Posted on: Friday, October 1, 2004
No. 6 Hawai'i wins on road
Advertiser Staff
After its early success at home, the sixth-ranked University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team proved last night it can win on the road, too.
"We're glad to get the first win on the road," Hawai'i coach Dave Shoji said. "I really wasn't sure on how we'd play. We've got a lot of new players, but the team responded really well."
With the victory, the Rainbow Wahine (11-0 overall, 1-0 WAC) stretched their conference winning streak to 91 matches.
In typical Hawai'i fashion, the Rainbow Wahine won the first game, but floundered in the second game, hitting a match low .244 against the Bulldogs (8-6, 1-2).
"It was kind of up and down," Shoji said. "But in the end we played well enough to win."
The Rainbow Wahine rebounded to hit .304 in Game 3. They finished the Bulldogs hitting a match-high .429 in Game 4.
Hawai'i's Alicia Arnott added 17 kills, Victoria Prince 16 and Susie Boogaard 14 in support of Hittle who finished hitting .625. Kanoe Kamana'o had a match-high 63 assists.
"You've got to give a lot of credit to Kanoe," Shoji said. "She really isolated Tara. They were stacking the block on Susie and Alicia all night, and putting a weaker blocker on Hittle. Tara just lit it up."
Fresno State's Kristen Fenton had a team-high 15 kills. Kahuku graduate Tuli Peters and Tiffany Bishop added 14 each, and Christianna Reneau added 12.
Shoji said the victory gives Hawai'i an edge for tomorrow's conference match at Nevada.
"I think the girls have confidence now," Shoji said. "I think everybody was waiting to see how we would play. I think tonight ended a lot of doubts about us. I think we'll play well in Reno."
Freshman Tara Hittle pounded a career-high 22 kills and Hawai'i opened its Western Athletic Conference season by defeating host Fresno State, 30-17, 26-30, 30-27, 30-23, before 2,458 at the Save Mart Center.
• • •
