Hawai'i rips Rice to remain unbeaten
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Second-ranked Hawai'i rolled over Rice last night, 30-19, 30-13, 30-20 in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams. The Rainbow Wahine's 59th consecutive WAC volleyball victory was watched by 5,448 at Stan Sheriff Center.
It was also watched, in part, by the Owls. Rice (8-7) starts a majority of underclassmen. They had never seen anything quite like 11-0 Hawai'i, All-Americas Kim Willoughby (23 kills) and Lily Kahu-moku (18), and the electric atmosphere.
"I think it was a little scary for them," UH captain Margaret Vakasausau said. "It was like they had one eye on the ball and the other on the guy eating garlic fries."
Hawai'i had a mediocre passing night and still cruised in less than 90 minutes. With its passes and digs a little off, there was little left to do except go to the hammers — a hot-hitting Kahumoku and an even hotter Willoughby.
So the Owls watched a hitting clinic. When Kahumoku and Willoughby were not burying balls, they were hitting agonizingly subtle shots that Rice simply couldn't handle.
"We are certainly not there," Rice coach Julio Morales said. "We have some ingredients that over the long run will get us there, but that's the difference. Hawai'i has good players at a lot of positions, and a lot of expectations and this will happen. In addition, they do things at a higher level and under higher pressure day in and day out. We do it sporadically."
Kahumoku had one kill with her left hand — off a wild Willoughby set — and another when she circled a back-row set and threw down what looked like a one-handed breakaway slam. Willoughby backhanded one ball down, collected another kill when she fisted a ball backwards — after Vakasausau and Kahumoku pin-balled digs to her — and ended the second game with four progressively louder blasts.
"I think they (the Owls) have to be frustrated by the fact that some of that stuff, there's just no defense for," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "You're pretty defenseless on some of the sets. Some that Kim hit were just over and down in front of the defender. There wasn't much they could do."
Rice gave it a shot, with all 13 players firing at will, though often wildly. But only Rebeca Pazo, the 2001 WAC Freshman of the Year, came close to success. She collected 11 of the Owls' 29 kills and took a third of their swings. Afterward, she admitted her teammates had never seen anything like 5,000 fans, though after playing for Venezuela's national team, she has.
Morales, who had no regrets about his team's showing, said UH has no worries.
"They will be a lot better with (injured Maja) Gustin in," he said. "If Dave gets a little bit more middle game, and that's what Gustin provides, they will be very, very strong."
Until then, UH setters Vaka-sausau and Jen Carey are still searching to find the right balance.
"It's important to maintain a dialogue with the middles and right side," Vakasausau said. "To feed them good sets and get them in one-on-one situations; which we're trying to do, but we know we can't ever force the middle.
"Tonight we were a little rusty. Six days of not competing ... now we have to go back into the gym and work hard on transition plays and making sure we maintain a good middle attack. It can get lost in the shuffle of the WAC where you can solely rely on your outsides."
