No. 4 Rainbows sweep Miners to stay unbeaten

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Just when you thought every Rainbow Wahine volleyball match would be an adventure in elevated blood pressure, the WAC came back.

Texas-El Paso's Heather Brisnahan, left, tries to block Hawai'i's Juliana Sanders. The Rainbow Wahine improved to 14-0 overall and 4-0 in the Western Athletic Conference. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

The Miners (6-9, 0-6 WAC), who haven't won a WAC match in more than 11 months, were out of this one pretty much from the moment Alicia Arnott aced the two opening serves.

"Unfortunately, that's how we've started off almost all our conference matches this year," UTEP coach Scott Sandel said. "It's a real confidence issue with primary passers not handling the pressure. They're just not mentally ready. It seems like it's taken them a whole game to settle down and by that time our momentum is gone. That affects the confidence of the whole team."

On the other hand, Hawai'i, still looking for a set lineup despite its stunning start, knew it had the right opponent at the right time from the first minute.

"I knew it was going to be a fun game," said Teisa Fotu, one of two UH seniors. "I was just hoping we'd keep our high level of performance, no matter what happened on the other side of the court."

Hawai'i (14-0, 4-0) did, to remain unbeaten going into its second road trip. The 'Bows buried the over-matched Miners with their starters in the first two games, then ran away with their reserves at the end of the third game.

UTEP kept coming back for more, but without a starter over 6 feet and only 10 healthy players — not enough for a scrimmage — it never posed a threat.

Hawai'i was too big and, as coach Dave Shoji said, "We just hit the ball harder."

"Those first two aces, they just froze," Shoji said. "But after that I thought they played pretty good. They've got a lot of injuries and I'm sure they've got issues, but I thought they played well in the respect that they didn't hit a lot of balls out and they weren't intimidated. They did what they had to do. They made us play defense, which I wanted to do, and they made us block."

Particularly Victoria Prince. Hawai'i's junior transfer warmed up with offense, complementing Arnott's four-ace first game with a 6-for-6 hitting performance.

In Game 2, Prince put the Miners in a hitting hole almost single-handedly, stuffing seven balls. Freshman Tara Hittle did the rest, crushing four of her first five swings as setter Kanoe Kamana'o isolated her, and adding two blocks and an ace that crawled over the tape.

In Game 3, only Susie Boogaard stayed in her position as Shoji brought in five new players and moved Hittle from the right to the left.

"I wanted to keep the first unit together as long as possible," Shoji said. "We need some momentum, need to steady things out. They need to show some consistency so I didn't want to break the lineup in Game 2. I thought they played well — maybe our most consistent this season."

The final game was tied 17 times. Hawai'i finally broke away with senior captain Melody Eckmier serving six straight to give her team a 26-20 advantage.

Boogaard had three kills in the surge and Fotu and Kari Gregory capped the rally with the Rainbows' first roof of the game. Their second block ended the match a few moments later.

Notes: The Rainbow Wahine play at Louisiana Tech Thursday and SMU Saturday. Their next home match is Oct. 21 against Rice ... Victoria Prince tied Lauren Duggins' UH record for most blocks in a rally-scoring three-game match, with nine. Prince did not play the final game.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.

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Texas-El Paso's Heather Brisnahan, left, tries to block Hawai'i's Juliana Sanders. The Rainbow Wahine improved to 14-0 overall and 4-0 in the Western Athletic Conference. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser