UH beats Southwest Missouri State in four

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i put all its good and bad volleyball traits on display last night, and threw in some ugly to end the second game. The good outweighed the bad and ugly for the 11th-ranked Rainbow Wahine (4-0) as they outlasted Southwest Missouri State (5-1) in the opening round of the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Challenge.

Hawai'i's Susie Boogaard, left, attempted to block Southwest Missouri State's Sarah Thomas during the first game of last night's match in the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Volleyball Challenge. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Hawai'i and SMS, missing 11 seniors from last year's NCAA Tournament teams between them, traded gifts in the first two games. The Bears let a 25-20 advantage evaporate in Game 1. The 'Bows gave it back when they let a 23-16 lead get away in Game 2.

"Our play was like a roller coaster ...," said setter Kanoe Kamana'o, the lone returning UH starter. "This was not our best. We can learn from this. We know what our best is, like how we played last week against Arizona. That showed our character. That's what we're going to have to do tomorrow and Saturday."

Hawai'i would not make the same mistake again, although it would make many mistakes in the final two games. Fortunately for UH, SMS made many more.

Coach Melissa Stokes blamed it on her team's confused block, shifting lineup and the connection between Kamana'o and her left-side hitters, Susie Boogaard (23 kills) and Alicia Arnott (18).

"I think the setter caught us off-balance," said Stokes, whose team beat Fresno State — picked to finish second in the WAC behind UH — last week. "The speed of the sets to the outside, we didn't make that adjustment ....Their outside hitters did a nice job out there. They kept finding the seam and it was difficult for our backrow players to even know where to go because our block was all over the place.

"Hawai'i's offense was much, much faster than what we saw against Fresno State, and most teams."

Rainbow Wahine Victoria Prince, right, stuffs a kill attempt by SMS's Katie Kreimer as UH teammate Kanoe Kamana'o closes in. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

The block was even less consistent.

"We never really stopped their middle ...," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "Their middle attack was a lot different than what we've seen. It was slower and we couldn't time it, and their hitters did a nice job moving the ball around."

Still, Hawai'i controlled most of the match from the end of the first game on. That might say more about the Bears than the 'Bows, who won going away at the end despite struggling to sustain any phase of their game, aside from the outside.

"We had very little emotion out there tonight," Shoji said. "I could sense that today and yesterday's practice was a little slow. We left a lot on the floor last weekend. It was hard to get cranked back up. It was a very uneven performance. We'll have to play better every night out but I think we will. We'll get cranked up again."

NOTES:

• UH captain Melody Eckmier started, but was subbed out for freshman Kari Gregory in the second game and did not return. Eckmier injured her ankle in Hawai'i's second match and had played just one game since.

• UCLA beat Santa Clara, 30-23, 32-30, 30-24. Nine Bruins had kills, with Heather Cullen — one of five UCLA seniors — collecting 10 and sophomore Becky Green getting nine more and hitting a match-high .350. Libero Chrissie Zartman collected 24 of the Bruins' 62 digs. The Broncos (3-1) hit .000 in Game 1, .096 for the match, and had just four hitters with a positive percentage. They were led by Toni Muratore's' 12 kills.

• SMS played four of its first five matches at home, and drew 2,723 fans. Santa Clara's first three home matches were watched by 1,291. Hawai'i has sold 24,290 tickets to its first four matches.

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

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