Rainbow Wahine rain on Fresno State's big day

Advertiser Staff

Fresno State officially opened its new arena yesterday, but it was second-ranked Hawai'i that looked right at home in the Save Mart Center, sweeping the Bulldogs, 30-15, 30-26, 30-21, before a record volleyball crowd of 4,708.

Fresno State's Carrie Hartt, left, battles at the net with Hawai'i's Karin Lundqvist, center, and Kanoe Kamana'o. The Rainbow Wahine beat the Bulldogs before a record crowd of 4,708 in the first match played at the Save Mart Center. Associated Press

Yesterday, the Rainbows were looking to bounce back from a ragged performance Thursday at Nevada. A 4:05 p.m. departure — less than 4 hours after first serve — added incentive to keep their focus on Fresno, which took UH to five games in California a year ago, when FSU advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

The Bulldogs (19-6, 9-3), with just one senior, have a good shot at going to the NCAAs again. But yesterday they were dominated in every game but the second.

"Our team was pretty pumped to play," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "We're used to playing in front of a lot of people and I think the players like it. Fresno came out a little tight; they really wanted to do well, but it didn't seem like they were playing as well as they can."

Hawai'i charged to a 17-7 advantage in Game 1, scoring seven straight on Lily Kahumoku's serve. UH hit .333, but earned the easy victory with a suddenly imposing block that stuffed FSU five times and stifled it into negative .051 hitting.

The 'Bows had but five blocks all night in their four-game win at Reno, and dropped a game to a WAC team for the first time this season. Shoji said that served as "a wakeup call."

"We were just not ready to play at the same level of intensity as Reno," he said. "It was good for us. It helped us get ready for today."

Kim Willoughby had seven kills in the first game and seven more in the second, when Hawai'i needed every one. The Bulldogs scored seven of the first 10 points. The Rainbow Wahine finally caught them at 20 and scored 12 of the final 18 points to win.

Hawai'i took an 8-2 lead to open the final game and expanded the advantage to 26-16 despite losing third-team All-American Lauren Duggins midway through. Duggins, attempting to cover a block, had her head stepped on when teammate Maja Gustin stepped back.

Duggins had to leave the game and Gustin fell and cut her elbow, but stayed in. Shoji said both players will be fine.

Willoughby, who leads the country in kills per game, finished with 20 and Kahumoku added 14 — eight in the final game. Kahumoku also collected 20 of Hawai'i's 66 digs, getting her 10th double-double of the season.

FSU junior Kristen Fenton, No. 25 nationally in kills, had 19. Tuli Peters, a freshman out of Kahuku High School, added eight and Iolani graduate La'akea Campbell had seven in two games.

QUICK SETS: FSU more than doubled its previous attendance high for a home match. The previous record was set in 1996, when 1,982 came to watch Hawai'i. ... The Bulldog Basketball Extravaganza exhibition unofficially opened the Save Mart Center on Wednesday. Concerts by Andrea Bocelli and Elton John followed over the weekend before yesterday's first official sporting event. ... Before yesterday, the Bulldogs had won their past six home matches and 13 of their past 15 overall. ... Hawai'i has won all 32 matches against Fresno in the teams' series.

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