Cal Poly's Worthy Lien has been out since she sprained her ankle in the Mustangs' opening match against Cincinnati. Not coincidentally, that was the last match Cal Poly won. Lien's status is listed as "day to day" for this weekend's series at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Without the all-Big West senior, the Mustangs have lost their last five. They are hitting just .160 against the likes of ranked teams Stanford, Utah and Notre Dame, but also against San Jose State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In a four-game loss to San Jose State Saturday, Cal Poly gave up 18 aces.
The Rainbow Wahine have won their first six despite starting all-WAC middle blocker Maja Gustin just once. Gustin, who suffered an injury to her left foot three days before the season started, did not play last weekend and is questionable this weekend.
Without Lien — the country's fifth-best blocker last season — Poly still averages nearly four stuffs a game, to Hawai'i's 2 1/2. Freshman Nicole Bertotti (1.89), sophomore Margaret Donoghue (1.67) and senior setter Carly O'Halloran (1.38) all average more than one block. Jessica Diepersloot, last season's Big West Freshman of the Year, leads the offense with 3.29 kills.
"We have decent size but, to be honest, blocking is not something we've put a lot of time into," Mustang coach Steve Schlick says. "We're working on ball control, pursuit, transition ... we're truly working on the rest of our game. We're pleased with what's happening at the net. We want the rest of our game to grow as well."
Cal Poly missed the NCAA tournament with a 15-11 record last season, after going the previous two years. Before 1999, the Mustangs had not reached the NCAAs in a decade — when UH's Mike Wilton was their coach.
Transfer Karin Lundqvist has been starting for Gustin. She is averaging 1 1/2 kills and digs, but the Rainbow offense has leaned heavily on All-America outsides Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku.
Willoughby leads the team in kills (6.1), digs (3.55) and aces (0.65), while Kahumoku is averaging nearly five kills and three digs. Both are hitting better than .320.
Kahumoku hit an astounding .739 last week against San Diego State (17 kills, no errors, 23 attempts). The next night, Willoughby broke her school record with 38 kills in four games against Washington.
The intriguing part is, both hitters have yet to have an exceptional match the same night. "I don't think you can expect them to be on, and on fire, every night," UH coach Dave Shoji says. "We should be more consistent, but you just can't put up huge numbers every night. It's not humanly possible."
Freshman Cayley Thurlby, the third setter behind seniors Margaret Vakasausau and Jennifer Carey, will redshirt this season.
QUICK SETS: The Rainbow Wahine are averaging 19.55 digs a game, four more than opponents and their highest average since 1989. ... Kim Willoughby needs 105 kills to tie Olympian Deitre Collins at No. 6 on the UH career kill list. Collins, the UNLV coach, had 1,385 kills. ... Former UH athletic director Stan Sheriff was an All-America football player at Cal Poly. Sheriff, who died in 1993, was called Stan "The Man" in San Luis Obispo and was a Charter Member of the school's athletic Hall of Fame. ... Top-ranked Stanford (6-0) is playing in sixth-ranked Florida's (5-1) tournament this weekend.
