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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 9:16 p.m., Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Rainbow Wahine sweep past Loyola Marymount

Advertiser Staff

On a Senior Night when Hawai'i looked more like the volleyball team playing for a place in the NCAA Tournament, the 11th-ranked Rainbow Wahine swept Loyola Marymount, 30-22, 30-24, 30-27, to give Juliana Sanders, Raeceen Woolford, Kary Gregory and Caroline Blood a sweet sendoff.

The 'Bows (26-5) won the Western Athletic Conference's automatic NCAA berth when they captured their 10th consecutive championship last weekend. They find out Sunday where they will go for next week's NCAA subregional. The selection show will be broadcast live at 3 p.m. on ESPNU.

The Lions (16-13), who finished fourth in the West Coast Conference, hope to receive one of the 31 at-large bids. They didn't help their cause tonight, or maybe the Rainbow Wahine were simply too good before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,714.

Hawai'i had four players with double-digit kills in a show of balance that bodes well for the postseason. WAC Player of the Year Jamie Houston, fifth in the nation in kills, had a match-high 22 and hit .429. Juliana Sanders added 13 on .647 hitting. Tara Hittle's 11 kills and 15 digs left her one Tuesday kill short of three straight double-doubles and Aneli Cubi-Otineru powered through enough blocks for 13 kills and .296 hitting.

Hawai'i picked up where it left off in Tuesday's four-game victory over LMU.

With Gregory anchoring a revitalized block in Game 1, and Houston (6 kills) Sanders (4) and Hittle (3) going a combined 13-for-16 without an error, the Rainbows ran away early, shackling LMU's attack in a 9-3 surge that made it 13-9.

The Lions hung around a little longer in Game 2, but could not cope with the Rainbow Wahine attack. Sanders was 9-for-9 when it was over. LMU managed to block Houston once, but she went for eight kills. Hittle had her first miss with UH at game point (29-23); she got the next set an;d buried it.

Gregory, an all-WAC selection as a junior, got the start over Amber Kaufman for Senior Night. She responded by dropping in on five of Hawai'i 12 blocks.

Through two games, the 'Bows out-hit Loyola Marymount .443 to .207.

That gap shrank after a sloppy Game 3 — UH had seven errors in the first two games and seven more in the third — but the 'Bows still out-hit the Lions .397 to .248. Hawai'i scored 11 of the night's last 17 points.