Rainbow Wahine sweep St. Mary's to remain undefeated

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

A volleyball preseason where challenge often had to come from within, came to a quiet close last night as second-ranked Hawai'i swept St. Mary's 30-17, 30-24, 30-17. The match was watched by 4,357 at Stan Sheriff Center.

The Rainbow Wahine have won their first 10 matches and have not lost an official game since Sept. 7; they have dropped just two all season. They didn't come close last night, again, against a team picked to finish last in the West Coast Conference.

St. Mary's (3-5) was scrappy but outclassed and never threw a scare into Hawai'i. In contrast, the Gael defenders were often in danger, particularly when All-Americans Kim Willoughby (19 kills) and Lily Kahumoku (16) chose to go down the line. In the last two games, UH freshman Susie Boogaard (9-for-13) joined in the onslaught.

But for most of the night, both teams simply worked on getting better. First-year coach Jon Stevenson is trying to turn St. Mary's around the way he did Sonoma State, which went from 7-21 to 22-11 in his tenure. The Gaels were 5-21 last season.

Stevenson has installed new systems to fit his players, but mostly he has tried to get them to believe in themselves again.

"He's given us a renewed love for the game," said sophomore Lindsey Bogason, who led the Gaels with nine kills. "We'd lost that for awhile."

With few exceptions, the Rainbow Wahine have spent the preseason focusing on ways to make themselves better as opposed to worrying about opponents. All-region middle blocker Maja Gustin has been a spectator, out for all but a few games with a stress fracture. Her new view has been illuminating.

"Watching is a big plus," Gustin says. "I see everything clicking. But you know, I want to play. I watch and see we have a great team and everybody is happy. Everything has a reason. ... I see now the main point of the game is to have fun."

The enjoyment began before the match last night, at least for St. Mary's freshman Kaui Salzman, who was born and raised in Kane'ohe, discovered her passion for volleyball in the eighth grade at La Pietra, then pursued it when her family moved to San Diego. Last night she sang Hawai'i Pono'i, then started at libero and passed Willoughby's "spike serves" — Stevenson's term — better than anyone has all season.

The Gaels simply couldn't do enough with the ball after that. Hawai'i relentlessly pulled away in the first game by suffocating the St. Mary's attack. The Rainbows had only 2 1/2 blocks, but dug enough balls (18) and altered enough shots to force SMC into negative hitting.

The Gaels rebounded, scoring the first five points of the second game to energize the crowd. Then reality hit in the form of seven straight Hawai'i points, with Kahumoku serving the last six to put UH ahead 11-8.

"When we've been up, the other teams are capable of picking their game up," said Stevenson, whose team has four losses to ranked squads. "Can we match them and increase our relative superiority? No. The biggest thing for our team is we have to break the chain of errors more quickly."

By the end of that game, Willoughby and Kahumoku each had 11 kills, as did the rest of the Rainbows. They went on to hit .537 in a devastating final game.

QUICK SETS: St. Mary's plays Houston today at 1 p.m. at the arena. Admission is free. ... Nevada and Fresno State, the two hottest WAC teams aside from Hawai'i, had success Friday. The Wolf Pack swept No. 25 Colorado State at the Rams' tournament while FSU (10-1) outlasted San Diego, 16-14 in the fifth. USD is receiving votes in the coaches poll. ... Last night Nevada (9-2) lost to Cincinnati, coached by Hilo's Reed Sunahara, in the tournament championship. That ended the Wolf Pack's nine-match — and 25-game — winning streak. ... The Rainbow Wahine open their WAC season Friday against Rice.